Imanol Landa Medrano: Li-on bateriak
· ·
· ·
Imanol Landa Medrano: Li-on bateriak
The SPARTACUS project aims to reduce battery charging time by 20% with no negative effects on their useful life, using mechanical, acoustic and thermal sensors.
CIDETEC Energy Storage is aligned with the goal of achieving a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. On this intense path, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) will play a crucial role in decentralised energy supply and storage, as well as in electric mobility in the new socio-economic scenario on the horizon.
The SPARTACUS project aims to address the current limitations of LIBs by establishing a strategy to increase the charging speed by 20%, without negatively impacting battery life or safety. Currently, LIBs use centralised battery management systems (BMS) which, although designed to ensure safe and economical battery operation, do not allow the execution of physico-chemical ageing models, which are necessary to optimise the use of these batteries.
The project will provide insight into the reasons for the battery degradation, using built-in smart sensors in the cell. This information will be used to build models that will provide detailed information on the problems occurring inside the battery, in order to solve them, whilst always maximising the battery life. Using the data obtained, cell monitoring will also be improved to increase battery safety, avoiding overheating and the possibility of the batteries igniting.
CIDETEC Energy Storage’s main function will be to validate the developments obtained during the previous study at its facilities of the MUBIL Electromobility pole, one of the most complete poles in Europe in battery testing. After defining the sensor and the model’s functionality, the expected result will be analysed and, with this information, tests will be designed to evaluate the results of this project and validate the models, alongside the other partners.
Thanks to the knowledge generated in the SPARTACUS project, coordinated by the German Fraunhofer centre and with a budget of €4 million, we will establish ways to put LIBs on the market with a faster charging speed, reducing their danger to a minimum, and which will be more sustainable thanks to greater recyclability.
LiOn-HD has arisen with the aim of facilitating the evolution and transformation of the national industry towards the development of high-capacity materials, with the objective of developing the first Spanish high-energy-density lithium-ion battery, with special focus on sustainability, decarbonisation and electromobility.
One of the main challenges facing the automotive industry today is its transition towards sustainable and climate-neutral technologies. In the framework of the electrification of transport, batteries are a key enabling technology for this change. However, there are major technological challenges to meet current needs and achieve this transition to smart mobility.
Spain has the opportunity to create a critical mass of industry and knowledge along the battery value chain. For electrification to become a reality, it is necessary to have high-storage batteries with a minimum ecological impact, for which there are various lithium-ion battery technologies, where the active materials inside the battery mark the difference.
In a context in which there is no consolidated national industry for the manufacture and supply of battery materials, the LiOn-HD project has arisen with the main objective of significantly improving the energy density, cost and sustainability of lithium-ion batteries. For this purpose, novel research will be launched into advanced active materials and their synergistic combinations for the different components of the electrochemical cell (anode, electrolyte and cathode), surpassing their current limits.
Within the framework of Mission 2 for Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility, part of the Missions Programme at the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), LiOn-HD aims to lay the foundations for the establishment and deployment of a Spanish battery materials industry, adapting existing processes and developing new ones.
The consortium is made up of 8 R&D intensive companies at the forefront of their sectors. Under the coordination of SILICIO FERROLOSAR, Química del Nalón, NANOKER, RIMSA, ABCRLabs, GRAPHENEA, CUANTUM and Hi-IBERIA also participate, with the support of a total of nine research organisations: in addition to CIDETEC, CETIM, the universities of A Coruña, Santiago, Alicante, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and 3 centres attached to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Centre (CINN), Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM) and Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB).
CIDETEC Energy Storage collaborates with benchmark international companies in the sector, including manufacturers of battery materials, battery manufacturers, automotive OEMs and other intensive sectors in electrification and electrical storage. On this occasion, CIDETEC will contribute to the LIOn-HD consortium with its experience in the design and optimisation of electrode formulations based on the materials developed within the framework of the project, with a view to their validation in battery formats equivalent to the final product.
For this purpose, CIDETEC Energy Storage will scale up the most promising material combinations to higher capacity cells (up to 30-40 Ah). Different series will be manufactured at its pilot plant for the production of lithium-ion cells and electrodes. The cells manufactured from the materials generated in the LIOn-HD project will be subjected to an intensive testing and assessment programme, where the new Battery Testing Laboratory that CIDETEC has recently opened (February 2021) at the MUBIL Centre for Electromobility and Energy Storage will come into action.
The objective of this association is to turn Europe into a strategic and competitive location at a global scale for the production of batteries.
Two members of the BRTA, CIDETEC and CIC energiGUNE, are among the eight founding members of this organization, which has emerged from the project of the European Commission with the same name –LiPLANET- in order to facilitate the creation of a European ecosystem of innovation and production of lithium battery cells.
CIC energiGUNE, the Basque research center of reference in energy (batteries, thermal energy solutions, and hydrogen), and CIDETEC Energy Storage, applied research center with 25 years of experience developing energy storage technologies for the European industry, will participate as founding partners in the creation of the European association LiPLANET, whose main objective is to create a European NETWORK of R&D pilot lines for lithium batteries in order to contribute to the industrial development of Europe. This past May 7th, the first legal step was taken towards the foundation of the association, which will be initially constituted by eight European organizations.
“The possibility of generating synergies and, above all, of creating real opportunities of project development at an industrial level, is one of the key factors of this initiative”, has assured Nuria Gisbert, General Manager of CIC energiGUNE. “Through LiPLANET we can contribute to turning Europe into a protagonist in the field of lithium batteries and position itself as a strategic location for their production”, has manifested Oscar Miguel Crespo, director of CIDETEC Energy Storage.
As it appears in its statutes, the general objective of LiPLANET is to create a European ecosystem of innovation and production that leads to the construction of a more competitive industrial network in the field of lithium battery cell manufacturing. Likewise, it aspires to increase the production of lithium cells at an industrial scale, joining all the most relevant European pilot lines and the principal agents of the battery sector together.
In this sense, the LiPLANET association will highlight the importance of the work carried out in the project with the same name, and which was set in motion over less than two years ago, with the participation of CIDETEC Energy Storage. The tasks developed within the framework of this project have focused on, among others, the identification of the European research pilot lines for battery cells based on lithium, the implementation of the network in a sustainable business model, and the creation of a knowledge and data exchange platform as a basis for cooperation between the industry, science and the research pilot lines.
The organizations that, together with CIC energiGUNE and CIDETEC Energy Storage, have founded LiPLANET are: ABEE – Avesta Battery & Energy Engineering (Belgium), AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (Austria), Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany), CEA Liten (France), Fraunhofer ISIT (Germany) and ZSW (Germany).
The aim of the LiPLANET Network is to create a European innovation and production ecosystem and reinforce the position of the European Union (EU) in the Lithium battery cell manufacturing market. For that, as part of the Horizon 2020 program, the European Commission funded the LiPLANET project to lay the foundation for establishing the network during the two-year project runtime. Now, one year and a half later, the structures for a sustainable network have been established. The LiPLANET Network is now up and running as an Association in founding.
The Founding Event that took place this Friday May 7th is an important milestone as it officially marks the start up of the Network. This allows exploiting synergies between pilot line operators, identifying knowledge and equipment gaps, organizing joint trainings, as well collaborating with industry and academia, and facilitating the access to market for its stakeholders with the long-term goal of establishing Europe as an internationally competitive production site for batteries.
In anticipation of the creation of the Network, the following key activities have already been carried out within the project during the past months:
Currently, the LiPLANET Network is composed of the following 8 founding organisations:
Any further pilot line interested in joining the Network has to take the LiPLANET survey first and then, contact info@liplanet.eu for more information.
Project Data
The LiPLANET project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875479.
The core consortium of the project consists of the following partners:
Up-to-date information is published continuously on the website www.liplanet.eu.
Stay updated
Subscribe to our newsletters and discover our latest news, technology advances and events of interest.