From smartphones to e-cars: How important is the lithium-ion battery | DW Documentary

The lithium-ion battery is proving to be one of the most important innovations for the 21st century. This new technology is the cornerstone of e-mobility and digitalization. It’s set to play a big role in enabling the switch to renewable energies. Without the lithium-ion battery, many of the technological innovations we take for granted today would be almost inconceivable. From smartphones to e-cars, the lithium-ion battery can be found in almost every battery-powered device. The technology is particularly well-established in one, perhaps surprising, place: the warehouse. In the field of “intralogistics,” e-mobility is already the order of the day. In fact, lithium-ion forklifts have been hard at work in warehouses around the world for more than a decade. The Hamburg-based Jungheinrich company is a trailblazer in this technology. But pioneering comes with challenges. Intralogistics deals with a wide variety of issues, from artificial intelligence to sustainability, resource availability, and recycling. This film explores the extraction of lithium, the production of state-of-the-art cells and their use in vehicles and AI-controlled large-scale energy storage. It highlights the latest developments in this promising and rapidly advancing field.