With the UK's aim to ban combustion-engine sales by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the UK urgently needs highly innovative solutions to meet these targets. It also needs to maintain competitiveness in a global EV market expected to reach $68bn in 2022\.The project will utilise technology developed by Addionics for 3D current collector fabrication that has shown significant battery performance improvements. It will build on the earlier success of InnovateUK-funded project STELLAR. Addionics have developed their manufacturing technologies where they can be produced for integration at UKBIC. Addionics has developed an innovative chemistry agnostic technology and can leverage current state of the art battery chemistries. Addionics already offers immediate drop in 3D materials to many small coating lines placing the technology at TRL6 and MRL6\. Through validation of 3DCC at giga-scale the partners expect that adoption of Addionics 3DCC for existing battery technologies could quickly identify an opportunity to create value for the broader UK battery industry and define a totally disruptive approach. As such Addionics is looking to disrupt conventional approaches in cell innovation. Addionics intend to use every unit operation for cell assembly available for standard format pouch cells at UKBIC and validate the 3DCC technology. The project is targeting a complete cell development taking Addionics 3DCC material through mixing, coating, calendaring and slitting, up to cell assembly, formation and ageing. Access to UKBIC cutting-edge 'Giga-Factory' facility to help Addionics transfer development to production standard cells and market prove cells via sampling them to potential customers. Key objectives for this project include validating at commercially representative scales new verticals in cell manufacture through improvements to the manufacturing efficiency, performance and environmental profile of cells optimised for the automotive market.

With the UK's aim to ban combustion-engine sales by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the UK urgently needs highly innovative solutions to meet these targets. It also needs to maintain competitiveness in a global EV market expected to reach $68bn in 2022\. Project CONSTELLATION is aimed at improving the performance of EV battery cells, by bringing together the expertise of strategically important UK partners (Addionics, James Durrans, Centre for Process Innovation, Warwick Manufacturing Group) to improve the competitiveness of the UK battery supply chain and take technology already developed to TRL7, ready towards full commercialisation. Key objectives for this project include developing new verticals in cell manufacture through improvements to the manufacturing efficiency, performance and environmental profile of cells optimised for the automotive market. These will be achieved through improvements in novel current collectors designed by the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the formulation of customised electrodes in lithium-ion batteries using coating that can be robotically automated. New verticals will help reduce the time for scaling cell production resulting in lower costs for manufacturing and cost of ownership for the end-user. The project will utilise technology developed by Addionics for 3D current collector fabrication that has shown significant battery performance improvements. It will build on the earlier success of InnovateUK-funded project STELLAR to now take the work to TRL7\. Project CONSTELLATION will demonstrate minimal disruption to existing Gigafactories as it represents a 'drop-in' solution whereby affordable electrodes can be supplied to a variety of facilities. The output of the project will be commercialised directly in the UK and beyond.

The UK will ban the sale of new combustion-engine vehicles by 2030 and its aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050. The mass introduction of zero emission vehicles is gradual but irreversible. Electric cars overwhelmingly rely on battery technology. Therefore the UK must be at the forefront of design and manufacture of EVs and batteries. Consumer concerns are around cost, charging time, battery life and limited driving range, which severely impedes the sales of EVs. As such the UK is in urgent need of highly innovative solutions that can (i) overcome the aforementioned concerns and (ii) take a technological lead that generates employment and market competitiveness within a short timeframe. It will need better battery design and manufacturing to produce complex technologies at low cost that the market demands. The Stellar project addresses these challenges by providing innovative and scalable solutions. The project will utilise technology developed by partners for 3D electrode fabrication that has shown significant battery performance improvements. Modelling battery geometries and AI battery design will help address the thermal, energy density and mechanical issues that plague state-of-the-art batteries. This enables vertical integration into the cell manufacturing process through tailoring batteries for specific type of vehicles: fast charging times, increased energy density and power density can then all be engineered before fabrication. CPI will enable fabrication of 3D electrodes designs with optimised ink formulations for commercial applications using state-of-the-art robotic systems for rapid formulation and screening. UKBIC will provide input for ensuring industrial scalability. The process will be able to use AI design to create entire batteries with new electrode geometries and an automated process that allows rapid and cost effective development. The project will demonstrate significant improvement in performance of high-energy lithium-ion battery cells in charging/discharging behaviour and cycle life. Additionally, the project approach requires no change to existing battery facilities, supply chains and represents a 'drop-in' solution whereby 3D electrodes can be supplied to a variety of facilities. We also remove time-consuming manufacturing processes where several iterations are required for optimum structure and ink creation. We aim to improve cell performance and manufacture, enhancing UK capabilities and creating resilience of supply. We will save time and cost from the present manufacturing chain while benefitting environmentally from longer lifetime cells that will help the UK grid in its transition to cleaner energy mixes.

In BattMan3D we will develop innovative new industrial 3D printers for the manufacture of battery cells designed for electric vehicles. By improving manufacturing techniques, we will support the UK in establishing world-leading capabilities in state-of-the-art battery production. Our industry-specific formulations and printers will be designed to produce electrodes with complex geometries, with improved energy density. Our process will print entire battery cells, from anode through electrolyte to cathode, including the casing. We will demonstrate the technology during the project using typical lithium-ion battery cell chemistry, but our printers will be designed to be ready for future battery technologies, with capabilities to print a range of cathode and anode materials as well as solid-state electrolytes. By the end of the project we will have developed: * A 3D printer for battery cell components, suitable for commercialisation at a retail price below £250k * Printable formulations, utilising functionalised nanoparticles, to produce cell electrodes and separators * Demonstrator battery pack, validated and benchmarked against conventionally produced batteries This will have significant benefits for the battery industry: * Replacement of a 4-step process (coating, drying, calendaring, notching) with simple deposition and cure, thus reducing the fabrication time by a factor of 10 * Reduction of production costs for a 40kWh auto battery by more than £1255 * Removal of environmentally damaging N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) solvents from cell production process * Up to 85% reduction in waste management expense In this way we will improve vertical integration in the cell manufacture process, improving UK capabilities and resilience of supply. We will also remove high-energy processes and high-risk materials from the manufacturing chain, while benefiting from the cleaner energy mix of the UK grid to improve the overall environmental footprint of automotive battery manufacture.