To date, the battery market is dominated by lithium-ion (Li-ion) chemistries, as the energy density has more than doubled and their costs have dropped by a factor of at least 10. However, conventional Li-ion batteries (LIB) are reaching their performance limits in terms of energy density and facing safety issues, is required the development and production of new battery generations, such as Solid-State Batteries (SSBs), to create a new industry value chain in Europe towards their commercialization. Consequently, high-energy-density EU-made SSBs will ensure the supply of, among others, the automotive sector. To do so, the development and deployment of new manufacturing technologies, enabling the large-scale production of SSBs, is crucial. Indeed, among the overarching themes to develop and produce sustainable batteries in the future, the BATTERY 2030+ roadmap4 considers manufacturability as a cross-cutting key area. Innovative and scalable manufacturing techniques to produce SSBs will accelerate cost reduction, energy savings, and enhanced safety. ADVAGEN will develop a new lithium metal (LiM) battery cell technology based on a safe, reliable, and high performing hybrid solid-state electrolyte (LLZO-LPS based), gaining a competitive advantage over the worldwide (mainly Asian) competition. This will sustainably strengthen the EU as a technological and manufacturing leader in batteries as specified in the ERTRAC electrification roadmap and SET-Plan Action Point-7. ADVAGEN consortium contains key EU actors in the battery sector, from industrial materials producers (SCHT, CPT, ABEE), battery manufacturer (ABEE) to R&D centers (IKE, CEA, IREC, TUB, CICe, POLITO, INEGI, UL, FEV) and the automotive industry (TME), covering the complete knowledge and value chain. By developing high-performance, affordable and safe batteries, ADVAGEN aims to re-establish European competitiveness in battery cell production.

AID4SME will facilitate SMEs in developing combined AI and data solutions for large scale resource optimisation challenges for industries that have significant impact on the objectives of the Green Deal. Minimum 20 SMEs, selected through 2 open calls, will receive FSTP to develop these solutions with the support of a Community of Practice (COP). The ambition is to create a COP that will continue after the project lifetime. AID4SME brings together 9 technology blocks and low-TRL playgrounds from 4 scientific partners, to educate and support the SMEs. Additionally, 4 large industry partners (from automotive, whitegoods, battery and energy sector) provide real-life large scale resource optimization challenges that require combined AI and data solutions, and high-TRL playgrounds to integrate and demonstrate the solutions.AID4SME offers an open platform that is flexible to bring in challenges from outside the consortium. AID4SME provides the infrastructure and learning environment that enable the SMEs to solve the challenges, demonstrate solutions and grow into impactful enterprises. The technology blocks cover a wide area of AI & data technologies for the full cycle of data collection, creation of insights, decision support and automation. These technologies have the potential to have significant impact on the Green Transition and boost EU competitiveness for industries. AID4SME will collaborate with the AI-on-Demand platform to enrich its repository with the AID4SME tools and framework, while it is open to deploy the tools/frameworks already available on the AI-on-Demand platform for new use cases. AID4SME will assess the impact of the developed technologies on Green Deal objectives and on social and human aspects. AID4SME brings along partners who are experienced in re-skilling and up-skilling of SMEs and applying standardization as enabler for exploitation. The wide geographical coverage, with partners and DIHs from all across Europe, ensures maximum impact.

eWAVE brings together 18 research, technology and shipbuilding experts to mature High-Voltage (HV) technology for electric vessels for future uptake in European shipbuilding sector, using efficient HV electric modular battery and distribution systems. It will research, develop and demonstrate solutions for sustainable maritime and inland vessels. However, the widespread adoption of such HV technology is hindered by several obstacles (e.g. current battery systems’ energy density, safety concerns, durable & sustainable materials), and, finally, economic viability/sustainability. This will be achieved by using new high-energy-density high-nickel-content batteries for waterborne applications in a lightweight housing made of recyclable thermoplastics, wired and wireless BMS solutions and multi-level converters that provide the required scalability for vessel systems up to 1MWh and far beyond. The battery system will be fostered by an integral safety system concept considering thermal runaway & ventilation, supported by an integrated real-time condition monitoring system using novel SoC/SoH algorithms and SoS estimation. The key results of eWAVE will be validated via laboratory and real-life vessel demonstrators. The applicability of the system will be investigated across multiple vessel types using an efficient modular digital twin to maximize industry uptake. To further improve circularity and sustainability of maritime battery systems, eWAVE will explore bio-based battery housings, a design for dismantling and recycling, the creation of a battery passport concept for the maritime sector, and potential 2nd life applications for the batteries. eWAVE’s HV technology solutions, tools and methods are expected to significantly improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of battery systems in shipping, thus supporting transition to all-electric shipping and contributing to the reduction of the environmental footprint of waterborne transport in the EU and far beyond.

The EXTENDED overall objective is to design, develop and validate the next-generation battery pack systems that will be an answer to the unmet need for mass-market take-up of electrical vehicles and applications by developing efficient, lightweight, eco-designed and multi-life battery pack systems with substantially reduced charging times, passenger car ranges beyond 500 km under normal driving conditions with an optimized energy storage capacity, a lifetime of at least 300,000 km and being monitored with an advanced Battery Management System developed for 1st and 2nd life. The developed technologies and solutions will be optimized for applications such as stationary and aeronautics. The battery system will be developed based on semi-solid-state battery technology with almost double energy density compared to conventional lithium ion batteries. This will be the first time that a large semi solid state battery cell (35Ah) will be implemented in EU research projects. A set of 6 Specific Research objectives (SROs) are defined below, which support the overall objective of the project, to develop the next generation battery pack system from its innovative elements and parts to a next generation battery pack system validated under real life conditions. The overall objective is besides specific research objectives also supported by a set of dissemination and exploitation objectives (DEOs, see section 2.2) and communication objectives (COs, see section 2.2.1). To achieve those challenging and innovative targets, the EXTENDED project is composed of 19 partners from 10 EU countries. The geographical distribution, expertise complementarity, positioning within the technology value chain, academic versus industrial profiles and recognizable completeness of this consortium.

Europe’s objective to have 30 million electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030 can only be achieved by large scale, in-house production of highly effective and performant batteries. Development of solid-state battery technologies could improve the energy density and safety of lithium metal solid state batteries. PULSELiON project aims to develop the manufacturing process of Gen 4b solid-state batteries (SSBs) based on lithium-metal anode, sulfide solid electrolytes, and Nickel-rich NMC cathode. Novel pulsed laser deposition technique developed by PULSEDEON will be adapted and modified into a single-step vacuum process for safe and efficient manufacturing of anode components composed of lithium metal, protective layers, and sulfide based solid electrolytes. The cathode layer will be made based on conventional wet processing techniques. Initially, the anode and cathode layers will be developed in small scale for making coin cells and monolayer cells for optimising the materials and process. SSB cells will be developed with optimised process routes and will be upscaled to a pilot line proof-of-concept (TRL 6) by manufacturing large scale solid-state batteries (10 Ah). Digitalisation will be incorporated in the process modelling task with the inputs obtained from process upscaling and cell testing tasks, which will enable efficient process optimisation.