The latest round of the Faraday Battery Challenge will see 17 projects work to make EV batteries safer, more powerful, cheaper and easier to recycle.
Projects include a consortium led by LiNa Energy that will develop a new sodium nickel chloride battery system, which aims to improve cell performance and manufacturing optimised for scale-up, decarbonisation and recycling.
Another, led by Anaphite, is developing faster charging batteries by incorporating graphene into the battery cathode.
This latest round of funding comes shortly after the official opening of UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) on 15 July. Based in Coventry and part-funded through the Faraday Battery Challenge, UKBIC is a is battery manufacturing development facility, which provides a link between battery technology and mass production.
Several of the funded projects will be based at UKBIC, including one to test the feasibility of manufacturing Ultra Power (UP) cells in the UK at volume manufacturing scale. Traditional batteries often struggle to cope in situations where they need to release a lot of energy very quickly, for example in battery hybrids or in power tools.
The UP cells are designed to release energy quickly, not overheat during fast charging and have an extended lifespan. Working with UK companies to design products specifically around the UP cells, the project aims to give UK engineering companies a competitive advantage.
Tony Harper, challenge director for Faraday Battery Challenge at UK Research and Innovation, said: “Since 2017 the Faraday Battery Challenge has been supporting the UK’s battery companies to produce batteries that are more cost effective, more efficient, charge faster and can easily be recycled.
“This new round of funding enables us to support companies across the battery supply chain and build on the UK’s world class research and innovation. One project, Power-UP, combines industry partners with input from the UKBIC and the Faraday Institution to deliver a product that has the potential of being a best-in-class cell with unique selling points.”
