Faraday Battery Challenge: Innovation R&D, Round 4
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £10 million in grant funding for innovation in electric vehicle battery technology. The aim of this competition strand is to support the research and development of the most promising innovative battery technologies for the propulsion of electric vehicles, building on the outputs of previous activity to accelerate towards commercialisation. Briefing recording now available.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
28/09/2020
Registration Closes
09/12/2020
Award
Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £300,000 and £1,500,000. Up to 70% of your costs can be covered, depending on the size of your organisation and how near to market your product is.
Organisation
Innovate UK
The ISCF Faraday Battery Challenge will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £10 million in innovation projects across the Feasibility Study and R&D strands of the Faraday Battery Challenge. These will be to support innovation in the design, development and manufacture of batteries for the propulsion of electric vehicles.
There are 2 strands to this competition: feasibility studies (accelerating battery technology development – click here for details of the feasibility study strand) and innovation R&D (building on the outputs of previous activity to accelerate towards commercialisation – this strand). Please ensure that you are applying for the appropriate strand.
View the briefing recording here.
The aim of this competition is to support the research and development of the most promising innovative battery technologies for the propulsion of electric vehicles, building on the outputs of previous activity to accelerate towards commercialisation.
To do this, we are encouraging 2 types of projects through this competition:
- new projects building on the outputs and outcomes of previously funded Innovate UK projects or activities
- new projects building on internal activity within the organisation
Your project must clearly demonstrate a significant value-add and exploitation from a preceding feasibility study, collaborative research and development project or previous non-grant-funded activity.
Your project must:
- have total eligible costs between £300,000 and £1,500,000
- plan to end by 31 March 2022
- last between 3 and 12 months
Any project building on the outputs or outcomes of previously funded Innovate UK project/activity must clearly show a significant value-add and exploitation from the former project.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research and technology organisations (RTO), public sector organisations or charities
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
We encourage you to include a partner with expertise in scaling of battery technologies.
Any eligible UK registered business can lead on any number of applications and collaborate on any number of further applications.
An academic institution or RTO cannot lead on an application but can collaborate on any number of applications.
The goal of the challenge is for the UK to become a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles. We expect successful projects to increase productivity, competitiveness and growth for UK businesses.
Your project can focus on technological improvements or developing new business models across the battery value chain, including but not limited to:
- cell materials and components
- cells
- modules and packs
- recycling
- enabling technologies
Your project can be focused on battery technology development for sectors outside automotive where:
- innovation is required to meet specific and challenging performance requirements and
- such improvements could enable electrification in that sector.
Potential sectors include:
- rail
- marine
- aerospace
- defence
- off-highway
We will support projects that address technical and commercial challenges across the battery supply chain. We welcome projects which transfer technology between sectors.
Specific themes
Your project can focus on one or more of the following:
- cost reduction – at the cell and pack level, as well as minimising manufacturing costs
- energy density – increasing Wh/kg per cell
- power density – increasing kW/kg per pack
- safety: eliminate thermal runaway risks for enhanced safety
- first life – lengthen cell and pack life
- temperature: broaden the temperature ranges that a pack efficiently operates at
- predictability – new models to better predict range and battery health
- recyclability – by enabling 2nd life, design for end of life, reuse, or recycling
- technologies enabling the efficient design, development, or manufacture of batteries
We are not funding projects which focus on:
- vehicle integration
- business as usual projects
- projects developing technology that cannot demonstrate a clear route to market i.e. fundamental research
- funding for capital equipment which could be accessed elsewhere
- R&D activity focused on early stage research
A briefing event was held on 28th September: the recording is now available.
If you want help to find a project partner, contact KTN’s Knowledge Transfer Manager – Infrastructure & Energy, Nikoleta Piperidou.
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