New Institute to Drive Battery Technologies

A new, multi-million pound UK research institute, announced early in October by Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, will drive and accelerate fundamental research in developing battery technologies and its translation.

The Faraday Institution, funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the government's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), is part of the coordinated activity between Innovate UK, EPSRC and the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to meet the Faraday Battery Challenge, announced by the government in July, of delivering an integrated programme of research, innovation and the scale-up of novel battery technologies.

The Institution will have a budget of £65 million over four years. This will be used to set up the Institution, to establish a battery technology training programme and to fund a series of research challenge projects carried out in the academic sector under the Faraday Institution's direction. The institute will also draw upon academic expertise in universities across the UK to deliver a research and training programme that is designed in conjunction with industry.

Announcing this major investment in the UK's research base Mr Clark said: “Through the Faraday Research Challenge we are cementing our position as the 'go-to' destination for battery technology so we can exploit the global transition to a low carbon economy.

The institute will have a critical role in fostering innovative research collaboration between our world-leading universities and world-beating businesses to make this technology more accessible and more affordable.

We have huge expertise in this area already and the collaboration between our seven founding universities provides a truly unique opportunity for us to bring together our expertise and an effort in this area behind a common set of strategic goals to ensure the UK exploits the jobs and business opportunities.

The ambition of the programme is to make the UK the go-to place for the research, development, manufacture and production of new battery technologies for both the automotive and the wider relevant sectors. To research, innovate and scale up.”

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC's Chief Executive, said: Climate change and moving towards low carbon economies mean the demand for clean energy production and effective energy storage, in the UK and globally, is rising. The Faraday Institution will bring leading academics in the field of battery development together to explore novel application inspired approaches that will meet these challenges and accelerate the development of new products and techniques. EPSRC is pleased to be helping establish the Institution, and the drive to keep the UK a prosperous and productive nation.