Battery Development

Graz University of Technology has received approval for the new COMET K1 Center “Battery4Life”. Led by Christian Ellersdorfer from the Institute of Vehicle Safety, the center aims to make batteries safer, more durable and more sustainable. The project is being funded with almost 19 million euros. Of this amount, 6.5 million euros will be provided by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency. Additional funding will be provided by the federal states of Styria and Upper Austria, as well as by industrial partners from the automotive and electronics industries. The project is scheduled to run for a period of four years. Focus on Safety and Sustainability The center will build on the results of the previous COMET project SafeLIB and use the Battery Safety Center Graz as a test environment. One focus is on improving battery technology using experimental and virtual methods, complemented by artificial intelligence approaches. The goal is to make more accurate predictions with fewer experiments and less computation. Another research focus is the evaluation of the safety status of used batteries to enable their reuse as stationary energy storage.  Source:https://www.tugraz.at/en/tu-graz/services/news-stories/media-service/singleview/article/battery4life-neues-comet-zentrum-unter-federfuehrung-der-tu-graz

In Stuttgart, Mercedes-Benz has opened an eCampus for the development of cells and batteries for future electric vehicles. The goal is to reduce battery costs by more than 30 percent over the next few years.

Geely Auto Group from China has presented a new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery in blade format, claiming the battery features high energy density, compact design, and improved safety.

A new white paper describes procedures and potential challenges in manufacturing solid-state battery cells in the laboratory. It is available as a free download.

DEKRA has begun construction of a battery test center at Lausitzring where systems for electric vehicles and other applications are to be tested from mid-2025.

South Korean company SK On has announced that it has co-developed a polymer electrolyte for lithium metal batteries that can be operated at room temperature.

German battery company “theion” has opened a technology center in the Berlin Adlershof Science and Technology Park. The facility will be used to further develop the companyʼs sulfur crystal batteries.

Applied safety science specialist UL Solutions Inc. has acquired BatterieIngenieure GmbH from Aachen, Germany, to respond to the increasing demand for battery performance and safety testing.

Capgemini Engineering and PEM of RWTH Aachen University have published an in-depth analysis on the “Acceleration of Battery Cell Development”.

Under the leadership of Varta AG, the research project ENTISE, in collaboration with a consortium of 15 companies and universities, is dedicated to developing innovative cell chemistry for sodium-ion batteries. The three-year project, which begins on June 1st, aims to transfer this cell chemistry into functional formats. ENTISE stands for “Development of Sodium Ion Technology for Industrially Scalable Energy Storage.” The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports the project with around 7.5 million euros in funding. A vital component of the project is the production of sufficient quantities of the necessary materials to build robust laboratory samples and prototypes in round-cell design. In the final phase, scaling up and transferring to the pre-industrial sector (piloting) will produce a small series of round cells that enable a robust assessment of properties in practical scenarios. Sodium offers advantages as a raw material regarding accessibility, cost, safety, and recyclability. The challenge lies in transferring this technology into industrially viable and scalable cells, with ENTISE addressing this challenge. “This project represents a milestone in developing sustainable sodium-ion batteries for the German battery community,” says Rainer Hald, CTO of Varta AG. It underscores the need for further innovative and efficient storage technologies alongside the established lithium-ion technology to advance the future of decentralized energy storage and utilization.” Source: https://www.varta-ag.com/de/ueber-varta/aktuelles/details/varta-initiiert-und-koordiniert-neues-projekt-fuer-die-energiespeicherung-der-naechsten-generation