Experts from University College London (UCL) will be developing batteries to enable electric vehicles to go further in between charges, after winning funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Faraday Institution Battery Challenge.
The £1.5m Silicon Anode Battery for Rapid Electrification (SABRE) project will develop battery cells with higher energy density, improving their ability to hold charge for longer, in response to the demand for increased electric vehicle (EV) driving range.
Professor Paul Shearing, UCL Chemical Engineering, said: “The Electrochemical Innovation Lab at UCL is delighted to partner with Nexeon and Britishvolt to translate our cutting-edge research to accelerate the development of advanced batteries to support the transition to net zero.”
Starting immediately, the SABRE project will run for 12 months and see the production of battery cells to test and validate the new cell design, with potential for a future scale-up.
Dr Scott Brown, CEO, Nexeon, said: “We are very excited to lead this important work and to collaborate with our partners in designing and producing higher performance battery cells. This project, and others like it, are important in building a UK-based lithium-ion battery capability and reducing risk in an increasingly competitive supply chain.”
The funding is part of the UKRI’s investment of £10m from the Faraday Battery Challenge to support collaborative R&D projects co-founded by industry and managed by Innovate UK on behalf of UKRI.
