Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TwinVECTOR (TWINNING FOR DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD-CLASS NEXT GENERATION BATTERIES)
Période du rapport: 2022-11-01 au 2025-10-31
New battery technologies that are affordable and sustainable over the entire life cycle are crucial to achieve the goals of the European Green Deal. The EU project TwinVECTOR was successfully concluded after a three-year period, having met its objectives to significantly enhance the research and innovation capacity of the centre of excellence at the Tomas Bata University (TBU) in Zlín, Czech Republic. With the support of the consortium partners, the project achieved a technical and institutional expansion of the TBU centre, enabling multidisciplinary national and international project teams to effectively network, create synergies, and collaboratively advance battery energy storage technologies. The project, which was supported by the EU with EUR 1.3 million, successfully fostered cooperation among five partners from the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, and Austria, and established a strong, sustainable foundation for future research in this critical area.
The consortium behind the EU project TwinVECTOR addressed the challenge of sustainable battery technologies by expanding and significantly strengthening the centre of excellence at the Tomas Bata University (TBU) in Zlín. A major achievement was the establishment of a network of international players from both science and business, creating a knowledge pool for accelerating new battery energy storage technologies, spanning the full range from laboratory research to market deployment. Key research activities were concentrated on the development of sustainable batteries across their entire life cycle. This effort included a strong focus on developing sustainable materials (e.g. renewable or bio-based) for advanced lithium-ion batteries, targeting goals of achieving higher energy density with lower costs and sustainability in production. The project strengthened TBU's research capacity through the transfer of diverse expertise from project partners: the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (VTT, Finland) provided essential knowledge in material development, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, Germany) contributed its significant expertise in the field of life cycle analysis (LCA), the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT, Austria) offered specialised knowledge in energy storage systems integration, and BayFOR supported TBU with project management competence. This concerted, three-year effort has resulted in an extensive upgrade of the TBU centre, enabling it to function as a fully networked and highly capable international hub for sustainable battery research.
The pooling of research capacities successfully generated new research ideas, reflected in a number of scientific publications, conference presentations, enhanced international networking, and the preparation of follow-up EU projects. The project facilitated valuable internal development and exchange between partner institutions, which notably sharpened the research profile of TBU scientists and expanded the expertise of administrative staff through dedicated training and active project management participation. Numerous workshops were organized on crucial topics such as EU research funding (application writing and project management) and cutting-edge methodological trends like advanced life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economics modelling. The partner Bavarian Research Alliance GmbH (BayFOR, Germany) provided continuous essential support in all matters relating to successful research funding acquisition, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the activities.