A German consortium is getting EUR20 million in funding for batteries for electric vehicles. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is now funding a consortium of selected universities and non-university research institutions in southern Germany to develop high-performance batteries for the economic efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs).

Currently, despite the success in improving lithium ion batteries, the energy stored in 100 kg of the best batteries so far is sufficient only for an EV to drive about 100 kilometers.

The “Consortium South of the Electrochemistry for Electromobility Initiative” consists of ten universities and research institutions in southern Germany, which act as equal partners. Aside from Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and Universität Karlsruhe that are presently merging to the KIT, the partners are the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, the Technical University of Darmstadt, the University of Ulm as well as IFW Dresden, the Max Planck Institute for Solid-State Research, Stuttgart, the German Aerospace Center, Stuttgart, and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research of Baden-Württemberg, Ulm.

According to the Chairman of the Executive Board of Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Professor Eberhard Umbach, “research on high-performance energy storage therefore is essential for our future energy supply.” Umbach is responsible for the overall coordination of funding actions under the Economic Stimulus Package II, which are aimed at establishing two competence centers in the North and South of Germany.

The consortium will now focus on the development of new battery materials to produce cells of increased energy density and power density. Reliability, cycle life, and quick charge and discharge will also play an important role. Progress in these fields will be required for electric cars driving on future roads. In addition, electrochemical topics, for instance, interface phenomena and charge transport, will be studied. To perform this work, the funds from the Economic Stimulus Package II will be used first to complement the equipment of the partners with modern instruments for the fabrication and characterization of materials and cells.


- Katrice R. Jalbuena