The “SeNSE” undertaking started in 2020 and reached completion in early 2024. It concerned groups that addressed practically the whole worth chain of battery manufacturing, starting from the event of recent supplies to the scaling and set up in battery cells.
The ensuing pouch cells are roughly the dimensions of a smartphone and have been produced by the Austrian Institute of Know-how (AIT). These cells have been integrated right into a ready-to-use module just like these utilized in electrical autos, full with the mandatory electronics and software program, by FPT Motorenforschung AG, which is the innovation middle for the FPT Industrial model beneath the Iveco Group.
Based on Empa, the SeNSE module contains a number of developments in comparison with present battery know-how, boasting increased power density, a extra favorable environmental affect, fast-charging talents, and enhanced fireplace security. Empa notes that these enhancements have been achieved whereas sustaining cost-effectiveness. The cathode of the cell makes use of a diminished quantity of cobalt, and within the anode, a good portion of the graphite has been substituted with silicon.
Nonetheless, prototype cells nonetheless have some limitations. Challenge groups point out that the cells don’t but possess the specified degree of stability. Corsin Battaglia, the pinnacle of the laboratory, defined, “Now we have scaled up all new developments from laboratory to pilot scale. For manufacturing in a so-called gigafactory, corresponding to with undertaking associate Northvolt, which produces a number of gigawatt hours of batteries yearly, the whole materials manufacturing course of would should be scaled up once more, probably by an element of 1000.”
Battaglia additional shared, “We’re additionally researching battery applied sciences that would probably surpass lithium-ion batteries in sustainability, security, and power density. Nonetheless, it would take a number of years earlier than these will be industrially produced. Within the SeNSE undertaking, we aimed to develop applied sciences that might be put in in market-ready electrical autos inside a couple of years.”
The educational collaborators within the SeNSE undertaking included the College of Münster, the Helmholtz Institute Münster, Coventry College within the UK, the AIT Austrian Institute of Know-how, and the Middle for Photo voltaic Power and Hydrogen Analysis Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). Industrial collaborators comprised Northvolt, FPT Motorenforschung AG, the French start-ups Solvionic and Enwires, in addition to the chemical firm Huntsman, which has a analysis website in Basel.
Empa researcher Ruben-Simon Kühnel famous, “Now we have established a joint cluster for battery analysis, facilitating common exchanges of concepts and findings.” The SeNSE undertaking was certainly one of 4 battery analysis initiatives, and the coordinators of those initiatives have now launched a joint Horizon Europe analysis undertaking named IntelLiGent, which focuses on cobalt-free high-voltage cells for electrical autos.
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