UK-based AMTE Power has secured a project from the Government’s Faraday Battery Challenge, worth £1 million, to develop a higher energy density variant of its Ultra High-Power (UHP) lithium-ion cell, with support from Imperial College London for battery modeling. (Earlier post.)

The Power Up project will establish the necessary volume manufacturing process for the UHP cell through the UK Battery Industrialization Center (UKBIC), the newly opened manufacturing development facility in Coventry. AMTE Power will have access to gigascale manufacturing production capability and use the facility’s 300x100 pouch assembly line in the development of its high-performance cells.

AMTE Power is also partnering with Imperial College London, which has been developing new ways for the battery industry to design its cells with a particular focus on performance, interaction between cells, and thermal management.

AMTE will use Imperial’s research to highlight opportunities for cell improvement in both useable energy, lifetime, and cost, within its UHP cells. By investigating a new approach to cell design and building on previous Faraday Battery Challenge projects, AMTE Power— working with its UK partners—is aiming to build its new generation of best-in-class cells at its UK factory.

The UHP cell design, pioneered by AMTE Power, has high energy density, excellent heat transfer capability using tab cooling, and prevents overheating during cycling and fast charging. AMTE Power has been engaging with its customers and sharing its progress such as making a start in the development of a superior cell. The cell will have a product design, formats, and characteristics which provide significant competitive advantages for its customers.

This upscaling project will mark a huge step in the right direction in creating next generation batteries for electric vehicles in the UK. Many customer applications require cells designed with high energy density and higher charge rates than are currently offered by other cell manufacturers. Partnering with the specialist research team at Imperial College London will enable us to build on the energy performance of our Ultra High-Power cell and produce a more resilient battery to support our future zero-emission society.

—Steven Farmer, Head of Technology and Product Development at AMTE Power

In August, AMTE Power announced it would be a partner in the UK Government-funded project CELERITAS to develop ultra-fast charging systems for electric and fuel cell vehicles. In addition to AMTE, the CELERITAS consortium also includes Sprint Power (the leader), BMW, bp, Clas-SiC and Eltrium.

Targeting BMW’s future battery specifications and requirements, the battery platform will bring together innovations from each partner, including rapid charging cell technology being developed by AMTE Power.

That announcement followed on from AMTE Power’s announcement on 24 June 2021 that it had been selected as the lead supplier in a separate three-year project called ULTRA which was also part funded by the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Center.