The UK government’s £10 million fund for innovative battery technologies for electric vehicles is now open for applications.
As part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Faraday Battery Challenge, a total of £317 million is available.
Of this, Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is distributing £10 million for projects focused on battery cost, efficiency and recycling. This includes cost reduction at the cell and pack level and in manufacturing, increasing energy density of battery cells and packs, and eliminating thermal runaway risks.
Other areas the group is focusing on include broadening the temperature ranges for efficient operation of a pack, developing new models to better predict range and battery health and next-generation battery technologies in general.
The competition for feasibility projects opened on Friday 9 October, with Innovate UK accepting applications until 11am on 9 December 2020. Projects that wish to participate can range in size from £100,000 to £1 million, and last between three and 12 months.
Similarly, the competition for research and development projects opened on Friday 9 October and will run until 11am on 9 December 2020. This is open to projects between £300,000 and £1.5 million that run over the same period.
According to BEIS, the battery supply chain could be worth £12 billion over the next five years, particularly driven by the growth in the EV market.
Already a number of funding schemes have been launched by the government to support the market, including £1.5m for smart EV charging projects and £12 million worth of funding for “ground-breaking research” into zero emissions transport, including EV charging.
