The US DOE has created a new program to help bring promising battery technologies that have been demonstrated at lab scale up to the level of maturity that can lead towards commercialization.
The Lab Investment Incubator Activity is designed to attract “funds-in” investment from the private sector to overcome the technology and engineering challenges that hinder these DOE lab-developed technologies.
Funds from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office will be matched by private-sector investment through laboratory cooperative R&D agreements.
EERE’s Vehicle Technologies Office is working with three public-private partnerships to advance from lab scale to demonstration in large-format pouch cells. Each laboratory is focused on advancing a different battery innovation:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working with Sparkz, is advancing low-cobalt cathodes.
- Argonne National Laboratory, working with Navitas, is focused on low-cobalt cathode and electrolyte additives.
- Berkeley National Laboratory, working with Kraton, is advancing silicon anode materials and polymer anode binders.
Source: US Department of Energy via Green Car Congress