An Alabama delegation focused on advancing the state’s battery and electric mobility industry was recently in Stuttgart, Germany for Battery Show Europe.
The annual conference is described as the epicenter of energy storage, bringing together more than 17,000 attendees, including industry leaders and suppliers from more than 72 countries. Topics ranged from mining and raw materials, advances in cell production and end-of-life recycling and reuse.
“The event provided an excellent opportunity to connect with battery manufacturers, suppliers, technology developers and industry leaders from across the global battery ecosystem,” said Christoph Dörr, director of the Alabama Department of Commerce’s European Office. “We had meaningful conversations about research collaboration, workforce development, advanced manufacturing and opportunities to strengthen Alabama’s position in the growing battery and energy storage supply chain.”
Alabama is home to major EV and battery-related projects, including Mercedes-Benz’s battery plant in Bibb County, Hyundai’s EV production activities in Montgomery, and a network of suppliers that support the evolving EV ecosystem.
Others in Alabama’s project-recruiting envoy were: Kevin Taylor, deputy director of AIDT; Amendi Stephens, an industrial business development specialist with Alabama Power; Bakari Miller, Vice President of Business Development at Economic Partnership of Alabama; and Brad Whisenant, consortium development manager at the Alabama Mobility and Power Center at the University of Alabama.
The Alabama Mobility and Power Center is a research and development hub for EV and mobility innovation created in 2021 through a partnership among The University of Alabama, Alabama Power and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.
At the Made in Alabama booth, the delegation displayed a map that shows the state is at the center of the Southeast US’s vehicle industry and original equipment manufacturers.
“The map highlighting the Southeast automotive OEM footprint, combined with the AMP Center, proved to be a great draw and helped create fruitful discussions with prospective companies and industry stakeholders,” Taylor said.
Taylor noted that interest was particularly strong among companies seeking workforce solutions to support future growth.
“In addition to Alabama’s established automotive and manufacturing base, AIDT’s investment in a new EV Technology Training Center demonstrates our long-term commitment to developing the skilled workforce needed to support battery production, electrification technologies, and advanced energy storage systems,” he said.
The state-of-the-art workforce training center is under construction at the Alabama Robotics Technology Park near Decatur.
Capitalizing on industry investment in the EV/battery space is a goal outlined in the state’s “Catalyst” economic development strategic plan developed in 2024.
“It seems the hype surrounding batteries in recent years has cooled somewhat, but the quality of the discussions was actually even better and more in-depth,” Dörr said. “The industry is not only becoming increasingly professional but is also making massive technical progress.”
