Scalable Ultra-Power Electric-vehicle Batteries (SUPErB)

Electric vehicle batteries today can struggle to deliver enough power for rapid acceleration or hill climbing, especially in cold weather—this project aims to build cells that can handle those peak demands without sacrificing range. The automotive council wants battery power density to quadruple by 2035, but current lithium-ion cells that can deliver high bursts of power, like supercapacitors, store far less energy. This consortium—led by QinetiQ with Echion Technologies, University College London, the University of Birmingham, and William Blythe—will develop, test, and scale up new ultra-high-power electrode materials. They will prove these materials can be manufactured on pilot plants at UCL and Echion, then assemble them into demonstration cells. If successful, the technology could first improve the main traction batteries in electric vehicles, giving drivers reliable peak power in all conditions. Beyond cars, the same cells could be used in fast-charging stations, public transport, uninterruptible power supplies, and military equipment—anywhere that needs a quick, powerful energy boost. The project is applied engineering, not fundamental science: it aims to produce a manufacturable product, not to explore new physics.