The Battery500 Consortium— a collaboration of US laboratories and academia that includes Nobel Prize winners— has been awarded $75 million for the second phase of research on high-performing vehicle batteries.
The cash— $15 million a year over five years, subject to appropriations— was part of $209 million provided by the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) for advancing electric vehicles, batteries and connected vehicles.
Phase 2 will continue research on developing high-energy batteries with a specific energy up to 500Wh/kg, to meet Department of Energy performance and cost goals.
The collaboration brings together complementary skills and resources in materials, chemistry, condensed matter physics, batteries; and computation from multiple Department of Energy national laboratories, universities, and industry.
John Goodenough, engineering professor at University of Texas at Austin and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize recipient in chemistry for developing lithium-ion batteries, said: “We have come a long way with fundamental research and development that has led to widespread commercialization of lithium-ion battery technology.
“As we proceed with automobile electrification, long driving range between charges with acceptable cycle life is critical.”
Industry wide collaboration
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) leads the consortium, with collaborators continuing from Phase 1.
Those collaborators are: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Binghamton University, the University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Washington.
Tapped to join Phase 2 are scientists from Texas AM University, Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Maryland, and General Motors.
M. Stanley Whittingham, distinguished professor of chemistry at Binghamton University and co-recipient of the 2019 Nobel Prize, said the next phase of the research would allow the consortium to build on the success of the last five years.