An EU-funded consortium has launched an initiative to significantly reduce the time and cost to bring new battery technology to the market using both traditional battery testing methods with digital tools
Funded by a €5.0M (US$5.4M) grant from the EU, the EU Horizon DigiBatt Research Project is being led by a group of leading European energy storage system and battery cell manufacturers and suppliers, academics and researchers. Key areas of focus for the three-year project are to standardise, automate and accelerate the battery testing process using digital tools. DigiBatt wants to standardise data formats for battery testing that can be read and understood by both humans and machines, automatically trigger physical and virtual testing using a digital twin framework and accelerate virtual testing and intelligent design of experiments. Overall, DigiBatt wants to reduce battery development time by 30% and cost by 20%.
By establishing standardised data formats and using digital technologies, the project aims to increase collaboration and speed the commercialisation of new battery technologies and chemistries.
Such advancements are needed if the EU is to meet its goal of being the world’s first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, said project co-ordinator and SINTEF research scientist Francesca Watson.
“The forecasted battery demand of 450 GWh in Europe by 2030 highlights the urgency and significance of initiatives to support the transition to a sustainable and low-emissions future,” said Ms Watson.
“By establishing a common way to describe and share all the data, we will get more learning from the data we already have. This will enable the DigiBatt project to develop more advanced simulation tools, more efficient testing as well as shorten the time for new battery developments,” she explained.
Norway’s SINTEF Research Institute is co-ordinator for the DigiBatt project. Consortium members include German aerospace centre DLR, Vrije University Brussels, Virtual Vehicle Research, battery system supplier Corvus Energy, Forschungszentrum Juelich, AVL, battery cell manufacturer FREYR and The University of Oxford.
Marine electrification grows
While maritime electrification is expanding globally, Europe and Norway are leading the charge, representing 78% of the global fleet in operation or under construction. According to the latest data from DNV Alternative Fuels Insight, 879 vessels in the global fleet are equipped with batteries, using pure electric, hybrid or plug-in hybrid propulsion. Another 349 vessels with batteries are under construction.
Outside of Europe, there are some major new initiatives to expand the use of all-electric and hybrid-electric vessels.
In North America, BC Ferries in Canada and Washington State Ferries (WSF) in the United States have major fleet renewal plans in the works. WSF is converting one of its car passenger ferries to hybrid-electric propulsion, with a goal of adding its first all-electric vessel by 2027.
BC Ferries plans to build as many as seven new ferries capable of carrying 360 standard-sized vehicles and 2,100 passengers. Basic vessel designs conceived by LMG Marin call for incorporating engines capable of using bio and renewable fuels, and battery-hybrid propulsion systems that will allow for conversion to full battery-electric operation once shore-based recharging infrastructure becomes available. The first of these vessels will enter service in 2029. BC Ferries will issue a request for proposals to build the vessels mid-2024.
MPA selects 11 proposals
In Asia, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has chosen 11 proposals for the development of passenger launch and cargo lighter vessel designs that will incorporate optimised aluminium hullforms, high energy density batteries with active liquid cooling and battery thermal detection and protection systems. These 11 proposals were selected from a pool of 55 submissions by international and local consortia that had responded to the MPA’s Expression of Interest for designs to promote the adoption of full-electric harbour craft in Singapore last year.
Meanwhile, the government of West Bengal in India has launched its first electric passenger ferry at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers. The government of West Bengal wants to replace its diesel-powered ferries with zero-emissions passenger vessels that use only battery and solar power in line with the Maritime India Vision 2030.
The 24-m, aluminium catamaran-hulled ferry Dheu has a capacity for 150 passengers, and will be powered by a 246-kWh, liquid-cooled energy storage system.
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