July 17, 2025: It’s just over six weeks until the 21st Asian Battery Conference welcomes delegates from across the globe to Kota Kinabalu – the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia, on the far-flung island of Borneo.

The organisers of this premier battery gathering have previous form for picking spectacular destinations to host the bi-annual event and this year is no different.

The Hilton in KK — as it is colloquially called — is the official conference hotel, and is already at full capacity. Delegates are now scrambling to find nearby rooms in hotels in the port city – formerly known as Jesselton –which sits on the north west coast of the island facing the South China Sea.

It looks set to be a packed and enriching week. Recycle100, the secondary lead and battery recycling conference, now in its 9th year, plays a crucial supporting act in the two day run-up to 21ABC, providing a pivotal platform for critical discussions, debates and shared learning between all the sectors of the lead-acid battery recycling and smelting industry.

This year’s event will dive deep into both technical and market aspects of battery recycling across multiple chemistries.

For 21ABC itself, proceedings kick off with a welcome event on Kota Kinabalu’s famous waterfront on the evening of Tuesday September 2.

Conference chair, Mark Stevenson, believes that this year’s conference is more important than ever. “Even in ‘far off’ places like Borneo, the lead-acid battery plays a vital role in people’s lives, from its traditional automotive role to remote energy storage and backup systems,” he says.

“We must continually assess where the energy market is moving and ensure we are at the forefront of these changes. The many challenges we face do not get any easier, but I’m sure there will be rigorous discussion and debate on this and many other topics during the week.”