Next generation technologies for High-performance and safe-by-design battery systems for transport and mobile applications (Batteries Partnership)
Batteries are key for a climate neutral transport sector, which represents around 25% of the total CO2 emissions in the EU. The electrification of transport and mobile applications require high-performance and safe battery systems. In particular, fire is a critical safety risk for several transport modes.
Projects are expected to develop innovative battery systems technologies that will benefit several transport and mobile applications, by significantly improving performances and safety, as well as environmental sustainability and cost.
In order to leverage the full potential of the research ongoing in Europe at the battery material and cell levels, projects should consider the adaptation of battery system design to novel cell chemistries that will reach the market in the short-to-medium term (e.g. advanced lithium-ion or solid-state cells). Enhancing the cell-on-system volume ratio and/or weight ratio will increase the energy density and/or power density at the battery system level. More generally, projects should consider new technologies (battery system materials, mechanical design, electrical architectures, thermal management strategies, etc.) for enhancing performances and safety (for example, novel lightweight materials with optimum thermal characteristics to decrease battery module and pack weight and simultaneously enhancing safety; new dielectric cooling liquids with enhanced fire-retardant properties; etc.).
Manufacturability and recyclability should be explicitly addressed, in order to reduce the manufacturing, refurbishment, dismantling and recycling costs as well as the carbon footprint of the new battery systems.
Furthermore, the projects are expected to develop and assess methodologies to ensure the safety throughout the full battery lifetime.
The projects should focus on the battery system level, i.e. on the integration of battery cells into a battery system (e.g. a battery pack), considering mechanical, electrical and thermal aspects.
The integration of battery systems into larger systems of application (e.g. into vehicles) is out of scope for this topic, but obviously projects are expected to provide for requirements of the chosen use cases.
Project outcomes should be applicable to one or several use cases among the main transport or mobiles applications (such as road, waterborne, airborne and rail transport, as well as non-road mobile machinery and industrial applications), with the aim to maximise the impact on the European industry and on CO2 emission reduction. Projects may consider the key performance indicators proposed by Batteries Europe or by the dedicated Partnerships, reflected in the Partnership Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), to guide the technology developments on the application segments and use cases that will be selected. Some of the project results can also be relevant for stationary energy storage applications.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Towards a competitive European industrial battery value chain for stationary applications and e-mobility’.