Dusseldorf A damaged EQC electric SUV arrives at a Mercedes branch in western Germany. Mechanics on site remove the drive battery, which is also suspected to be damaged. Once removed, the defective battery must be kept in a special container until it is disposed of.
The car company has bought a few special transport boxes for such cases and lends one of the containers to the branch for emergencies. This container weighs one and a half tons and has the value of a small car: 25,000 euros, as a Mercedes employee reveals.
The box was manufactured by Logbatt. Aichwald near Stuttgart is one of the first providers in Germany to have brought legally approved packaging onto the market – for large electric car batteries weighing up to 700 kilograms from the Porsche Taycan or Mercedes EQC, for example.
The containers are manufactured according to the specifications of the Federal Institute for Materials Research (BAM). Because the transport and storage of so-called critically defective lithium batteries require official approval.
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The transport crates must also be designed for the worst case, a battery fire. Because when batteries react thermally, a lot of energy can be released in a short time.
Batteries burn at more than 1000 degrees
Since batteries cannot be extinguished, they have to burn out slowly and in a controlled manner, says Philipp Helmle, founder and managing director of Logbatt. “This creates temperatures of over 1000 degrees. A transport crate has to be able to withstand that.” At Logbatt, a double wall ensures that the temperature outside the crate does not exceed 100 degrees. The lid also filters flue gas.
In Germany there are currently 20 companies that are allowed to transport dangerous batteries.
(Photo: Helmle)
There are currently 20 companies in Germany that, according to BAM, are allowed to transport critical batteries. These include large logistics companies such as DB Schenker, but also manufacturers of lithium batteries and power tools, waste disposal companies and automotive companies.
The market entry barriers are relatively high because the certification requires high investment costs. During tests, real batteries and the designed transport crates have to be burned down.
According to BAM, the investments depend on the packaging and battery size. Depending on the size, the fire test can cost over 10,000 euros – plus the battery, which costs tens of thousands of euros. According to the company, Logbatt tested its own boxes with more than 30 different batteries from different manufacturers and invested a six-figure sum in euros.
Ten million euros turnover with battery transport
But the boxes for flammable batteries, of which Logbatt makes a few hundred a year, are only a means to an end. “This is our gateway to the customers,” says Helmle, who studied logistics and runs the company together with Eduard Schönmeier.
Car manufacturers have to transport non-hazardous batteries much more often than hazardous batteries. This is where Logbatt’s main business is located, whose customers include Mercedes, car manufacturers Porsche, BMW and Streetscooter, as well as cell manufacturers CATL, Farasis, LG Europe and LG Chem. Logbatt plans storage, transport and disposal of the discarded batteries for these companies throughout Europe.
The company benefits from the physical proximity to the major car manufacturers. In 21 minutes, Helmle’s trucks are at the Mercedes plant in Untertürkheim. They only need ten minutes longer to get to the Porsche plant near Stuttgart.
Before founding the company in 2017, Helmle had already established contacts in the automotive industry when he was entrusted with the development of lithium-ion batteries at the Mercedes subsidiary Deutsche Accumotive. “There was no specific packaging for batteries when we started, nor any logistics structures,” says 39-year-old Helmle.
Logbatt now employs 26 people and expects sales of ten million euros for 2022. This year, the logistics company will transport around 3,000 tons of lithium-ion batteries, of which 90 percent are car batteries and the rest are device batteries. According to Logbatt, this makes it the market leader in the field of logistics for car batteries.
More and more battery waste at Mercedes, Porsche and Co.
Discarded batteries accrue to car manufacturers due to the increasing number of production rejects and batteries from test vehicles. “Without the lack of chips, there would be many more cars produced, resulting in battery waste and the need for transport,” says Helmle.
>> Read also: The e-car problem: Thousands of tons of batteries end up in the garbage prematurely
The market will continue to grow strongly. According to the Federal Environment Agency, 160,000 old batteries from electric cars could be produced by 2025. BAM says: “A forecast of more than ten million electric cars in Germany by 2030 seems quite realistic. There will therefore be more and more transports of both intact and defective batteries.” The higher number of e-cars will also increase the number of e-cars in accidents.
With the boom in e-cars, there are also more and more batteries that have to be transported.
(Photo: dpa)
According to the DSLV Bundesverband Spedition und Logistik, the transport of batteries is already part of the business model of some forwarding companies, and the proportion is growing. However, safe handling of the dangerous goods requires high qualifications from the workforce.
This is where logistician Helmle sees his advantage. Many logistics companies shy away from the dangerous goods and official approvals, he says. “Damaged, critical batteries are still a red rag for many.” The capacity utilization has also been difficult to calculate so far.
“Our advantage is that we’re not as big as Kuehne + Nagel or DB Schenker,” says the owner. Waste batteries from e-cars are often not standardized enough for large corporations. Logbatt relies on a network of a dozen partner companies in Germany, which have fleets of ten to 50 trucks and are flexibly requested.
The Logbatt founder uses the contacts from his time in the Mercedes group.
(Photo: Pulswerk)
But the shortage of skilled truck drivers could still become a problem for Logbatt and its competitors. According to the DSLV, up to 80,000 professional drivers are missing in Germany. Owner Helmle also sees this danger for future growth. He is arming himself with “fair wages and professional training opportunities in a future market”.
A franchise system for electric car batteries
Legally, all countries in Europe have the same dangerous goods transport law, and countries such as Turkey have also adopted these regulations. A total of 52 states are applying the law, and there is still room for growth for transport companies like Logbatt.
>>Read also: According to the study, the automotive industry must invest massively in battery value creation
Helmle says: “We are strongest where the regulations are the strictest. If you don’t have to use special dangerous goods boxes in a country, we’ll be needed less.”
Logbatt believes it is so good at it that the company even wants to establish a franchise system in Europe. Helmle’s goal is a European take-back network for lithium-ion batteries with boxes, infrastructure, collection points and storage facilities. He expects additional income from training and organization – and more boxes sold that are supposed to securely hold batteries.
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