Batteries International was invited to the first Leoch battery conference in China. Shona Sibary reports from the event.
November 2, 2024: As far as surprises go, Dong Li’s astonishing performance at Leoch’s gala night on the second night of the Global Battery Innovation Conference in Zhaoqing came pretty close to top of the list.
Here was a Chinese billionaire, chairman and founder of one of the biggest success stories to come out of the Asian lead battery world this century, belting his way through Auld Lang Syne – in October.
Yes, he chose to sing, in front of hundreds of delegates, that nearly incomprehensible 18th– century Scottish ballad, the syntax and vocabulary of which even Westerners find difficult to understand, especially when they are struggling to bring in the New Year.
Yet there was a kind of logic behind the madness.
Auld Lang Syne is a song, after all, about bringing in change — a series of rhetorical questions about the virtues of reconnecting with old friends and thinking about old times.
It was, with hindsight, exactly what you should expect from Dong Li, a man who does things his own way and flies in the face of conformity. This is, after all, someone who saw the potential in lead batteries when the rest of China was investing in lithium.
Today, as we all know, Leoch, the company he founded, is the number one lead acid exporter in China for the last six years, selling products to over 100 countries with an annual turnover exceeding $1.4 billion.
A popular and respected figure at industry conferences each year, Dong Li is often called upon to give presentations and is a welcome champion of the lead battery world.
It is perhaps because of this that his Global Battery Innovation Conference — of which Batteries International was an exclusive media partner — was a key gathering for lead battery innovation worldwide.
Held at the Wyndham Grand near Leoch’s Zhaoqing factory, the event ran from October 23 to 25 and was attended by over 1,500 industry experts to discuss the latest advancements and collaborative efforts in battery technology.
Dong Li kicked off proceedings by extending a warm welcome to all attendees and expressing gratitude to those who had travelled from afar to participate in his inaugural conference, whilst also acknowledging the significant contributions of experts and institutions driving technological progress in the industry.
Keynote speakers were respected thought leaders giving presentations ranging from sustainability (Dong Li), to Andreas Bawart, CEO of Banner and Surender Kandhari, chairman of Al Dobowi Group (Eternity Technologies) both talking about how their businesses were family started and run and what this meant to them. Mr Kandhari also said that he was ‘proud to be part of industry that’s driving a change,’ as energy storage becomes critical.
Another presentation was given by Prince Elmer A Reyes, CTO of Ramcar Batteries where he explained how the firm was one of the few remaining real Filipino manufacturers celebrating 105 years in existence, producing 10 million batteries per year at a fully integrated facility producing all the components of a lead-acid battery in a single location.
Lead battery veteran, Mark Stevenson, a regular on the conference circuit and organizer of next year’s ABC to be held in Borneo, asked the pressing question: “What does battery recycling really mean?” He went on to explain in a hugely well attended talk that most of the process dates back 100 years and that you can’t just pick and choose what you want from the battery.
The second day of the conference saw delegates taken to Leoch’s Zhaoqing facility, a top-500 Chinese private manufacturing company with over 1,000 technology patents. Attendees were given a tour of the factory and also its sister, subsidiary firms, Marshell and Marxon to gain insights into new energy vehicles and energy storage advancements.
It was here that a second surprise awaited. Looking up at the ceiling in the foyer there was a mural of Italian Renaissance artist, Raphael’s School of Athens, a famous fresco depicting a congregation of ancient philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists, with Plato and Aristotle featured in the centre.
It appeared, at first, a slightly incongruous find in a manufacturing hub in Asia. But as one Leoch employee eloquently explained: “It shows the two great thinkers and pillars of Western civilisation discussing their different philosophies. Which exactly represents the core values of Leoch. We want an open and free exchange of ideas and for this to happen between subordinates and superiors.”
This is Dong Li’s Leoch all over. A company and a man with one foot firmly in Western culture and the other in China. And a clear proof that the lead battery world needs to have both.
