£11 million awarded to support battery technology innovation

UKRI’s Faraday Battery Challenge (FBC), delivered by Innovate UK, has awarded grants to 20 battery tech innovators.

The FBC aims to accelerate the development and commercialisation of state-of-the-art battery technologies in the UK and support growth of the supply chain in the UK battery sector.

The competition was open to two types of projects, covering early stage feasibility studies, and more advanced R&D, with a total of £11 million in funding support available.

Applicants were measured on their projects’ potential to be cost-effective, long-lasting, and sustainable, to help the UK automotive sector meets its net zero commitments.

Successful proposals included

Project DANCER – a collaboration between Echion Technologies and Warwick Manufacturing Group, which has been awarded two grants totalling £1.46 million to target the swift commercialisation of Echion’s fast-charging battery material (XNO) to improve lithium-ion battery performance. The projects focus is on developing a unique cell design that meets customer specifications and exceeds 2025+ automotive market requirements.

Project AEROPROOF – Led by Thermulon Ltd, in collaboration with University of Southampton and CPI, the project has been awarded grants totalling just under £550,000, which looks to use Thermulon’s superinsulating aerogels to reduce Thermal Runaway in Lithium-Ion batteries; where a cell heats in an uncontrolled manner, breaching the safe operating temperature and triggering a domino effect on the rest of the module. The project will develop the UK’s first aerogel-based EV Thermal Runaway barrier, designed to prevent such thermal incidents.

Project LIBerate – A new project, led by Cellmine Ltd, in collaboration with RS Bruce and the University of St Andrews, LIBerate, has been awarded just over £525,000. The project aims to improve the recycling of lithium batteries, which has proved a significant challenge for the sector. With 730,000 tonnes of battery waste expected by 2030 per year, the project’s innovative processes could revolutionise the recycling of cathode metals to prevent unsustainable landfill waste for the UK.

The flourishing UK battery technology industry will play a critical role in meeting our net zero targets and decarbonising the transport sector. We want to accelerate its growth, generate high value and high tech jobs, and also support individual projects that have significant potential to improve the performance of batteries.

This new round of funding enables us to support companies across the battery supply value chain and build on the UK’s world class research and innovation. Each of the FBC grant winners now have the necessary funding to begin pursuing their respective battery innovations. With our support, they’ll be able to progress their projects towards commercialisation, generating real impact on our day-to-day lives.

Tony Harper, Challenge Director of Faraday Battery Challenge

Other grant winners include

Innovation Feasibility

• BATRI LTD
• GENCOA LTD
• ILLUMION LTD
• FLUOROK LTD
• UPGRADE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING LTD
• THE GRAPHENE CORPORATION LTD
• CDO2 LTD
• THERMULON LTD
• ALTILIUM METALS LTD
• BARUCH ENTERPRISES LTD
• HY-MET LTD

Innovation Collaborative R&D

• BREATHE BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES LTD
• SIGMA LITHIUM LTD
• IONETIC LTD
• ECHION TECHNOLOGIES LTD
• KW SPECIAL PROJECTS LTD
• AVOCET BATTERY MATERIALS LTD
• CELLMINE LTD
• EATRON TECHNOLOGIES LTD

Find out more about UKRI’s Faraday Battery Challenge. Join the growing community of organisations working on battery technology in the UK, visit the UK Batteries Network.