230. The growing complexity of battery fleet management - May26

The BESS market is growing at a phenomenal pace. You would think battery management is becoming easier. The reality? It is becoming increasingly complex.  Between data risks, a growing number of suppliers, vertically disintegrated component chains, and constantly evolving software stacks, investors can quickly lose control of their battery fleets.  Only a handful of companies truly operate in the fast-maturing field of battery analytics. And we are not talking about market optimisation focused on financial returns, but deep predictive analytics: understanding what happens inside the system itself, with expertise in battery health, performance, and safety.  Laurent and Gerard have the privilege of welcoming Stephan Rohr, CEO of TWAICE, one of Germany’s leading battery analytics companies.TWAICE has become a major player in recent years: more than 100 employees, including battery scientists, chemists, software engineers, and data scientists, with operations across Europe, the US, and Asia.The company has raised over €60m in equity from leading investors including Energize, Coatue, and Creandum (early investor in Spotify), alongside €25m in debt financing from the EIB.  With Stephan, we explored the new complexity of battery fleet management — all the way down to the individual cell. Why BESS is a completely different beast from solar? Why is the excellence in operations becoming the real competitive edge? How to address hardware and software sovereignty challenges? And ultimately, the 20-year question: these assets will remain on the grid for decades. You need to build the operational infrastructure for that reality today — not patch it together later.  A highly informative — and delightfully geeky — conversation about managing battery fleet complexity.