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Public Funding for Cheesecake Energy Limited

Registration Number 10317962

EVT-M3 - Manufacturing the transition to zero emission fleets

305,832
2021-08-01 to 2022-03-31
Collaborative R&D
Project EVT-M3 focuses on making affordable and climate-friendly energy storage systems to support EV charging. Such energy storage systems are needed to smooth-out the flows of power from (and to) the electricity grid so that very expensive grid upgrades can be avoided and so that maximum use can be made of locally-generated renewable energy from wind turbines and PV panels. EV-Tanker represents a breakthrough in the affordability of energy storage technology for charging EV fleets whilst having an environmental footprint approximately 20% that of an equivalent lithium-ion battery system. It is based on innovative design work by Cheesecake Energy Ltd (CEL), a spin-out from over a decade of research at University of Nottingham. To date CEL has filed 10 patents for its designs which bring together the low cost of thermal storage, the turnaround efficiencies of compressed air energy storage, together with the long life and robustness of a mechanical system, making a game-changing technology in a modular containerised package. The EV-Tanker designs have been assembled into a first-of-a-kind minimum-viable low-pressure system. The EVT-M3 project will design the remaining two stages of the air compression system, doubling performance and capacity. It will also "productionise" the already completed low-pressure stage, driving out cost and preparing the scale-up of manufacture and assembly processes to reach economies of scale. With EV-Tanker in the market place, EV charging solution providers will be able to incorporate it into their customer offerings displacing mainly Chinese lithium-ion based products. It is expected that this could lead to over 400 high value UK manufacturing jobs within 5 years, and a $1bn export opportunity by 2030\. Fleet operators can charge double the number of vehicles from the same size of grid connection, making the transition of a fleet of diesel vehicles into EVs economically and technically feasible where it would not otherwise be. It also facilitates charging these vehicles using on-site renewable generation at any time of day or night. Taken together these benefits could result in lifetime savings of over 13MT of CO2 emissions from EV-Tanker units anticipated to be shipped in 2026 alone, with manufacturing scaling up rapidly after that.

Isobarix: Unlocking constant-pressure gas storage

248,941
2021-07-01 to 2022-08-31
Collaborative R&D
Those familiar with TV weather forecasts will likely have heard the term "Isobar", which is a contour of constant pressure. Isobarix is all about storing energy gases in tanks at constant pressure irrespective of how full/empty the tank is. The gases of most interest in this project are (i) compressed air, (ii) pressurised hydrogen and (iii) compressed natural gas (CNG). On weather maps, pressures vary by only a few tens of milli-bars between lowest and highest pressure points (<1% of 1bar). Hydrogen is typically stored at 700 bar (~700 times atmospheric pressure) and CNG is typically stored at 250 bar -- as is compressed air for energy storage purposes. The physical properties of the gas determine the optimal storage pressure in terms of carrying the greatest amount of energy for the lowest mass of tank - and correspondingly the lowest cost. Storing gas at constant pressure has multiple advantages: (i) the compression/expansion machinery always operates at the same conditions so that performance can be optimised specifically for that one operating point, (ii) all of the gas present at full charge can be extracted, rather than having to stop withdrawing gas when the pressure in the tank gets too low, (iii) stresses in the tank walls do not cycle up and down, consuming fatigue life of the tank, (iv) it is not necessary for heat to flow through the tank walls in order to keep gas temperature constant and (v) the same hardware used for isobaric gas storage can serve directly to perform over-pressure tests at no additional cost. Cheesecake Energy Ltd (CEL) is focused on developing energy storage systems especially suited to supporting electric vehicle charging stations and enabling high penetrations of solar power. Although two-thirds of the electricity is stored in the form of heat, these systems rely on storing pressurised air at constant pressure to hold the remaining third. These air stores are the single largest system cost. If CEL can determine a full solution to the problems associated with isobaric storage, it will not only have found a major cost reduction for its energy storage systems but will also have solved problems for the emerging hydrogen economy and also for the CNG industry for refuelling low-emissions freight transport over the coming decade.

Magneto Poppets

99,505
2020-11-01 to 2021-04-30
Collaborative R&D
Some supercars like the _Koenigsegg Gemera_ exploit controlled valve actuation systems to enable the engine to open its valves at different times during the engine cycle (or not at all) depending on the running condition. In effect, the _Magneto-Poppets_ project aims to achieve what the Koenigsegg cars achieve -- at about one hundredth of the cost and with significantly lower losses. In the (non-electric) car industry, the term _variable valve timing_ (VVT) describes what internal combustion engine (ICE) manufacturers desperately want to achieve -- the capability to open and close poppet valves at different points in the engine cycle depending on the running condition at the time. The _Magneto-Poppets_ project will develop and prove a new approach to the control of poppet valves - valves that open and close at very high rates to control the flows of gases. The most common present-day use for poppet valves is in ICEs where these valves can often be opening and closing over 50 times within a second - or more. There are other applications. The main motivating application here is a class of machines for performing energy storage. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) and pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) systems both rely on efficient compression and expansion of gas and ex-service truck engines to provide an extremely low-cost base from which to develop these. ICEs compress and expand gas in the same device so it is not surprising that the same basic valve action should be relevant in compressors, expanders and engines. What poppet valves must do is simple to describe - but rather more difficult to engineer. These valves must toggle between the "open" and "closed" states. Invariably, the valve holds position for a while in one state before transiting to the other. Shorter transits are always preferable for good machine performance. The vast majority of all poppet valves are opened by cams (non-circular shapes fixed onto shafts) and closed again by stiff return springs. Cam action causes very substantial losses in friction. Despite this, most production car engines with any VVT capability still use cams. In theory, there are numerous possible alternatives to cam-driven poppet valves. However matching the performance of cams is very difficult because the accelerations are so high. One valve might have to transit a 5mm distance in <1 milli-second (one thousandth of a second). The peak acceleration required for this is \>2,000g. No direct electrical actuation comes close to achieving this. The solution developed by Cheesecake Energy Ltd (CEL) emerges from looking at the problem a different way around. Instead of wondering how we can possibly accelerate the valve mass at such high rates, CEL instead considered how we can "grab" the valve mass at one extreme of motion prior to releasing it again at a controllable time. Between release on one side and catch on the other side, the valve is in free flight -- accelerated and then decelerated by a simple spring. CEL's magnetic latch design handles the rest.

EV Tanker - Deploying thermal and compressed air energy storage for electric vehicle charging

174,721
2020-10-01 to 2021-06-30
Collaborative R&D
Electrification of transport is the single greatest opportunity to cause dramatic reductions in carbon emissions and air quality concerns from road usage. Achieving these high-priority aims calls for rapid and widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) across the UK. As more people switch to EVs, cities will need to think how to provide charge to all those new vehicles. Retrofitting petrol stations and parking spaces with EV charging points is only part of the solution. Many of the existing petrol stations or new sites looking to install EV chargers will discover that the grid connection available cannot handle those levels of power. In many cases, upgrading the connection is infeasible as it is a very expensive and lengthy job. Energy storage can help solve this issue. Charging stations can charge their energy store when there are no EVs around at a rate that is manageable for their grid connection. When called upon, the energy store can provide charge at a much faster rate than the grid connection alone would be able to. This approach allows installing EV chargers without upgrading the grid connection and it also allows the stations to reduce their electricity costs by charging the store at off-peak times. Lithium-ion batteries from EVs could be used for this; however, they are expensive and they entail the mining of materials that are difficult to recycle, causing negative environmental impacts. CEL is developing a new, green, and cost-effective energy storage system for EV charging stations called EVTanker. The system takes electricity from the grid and stores a part of it as heat and another part as pressurised air. The system uses electrically driven ex-service truck engines as the power-conversion machines for putting electricity into storage and withdrawing it when needed. Some key features of EVTanker are that: its elements are highly sustainable, it's safe and straightforward to operate, its main components will last for decades and it costs less than the cheapest lithium-ion batteries. CEL has developed a prototype system to demonstrate the technology. The objective of this project is to take the technology from a full-scale laboratory prototype to a deployed pilot system. We will install and commission the pilot system at a local county council's vehicle depot, where it will be tested under real-life conditions. CEL will partner with Open Energi to develop a robust control unit, which is one of the main prerequisites for transforming the laboratory prototype into an operational pilot plant. The control system will allow operating the system remotely and monitor the 'health' of different components. It will also be capable of scheduling charge/ discharge cycles to meet specific objectives, such as minimising electricity costs or ensuring that the energy store is charged using the greenest electricity possible. At the end of this project, CEL will have installed, commissioned and tested the first energy store of this kind with a customer in the UK. The project will help boost the country's uptake of EVs and propel us towards a net-zero future.

MoCha - TheMES: Motorway Charging using Thermo-Mechanical Energy Storage

0
2019-12-01 to 2022-10-31
Small Business Research Initiative
The future of road transport is electric. The electric vehicle (EV) revolution has been extraordinarily rapid and every major vehicle manufacturer now has plans in place to replace conventional vehicles with EVs. This will make major contributions to improving air quality and will enable a more digitally-integrated transport system. Charging infrastructure for EVs is relatively straightforward if suitable electricity grid infrastructure is already in place. This is not the case. At present, the UK consumes more energy each year to power its transport than the entire amount of energy delivered over the electricity grid in the same year. Thus, as EVs continue to grow, they will quickly overwhelm the existing electrical grid infrastructure at certain critical locations, most notably in the distribution network. The electrification of transport will clearly require major upgrades to both the UK's generation fleet and its transmission and distribution networks. Given time and investment, these upgrades are achievable - but the rate of EV introduction means that they will be substantially behind the curve. Moreover, grid reinforcements alone will not provide a complete solution - or an economic one. We would still need major new sources of flexibility in the electricity system somewhere AND the utilisation of a high proportion of that new grid would be very low. MoCha TheMES is about solving that problem in a way that is: (1) very cost effective, (2) environmentally friendly, (3) highly conducive to the development of new internationally-leading business streams in the UK and (4) also very compatible with export to developing countries to assist them in evolving combined energy and transport systems that can leapfrog infrastructure investments made in developed markets. The MoCha TheMES solution hinges around providing local energy storage at each EV charging location on motorways and major trunk roads. This local storage assists in integrating renewable energy generation directly into support for the future EV charging network and enables high-power charging to be accessible at charging stations during periods of peak demand even though the grid connections of such stations are not yet sufficiently strong to support these charging powers directly. Cheesecake Energy Ltd. (CEL) proposes to lead this project. CEL has proven the feasibility of its thermo-mechanical energy storage system and is ready to implement the prototype. The CEL system combines electricity storage in the form of compressed air with storage in the form of heat at very low cost.

MoCha - TheMES: Motorway Charging using Thermo-Mechanical Energy Storage

0
2019-09-01 to 2019-10-31
Small Business Research Initiative
TITLE: MoCha TheMES: Motorway Charging using advanced Thermo-Mechanical Energy Storage. The future of road transport is electric. For cars, this has been evident for over two years. Today it is fairly broadly accepted that this is also true for all vehicles ranging from motorcycles to HGVs. The electric vehicle (EV) revolution has been extraordinarily rapid and every major vehicle manufacturer now has a clear set of plans in place to replace products powered by internal combustion engines with EVs. EVs will make major contributions to improving air quality and to enabling a more digitally-integrated transport system. The development of a charging infrastructure has not kept pace with the roll-out of EVs, leading to a major opportunity. Charging infrastructure is relatively straightforward if suitable electrical grid infrastructure is already in place. This is not the case. At present, the UK consumes more energy each year to power its transport than the entire amount of energy delivered over the electricity grid in the same year. Thus, as EVs continue to grow, they will quickly overwhelm the existing electrical grid infrastructure at certain critical locations, most notably in the distribution network. The electrification of transport will clearly require major upgrades to both the UK's generation fleet and its transmission and distribution networks. Given time and investment, these upgrades are achievable - but the rate of EV introduction means that they will always be substantially behind the curve. Moreover, grid reinforcements alone will not ever provide a complete solution - or an economic one. We would still need major new sources of flexibility in the electricity system somewhere AND the utilisation of a high proportion of that new grid would be very low. MoCha TheMES is about solving that problem in a way that is: (1) very cost effective, (2) environmentally friendly, (3) highly conducive to the development of new internationally-leading business streams in the UK and (4) also very compatible with export to developing countries to assist them in evolving combined energy and transport systems that can leapfrog infrastructure investments made in developed markets. The MoCha TheMES solution hinges around providing local energy storage at each EV charging location in the tightly interconnected set of UK motorways and major trunk roads. This local storage assists in integrating renewable energy generation directly into support for the future EV charging network and enables high-power charging to be accessible at charging stations for relatively short periods of time even though the grid connections of such stations are not yet sufficiently strong to support these charging powers directly. Cheesecake Energy Ltd. (CEL) proposes to lead this project. CEL has a design for a specific Thermo-Mechanical Energy Storage System at the stage of an unproven but conceptually well-developed concept. The CEL system combines electricity storage in the form of compressed air with storage in the form of heat at very low cost.

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