Granite - Passenger Car Solid State Battery

"The Government's Faraday Battery Challenge program is supporting an exciting research project to bring solid-state batteries much closer to market in future electric vehicles.

The main advantage of solid state batteries (SSBs) lies in their increased safety, power performance, enhanced cycle life and increased energy density as compared to current Lithium-ion cells. This should translate into electric vehicles which can travel much further between charges, simpler battery pack designs and faster re-charging when it is necessary. This would ease any remaining customer worries about long charging delays or running out of power on long trips and help more people make the switch to electric motoring.

However, solid state battery technology is still in its infancy and no one has yet worked out how to deploy the science on an industrial scale and at reasonable cost.

Project Granite will explore the cost-effective routes for scaling up the solid-state technology developed by Ilika, a pioneering leader in this technology, with the support of AGM Batteries, which has industrial experience in manufacturing Lithium-ion cells. The project is led by Jaguar Land Rover, which will develop the new battery pack designs to fit within their future electric vehicles. Warwick Manufacturing Group will supply academic excellence in abuse modelling and cell performance evaluation.

The consortium's expertise, backed by Government financial support, will allow Britain's best talent to be brought to bear, so that the UK can take the lead in this transformative technology."