New funding planned for projects to deliver breakthrough advances in sustainable propulsion battery technologies for electric vehicles.
The faraday battery challenge, part of UK Research and Innovation, and delivered by Innovate UK, is looking for projects that will deliver innovative developments in sustainable propulsion battery technologies.
The Faraday Battery Challenge Round 5 Innovation competition will invest up to £25 million, subject to business case approval. This will support technologies with the potential to enter the automotive market within the next decade.
Moving innovation forwards
The competition aims to move UK battery innovations from technological potential towards commercial capability. Additional aims are to develop and secure material and manufacturing supply chains for battery technologies in the UK.
It is designed to support the research and development of the most promising, innovative and sustainable battery technologies for the propulsion of electric vehicles in the automotive sector.
To be eligible for funding, projects must:
- be led by a UK-registered business or organisation of any size
- have total costs between £500,000 and £12 million for collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects or £100,000 and £750,000 for feasibility studies
- last up to 24 months for CR&D projects or up to 12 months for feasibility studies
- start on 1 January 2023
- carry out all project work in the UK.
Projects must balance specific technical, market and business requirements for developing emerging technologies and enable UK competitiveness across the battery value chain.
Interested parties must submit their funding application by 17 August 2022.
Seeking breakthrough advances
The Faraday Battery Challenge Round 5 Innovation competition is particularly interested in applications that use a combination of innovations in:
- process improvements
- cell chemistry
- cell to pack efficiency
- novel design concepts.
To achieve one or more of the following:
- high power and high energy density, where safety can enable high performance applications
- low cost and lower energy density technologies with lower reliance on critical minerals such as cobalt and nickel
- technologies enabling high cycle life
- technologies developing sustainable batteries, that for example:
- improve resource efficiency
- reduce energy intensity of processes
- increase recyclability
- building and securing the UK supply chain
- development of more efficient and globally competitive manufacturing processes.
Cross-sector technologies
The challenge will mainly focus on supporting technologies with the potential to enter the automotive market within the next 10 to 15 years.
But the faraday battery challenge will also support technologies that may achieve early or collaborative entry into other sectors on route to the automotive market.
The challenge is encouraging other sectors to work alongside automotive to maximise the technology benefits developed in this competition.
For example, where sectors may share similar battery performance requirements.
Supporting promising technologies
Tony Harper, Director of the Faraday Battery Challenge, said:
If the UK is to realise its commitment to move to full electrification and zero-emissions vehicles, we must support promising technologies.
At the same time, we need to build and secure a strong UK supply chain that will put the country at the forefront of innovation.
This new round of funding will enable us to help businesses build partnerships and de-risk innovation across the supply chain.
We will build on the UK’s world class research and innovation to move the industry forward.
Top image: Researching developments in battery technology. Credit: Warwick Manufacturing Group