The European Commission approved up to about €3.2 billion to fund research and innovation in the common European priority area of lithium-ion batteries.

The EC said Dec. 8 that seven of its member states agreed to provide the funding, which it expects to unlock another €5 billion in private investments. The member states are Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden.

The overall project is expected to be completed in 2031, with different timelines for each sub-project and four focus areas: raw and advanced materials; cells and modules; battery systems; and repurposing, recycling and refining.

The project will have 17 direct participants comprising companies from the seven member states. If the project is successful and generates extra net revenues beyond projections, the companies will return part of the taxpayer money received to the respective member states.

The participants are BASF, Eneris, Keliber, Nanocyl, Solvay, Terraframe, Umicore, ACC, BMW, Endurance, FAAM, SEEL, VARTA, Enel X, Kaitek, Elemental and Fortum.