UK consortium to develop prototype solid-state batteries for EVs

Seven UK-based organizations have established a consortium to develop prototype solid-state batteries for the auto sector, the Faraday Institute and Britishvolt said Aug. 19.

The consortium also includes Johnson Matthey, UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, WMG University of Warwick, manufacturing equipment designer Emerson & Renwick, and Oxford University, which leads the Faraday Institution's solid-state battery project (SOLBAT).

The parties said the preliminary design for a prototyping facility had been developed and the consortium was looking for funding.

The facility will enable SSB technology to emerge from UK university laboratories and allow larger cells to be produced using scalable manufacturing techniques leveraging the collective knowledge of researchers and industrial partners.

The parties said SSBs offered "significant potential advantages over conventional lithium-ion batteries and could be transformational in meeting the UK's net zero commitments through the electrification of transport".

SSB's potential advantages over existing lithium-ion batteries include increasing EV range with the ability to hold more charge for a given volume and reducing costs of safety-management.

The UK is planning to ban the sale of new diesel and gasoline autos by 2030.

"The successful outcome of the collaboration would be to harness and industrialize UK academic capability to produce cells using highly scalable manufacturing techniques that leapfrog the cost-effectiveness and performance achieved elsewhere," the consortium said.

The Faraday Institution said it forecast SSBs were likely to take a 7% share of the global consumer electronics battery market by 2030 and a 4% share of the EV battery market.

Global SSB revenue from sales to EV manufacturers were expected to reach $8 billion by 2030 and then grow rapidly to 2040 and 2050 when the market became more extensive, it said.

Early deployment

The parties expect early deployment of SSBs to be in consumer electronics, niche automotive applications and unmanned aerospace, before being used in broader EV markets.

WMG High Value Manufacturing Catapult CEO David Greenwood said early forms of SSBs were already available but had yet to reach the level of solutions that were both mass-manufacturable and met the performance and cost targets for future transport applications.

"There remains huge opportunity for innovation in this space, and this initiative will provide the route for the UK to fast-track candidate technologies to industrialization," Greenwood said.

Britishvolt chief technology officer Allan Paterson said SSBs had the potential to increase energy density significantly over available battery technology and could change the world of EVs.

"Britishvolt will be at the forefront of commercializing this step change over the coming years. This collaboration, which includes major global industrial leaders... underscores another key objective in our technology road map – home grown intellectual property," Paterson said.

Faraday Institution CEO Pam Thomas said the organization would increasingly act as a trusted convener of significant partnerships between UK industry and academia as a route to commercialize breakthrough science emerging from research programs.

UK Minister for Investment Gerald Grimstone said the collaboration between industry, government and academic institutions was putting the UK at the forefront of efforts to develop innovative automotive technologies, such as SSBs.

Grimstone said the UK's research and development base, like those in the consortium, would provide the "tools needed to forge a strong and sustainable future for the automotive sector and increase our contribution to combating climate change".

Interest in developing SSBs has been heating up recently, with the UK earlier in 2021 having funded successful tests on a cobalt-free SSB system by LiNa Energy and ion Ventures that demonstrated costs under half those of comparable lithium-ion technology.

Elsewhere, automaker BMW Group announced plans in April to develop an SSB for use in EVs by the end of the decade, with the first demonstrator vehicle using the battery expected before 2025.

That was followed by an announcement in May by BMW and Ford that they had invested in SSB maker Solid Power's $130 million Series B investment round to secure batteries for their future EVs.