A consortium of electric vehicle and low-carbon companies has launched a UK project to drive research into lithium-ion battery technology.
The £19.4 million project is being led by Japanese car manufacturer Nissan, with funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre.
The consortium also includes Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Hyperdrive, Newcastle University and Zero Carbon Futures.
The research will be based around Nissan’s Sunderland battery manufacturing plant, where the firm recently committed £26.5 million to create Europe’s largest lithium-ion EV battery plant.
Researchers at WMG will investigate ways to improve lithium-ion battery chemistry, manufacturing, and development of automated production processes.
David Greenwood, professor of advanced propulsion systems at WMG said his company had been working to improve lithium-ion battery energy densities for every cubic metre of material used.
“There is a lot of work going on (at WMG) at the microscopic scale, on the structuring of the electrode materials to give the greatest surface area for reactions to take place, and to allow the lithium ions to circulate freely through the carbon matrix,” he said.
