CPI Supports PowerDrive Line to Develop Battery Charging

The PowerDrive Line project aims to develop next generation, solid-state battery cells to charge plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Safer and more power-dense battery systems are required to enable charging of these cars in as little as 15 to 25 minutes.

Working alongside lead partners Ilika, Ricardo and UCL (University College London), CPI is applying its knowledge across the formulation sector to help create a lithium-based solid-state Stereax® battery and establish a pre-pilot line for prototype cell technology.

CPI will use its ink formulation and scale-up expertise, including the use of high-throughput equipment for rapid formulation screening, to support the development of the pre-pilot line.

UCL will produce solid state electrolyte materials, via its novel hydrothermal processes, which will be transferred to CPI for formulation, with Ilika using its success in the manufacturing of micro solid-state batteries to progress the area of solid-state batteries for automotive applications.

The 30-month PowerDrive Line project, part of the Government’s Faraday Battery Challenge, has received more than £4.4million in grant funding and is an integral aspect of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Seeking to lower carbon emissions and air pollution, this fund supports research and innovation around the development of new battery technologies for future electrified vehicles. This will further strengthen the UK solid-state materials supply chain.

Dr. Graeme Cruickshank, Director of Formulation at CPI, said: “We are delighted to be using our state-of-the-art formulation capabilities to re-apply our expertise from other advanced coatings to create these products for our greener tomorrow.

“While batteries don’t look like a formulated product from the outside, in the way that a detergent or a paint does, the same science is required to achieve the desired complex material distribution and deposition needed to make these work.

“We are very excited to be part of this industrial revolution.”