Launch of LiPLANET project

The LiPLANET project lays the foundation of the European network of research pilot lines for the production of battery cells.

As part of the Horizon 2020 program, the European Commission is funding the LiPLANET project over the next two years to establish the lithium battery cell research pilot line network. The eight consortium partners are laying the foundation for a Europe-wide network of research pilot lines, which focuses on research and development in the manufacturing of advanced lithium-based battery cells. Within the funded two project years, the structures for a sustainable network will be established and the network will be implemented and started.

The network aims at strengthening the position of the European Union within the strategic and fast-growing market of lithium battery cells. Besides pilot line operators, relevant industrial and policy stakeholders are specifically involved in the design of the network. Within the LiPLANET network, the cooperation between industrial and academic partners will be strengthened in order to identify knowledge and equipment gaps and to set standards. By organizing joint trainings and workshops, the existing gap between materials research and development and the industrial production of battery cells will be closed, thus enabling efficient and safe scale-up. Accordingly, various activities will be carried out within the project:

• Mapping of the European Lithium-based battery cell research pilot lines
• Implementation of the network in a sustainable, non-profit business model
• Creation of a legal framework and development of an exchange platform for knowledge and data as a basis for cooperation between industry, science and research pilot lines
• Development of standards for the qualification of research pilot lines
• Development of a roadmap to define a strategy for the network focusing on upscaling and sustainability and to support the competitiveness of large-scale industrial production of battery cells in Europe

Prof. Arno Kwade, head of the Institute for Particle Technology at the Technical University of Braunschweig and project leader of the LiPLANET project, is convinced: “The timing of our activities is well chosen. The European battery cell production industry has just started the race to catch up with its Asian competitors. Our European industry requires a strong non-industrial and also industrial production research and development, which is brought together and significantly strengthened within the network. Such a cross-national battery pilot line network in which all the important stakeholders pull together is unique in the world.  I would like to thank the European Commission for funding the project, without which the successful implementation of the network would hardly be possible”.

Project Data

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875479. The project runtime is from 01.01.2020 until 31.12.2022.

The core consortium of the project consists of the partners:

• Technische Universität Braunschweig
• EIT InnoEnergy
• EMIRI
• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
• CEA Liten
• CIDETEC Energy Storage
• ABEE – Avesta Battery & Energy Engineering
• VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik