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Europe invests in research on the batteries of the future

The Battery 2030+ large-scale research initiative entered a new phase on 1 September 2020 with the start of 7 research projects. The total budget of the projects is €40,5 million funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

The BIG-MAP, INSTABAT, SENSIBAT, SPARTACUS, BAT4EVER, HIDDEN and the BATTERY 2030PLUS projects will work together within the Battery 2030+ initiative in order to create new generations of battery technologies. The research initiative aims to invent new type of batteries with ultra-high performance (both in power and in their capacity to store energy) that are safe and have the lowest environmental impact possible.

These technologies will strengthen Europe's research position in the field of batteries and fuel the longer-term competitiveness of a new European industry in a sector essential for the transition to electric mobility and for increasing the share of renewable energy.

The projects kick start the implementation of the research roadmap of Battery 2030+ published in March 2020. The document describes the research areas that will help the development of new sustainable batteries and contribute to the green future of Europe.

All projects will run for three years starting 1 September 2020. They involve altogether more than 100 different universities, research institutes and companies spread across Europe

Read more about the new phase of Battery 2030+ in their press release.

Background

To address the battery challenges, the European Commission launched the European Battery Alliance in October 2017 with the aim of creating a competitive European battery sector with sustainable battery cells at its core. In May 2018, the Commission published a strategic action plan on batteries setting out in detail how it proposes to achieve this goal. It acknowledges the need to mobilise industrial players and support the rapid development of battery manufacturing capacities in Europe as well as the importance of research into the next generations of high-performing batteries. To address the latter, one of the key measures announced in the plan is the development of a large-scale and long-term research initiative on future battery technologies, namely the Battery 2030+ initiative. The ultimate objective of Battery 2030+ is to foster the development of a competitive battery industry in Europe that will serve the needs of future carbon-neutral societies.

The Battery 2030+ initiative was launched in March 2019 and is currently supported by a new Coordination and Support Action (CSA), BATTERY 2030PLUS, started in September 2020. The CSA consists of 23 partners, leaders in their fields, from fourteen European countries. The initiative is coordinated by Kristina Edström, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, Uppsala University. The overall initiative aims at new battery technologies with ultra-high performance (both in power and in their capacity to store energy), and which are safe, easily re-chargeable, re-usable and recyclable, and have the lowest environmental impact possible. By focusing on radically new ideas and long-term approaches, it complements incremental research efforts on upcoming generations of batteries driven by the industry’s short to medium term needs.