BATTECH, southern Europe’s leading centre in battery R&D, is taking part in the Battery Show Europe fair, held this week in Stuttgart, where it will present the latest innovations in the field of e-mobility, with projects aimed at developing batteries for electric vehicles that are lighter, more sustainable and free from critical materials such as cobalt.
Sponsored and founded by the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) and the Eurecat technology centre, BATTECH provides specialised research, development, testing and innovation in the field of batteries to boost knowledge transfer to industry in this field, from a perspective focused on the circular economy and sustainability to cover the entire battery value chain as a leading R&D centre.
Alberto Gómez, BATTECH’s technology lead, notes that this joint research unit ‘covers everything from developing the materials that make up the cells, as fundamental parts of the batteries, to integrating large batteries into energy systems and sustainable mobility, as well as battery second life and recycling’.
In this vein, the European MARBEL project, coordinated by Eurecat, is developing a new lighter and more sustainable battery concept with higher energy density and shorter charging times to fast-track mass market adoption of electric vehicles.
To that end, Gómez, who is also the technical coordinator of the MARBEL project, explains that, to achieve this, a new compact, modular, weight-optimised and high-performance battery pack will be designed, developed and manufactured, designed from the outset with a view to second use and recyclability. It will feature ‘longer life and greater energy efficiency in charging and energy use based on a robust and flexible battery management system (BMS) along with ultra-fast charging’.
The COBRA project, on the other hand, led by the IREC, is developing a new unique and cobalt-free battery system that combines various features, including superior energy density, low cost, increased cycles and reduced critical materials to overcome many of the current shortcomings in electric vehicle batteries.
The COBRA coordinator at the IREC, Jordi Jacas, emphasises that ‘cobalt is a scarce and polluting material and we’re really close to being able to replace this critical element without losing any battery performance’. Moreover, ‘we put a lot of effort into improving the environmental sustainability of the overall system to reduce its carbon footprint’, he adds.
For Jacas, the project’s innovation ‘ensures easy adaptation to production lines and higher market uptake, while it also helps to strengthen Europe’s position in this field’.