Nissan to lead £19.4m lithium-ion battery project

Nissan is leading a £19.4m UK project to develop next generation lithium-ion batteries for electric cars.

The project, which has funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre, is aiming to develop new and improved chemistry and manufacturing processes for li-ion batteries.

The consortium also includes Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Hyperdrive, Newcastle University and Zero Carbon Futures. The research will be based around Nissan’s Sunderland battery manufacturing plant, which is the largest facility of its kind in Europe.

Researchers at WMG will investigate potential improvements to li-ion battery chemistry and manufacturing yield, and develop automated production processes, according to David Greenwood, professor of advanced propulsion systems at WMG.

“For passenger cars in particular, the trend towards electrification, whether that is hybridisation, plug-in hybrids, or full electric, is marching inexorably onwards,” he said. “But one of the challenges we have is in bringing down the cost of the systems.”

Researchers at WMG have for some time been working to improve the chemistry of li-ion batteries, in a bid to achieve higher energy densities for every cubic metre of material used, he said.