The Faraday Institution has announced a £9m commitment to build on its application-inspired research programme to deliver future battery innovations.
The two new projects will begin in October 2025 and include a Faraday Institution project to advance the scientific understanding of battery formation, ageing and testing for the first time. It will aim to formulate new protocols to reduce battery manufacturing time and energy consumption in gigafactories.
The Faraday Institution’s long-term funding also means it is in a position to add Transformational Challenges to its research portfolio, it said.
The first Challenge (UltraStore) will develop ultra-low cost long duration energy storage solutions for the grid and the co-creation and planning phase is underway. A second will focus on ultra-high energy density batteries, targeting aerospace, defence and other applications – more details will follow later this year.
Through the £9 million announced today, it will fund two research projects: Advancing Battery Formation, Ageing, and Testing for Efficient Manufacturing and Sustainability, and Accelerated Development of Next Generation Lithium-rich 3D Cathode Materials
The FAST project addresses a critical bottleneck in lithium-ion battery manufacturing: the time, energy, and cost-intensive nature of the formation, ageing, and testing (FA&T) processes. It is being led by Professor Emma Kendrick, University of Birmingham, with the Universities of Warwick, Cambridge, Nottingham and Oxford, and four industry partners plus UKBIC.
The 3D-CAT project is seeking to develop novel, partially ordered Li-rich 3-dimensional cathode materials from first principles, through to synthesis at 100g scale and validation in single layer pouch cells. It is being led by Dr Robert House, University of Oxford, with University College London and four industry partners plus the AMBIC materials scale up facility at CPI.
The projects are expected to run to September 2028, with confirmation of funding beyond March 2027 to follow in early 2026, it added.
Industry Minister Sarah Jones said:
“Through our modern Industrial Strategy we’re going further than ever before to back industry, with the biggest package of
investments ever launched by a British government to turbocharge growth.
“With this funding we’re ensuring we stay at the cutting edge of innovation by backing scale-ups, research and fast-tracking new technologies to market, helping unlock new growth and investment as part of our Plan for Change.”
Professor Martin Freer, CEO, Faraday Institution, said:
“The UK’s sustained investment in research at its world-leading universities is unlocking transformative battery discoveries that, when translated into industry, will drive major advances in performance across multiple sectors.
“The Government’s long-term commitment ensures that breakthroughs move from the lab to commercial application, fuelling economic growth, and creating high-value jobs for the future.”
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