Faraday Battery Challenge Round 6: collaborative R&D

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• collaborate with other UK registered organisations
• be or involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but are not considered to be collaborators.

A UK registered business can lead and be included as a collaborator on any number of applications.

An academic institution, RTO, charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can collaborate on any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have total costs between £300,000 and £2.5 million
• start on 1 November 2023
• end by 31 January 2025
• last between 6 and 15 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

You must demonstrate how your technology will address at least one of the following battery performance metrics:

• reduce cost at the cell and pack level, as well as minimising manufacturing costs
• increase energy density (Wh/kg) at cell and pack level
• increase power density (W/kg) at cell and pack level
• increase safety by reducing or eliminating thermal runaway risk
• increase first life by lengthening cell and pack life
• broaden the temperature ranges that a pack efficiently operates at
• increase predictability by developing ways to better predict range and battery health
• increase recyclability by designing for end-of-life or reuse and improving recycling techniques
• increase sustainability by reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption and improving resource efficiency

We are particularly interested in funding projects that will enable:

• a competitive and sustainable nickel-rich UK battery supply chain
• high performance, high-value, modest volume applications where UK has established and emerging strength
• low cost, appropriate energy density solutions, at pack level, for applications requiring lower performance and low cost
• greater than 350Wh/kg energy density at pack level
• improved fast charge capability for specific applications
• high cycle life and reduction of battery degradation
• battery safety to enable higher performance
• total end to end life cycle sustainability, including reduction of energy consumption and carbon emissions, across the battery supply chain and throughout battery life
• increased equipment manufacturing capability for state of the art batteries within the UK
• enhanced digital capability across the battery value chain, for example big data and AI for materials discovery, design optimisation and performance verification and digitisation of the end to end bill of process or of provenance and state

For CR&D we encourage applications that:

• support development and qualification of battery technology supply chains in the UK
• prove technology for specific applications
• prove cell material and component performance at module and pack level

Your project must target performance requirements for automotive applications. This includes:

• on and off-highway vehicles
• medium and heavy goods vehicles
• passenger cars and vans
• buses
• motorsport
• e-motorcycles

Your project can:

• target applications with performance requirements that are related to automotive performance requirements
• develop breakthrough technologies that have the potential for widespread sectoral adoption.

You must clearly demonstrate your understanding of the performance synergies and route to market in your application.

Your project must focus on one or more areas of the battery value chain:

• raw materials
• cell materials and cell components
• modules, packs, battery management systems and their components
• recycling and second life

Your project activities may require one of the following:

• an Environmental Permit (England and Wales)
• an Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland and Northern Ireland) Permit
• a Waste Management Licence (Scotland and Northern Ireland)
• compliance with the Waste Battery and Accumulator Regulations (UK)

Further information can be found here:

Check if you need an environmental permit – GOV.UK

Environmental management : Environmental permits – detailed information – GOV.UK

Get an opinion from the definition of waste service – GOV.UK

Innovate UK reserves the right to share information regarding your grant application with the Environment Agency where Innovate UK perceives there to be a need for environmental compliance documents in place in order to conduct project activities.

Innovate UK KTN held an online briefing on Tuesday 17th May, 10am-12:30pm. Click here to watch the recording and view the slides.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK KTN’s Batteries team.