As Battery Industry Workforce Grows, Soteria Battery Innovation Group and EIT InnoEnergy Partner to Provide Critical Battery Technology and Safety Training.
Today, Soteria Battery Innovation Group and EIT InnoEnergy announce the formation of a partnership to bring forward battery technology and safety coursework to the industry. They have also formed a Battery Safety Education Task Force to address the growing skills gap around safe practices in lithium-ion batteries. All companies and interested parties are invited to participate in this important endeavor.
By 2030, global demand for lithium-ion batteries will be 4.7 terawatt hours per year, including 13 new Gigafactories in North America, creating up to 400,000 new battery jobs. Skilled workers from other industries are moving into the battery industry with little or no knowledge of the basic structure and function of battery chemistry, engineering and practices. Lithium-ion batteries use highly reactive chemicals to store a large amount of energy in a small package. When handled properly, they are very safe and an integral part of our daily lives in our cellphones, laptops, power tools and electric vehicles. In those devices, the batteries are held in protective packaging and controlled by small computers, called battery management systems, that keep them safely in their designed operating parameters.
Industry workers, however, will be handling the batteries outside the context of this protective environment. When handled with proper procedures, they are still very safe to work around. However, a worker who is not knowledgeable of the proper procedures to handle lithium-ion batteries might by their shape and size mistakenly conclude that they can be handled in the same ways as alkaline AAA, AA, C or D batteries. They cannot, and when handled improperly, the batteries can release their energy and chemicals in explosive reactions that can cause large building fires and pose health risks from the release of chemicals.
Dr. Brian Morin, co-Founder and CEO of Soteria Battery Innovation Group, said:
Filling this knowledge gap is critical.
“Highly skilled engineers and technicians without the proper training can inadvertently cause a serious risk to their environment, co-workers and neighboring communities through improper handling of lithium-ion batteries. Providing training is a critical part of the energy transition, and Soteria is honored to partner with the InnoEnergy Skills Institute to bring forward this critical training and make it available to workers throughout the United States and the world.”
Oana Penu Director of InnoEnergy Skills Institute continued:
In order to address the widening skills gap in the face of the energy transition, companies are rapidly expanding their workforces, increasing the potential risk of accidents and hazards and injury.
“Through our partnership with Soteria, we aim to marry innovation and safety in all we do, leading the conversation on the need for industry-driven safety education standards to benefit workers, consumers and the world at large.”
Soteria is now offering twenty-four self-paced online courses from InnoEnergy that cover a variety of topics, fundamentals of batteries, to battery testing, to battery management systems, and more. This content includes an introduction to battery safety, that the Battery Safety Education Task Force will develop on top of. After conducting surveys to identify training needs, the group will create a strategic roadmap for content creation targeting specific learning objectives. Then subject matter experts and lab providers will be recruited to build the curricula, which is expected to include hand-on training, focusing on accessible content for industry professionals, production workers and first responders, among others.
Soteria and InnoEnergy are calling on all companies and institutions interested in advancing battery education to take these training courses (https://soteriabig.com/battery-courses/) and join the Battery Safety Education Task Force to help provide the knowledge and educational materials necessary to fill this skills gap and accelerate the energy transition. Reach out to Amy Brinson at Amy.Brinson@soteriabig.com to find out more about how to get involved.
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As Battery Industry Workforce Grows, Soteria Battery Innovation Group and EIT InnoEnergy Partner to Provide Critical Battery Technology and Safety Training. source
