CSIRO suggests ways Australia can grow battery manufacturing sector

The CSIRO has released a report identifying pathways where Australia can further participate in the battery manufacturing industry.

‘The future of Australian battery manufacturing: Cell cans and current collector foils’ identifies where local industry has the skills, materials and expertise to make key components for lithium-ion and emerging sodium-ion batteries.

With electrification of our transport, energy system and industry driving global demand in batteries, the analysis reveals Australia already has the capacity to become a battery manufacturing powerhouse, looking beyond Australia’s critical-minerals strengths to ask a more practical question: what would it take to turn more of those local resources into the parts that make up every battery cell?

CSIRO Advanced Battery Manufacturing lead Dr Adam Best said the work combines expertise in advanced manufacturing, battery materials and industrial process assessment, bringing together knowledge of how battery components are made with a practical understanding of what Australian industry can already do.

“That combination is central to the report’s message that Australia’s battery opportunity is not only about what lies in the ground, but what can be made here from it,” he said.

McKinsey analysis projects the global lithium-ion battery value chain could grow to more than US$400 billion by 2030, while the Australian Government’s National Battery Strategy notes that 96% of the total revenue opportunity is expected to occur downstream of mining. Today, much of that value is captured offshore, with the bulk of our critical minerals being exported. CSIRO’s work shows Australia has a pathway to change that story by building sovereign capability in selected parts of the battery supply chain.

“Bringing more of the value chain onshore would mean Australia could move beyond exporting raw and refined materials alone, towards creating higher-value products, supporting skilled manufacturing jobs and strengthening supply chains for technologies that will underpin the clean energy transition,” Best said.

Rather than attempting to build every part of a battery industry at once, the report points to two promising first steps: making prismatic battery cell cans from Australian aluminium using the impact extrusion process, and producing copper current collector foil using electrolytic deposition. Both opportunities align with Australia’s aluminium and copper resources and its metal-forming, packaging, electrorefining and electrowinning expertise.

CSIRO researcher Geoff de Looze said the study focused on realistic opportunities to move from minerals and materials into higher-value components.

“Australia has many of the building blocks needed for a battery manufacturing sector,” he said. “The question is where we can take the most practical next steps. This work identifies areas where Australian materials, existing industrial capability and targeted investment could come together to create a stronger domestic supply chain.”

Battery cell cans are the thin metal cases housing a cell’s active parts. Although apparently simple, they must withstand internal pressure changes and crash loads, remain compatible with electrolyte chemicals, minimise weight and leave maximum space for energy storage. Australia could feasibly make any of the cylindrical, prismatic or ‘blade’ cell formats, although some pathways would require major investment in production of nickel-plated steel and aluminium sheet.

A battery’s current collector foils support the cell’s electrochemical core and carry current to its terminals. The copper foil on a lithium-ion battery’s negative electrode is typically just six microns thick, while the aluminium foil on the other side is about twice as thick.

Image: Supplied