$36 Million Awarded For Battery R&D

Some $36 million to support 22 research projects was awarded last week by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to fund development of energy storage systems for electric vehicles. The projects, DOE says, are intended to improve electric-vehicle driving range and reduce vehicle costs through innovative chemistries, architectures, and designs. They focus on the total vehicle battery system, DOE says, rather than the usual approach of increasing the energy density of individual battery cells. For example, Colorado company Solid Power will receive $3.5 million to develop a solid-state lithium-ion battery that reduces protective packaging, cost, and vehicle weight, DOE says. A University of California, San Diego, project will get $3.5 million to engineer a low-cost, low-weight battery redesigned to be an integral part of a vehicle’s support structure. These two projects were among those receiving the most funding; the majority received less than $1 million, according to DOE. The overarching goal of this funding effort is to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and provide low-cost, low-carbon-emission alternatives to current vehicles.