Businesses are being invited to bid for a share of up to £10 million to support the development of innovative battery technologies.

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is providing the funding for feasibility studies and research and development into promising new battery technologies, helping catalyse the route to commercialisation.

Projects can focus on a variety of improvements to battery technologies for the propulsion of EVs for automotive applications, as well as other sectors such as rail, marine, aerospace, defence or off-highway vehicles where innovation could meet challenging performance requirements or enable electrification.

Areas of work include cost reduction at the cell and pack level in manufacturing, increasing energy density of battery cells, eliminating thermal runway risks, lengthening cell and pack life, new models to better predict range and battery health as well as recyclability, including second life, design for end of life, reuse or recycling.

According to Innovate UK, the battery supply chain could be worth £12 billion to the UK economy by 2025 if the country can establish itself as a global leader in battery technology.

The deadline for applications is at 11am on 9th December 2020.

Projects can be led by a business of any size working with other businesses or researchers and last between three to 12 months.

Feasibility studies could range in size between £100,000 and £1 million while research and development projects could range in size between £300,000 and £1.5 million.