Completed Clean Energy Materials & Manufacturing

Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Battery (REVB)

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A new lithium-sulfur battery aims to double the energy stored per kilogram compared to today’s electric vehicle batteries, reaching 400 watt-hours per kilogram. Current electric car batteries rely on lithium-ion chemistry, which is approaching its theoretical energy limits. This project tackles a fundamental gap: battery developers rarely use computer models to guide their chemistry experiments. By embedding a model-led research culture at OXIS Energy, working with Imperial College, the team intends to accelerate improvements in lithium-sulfur cells—a chemistry that already promises higher energy density but has struggled with cycle life and performance. If successful, the battery system could store more energy and also harness significantly more of that energy, delivering a compound improvement in vehicle range. The project also develops a battery energy manager with Lotus and Cranfield to push the chemistry to its limits while maintaining practical cycle life. This would put the UK in a leading position to manufacture next-generation electric vehicle batteries, reducing reliance on foreign supply chains for battery technology. For drivers, the most visible change would be longer range between charges, but the deeper impact is on manufacturing competitiveness and energy infrastructure.

View original technical description
The Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Battery (REVB) project aims to develop a revolutionary Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) vehicle battery and Battery Energy Management (BEM) system which will provide breakthrough improvements in energy density, cost, range and safety of electric vehicle batteries and put the UK in a world leading position to exploit this. The project intends to double the rate of improvement of the OXIS Li-S battery, by developing and embedding a model led R&D culture within OXIS, using a deep understanding of the underlying science which will be developed with Imperial College to inform product development. It is a proven approach within other sectors (such as crash testing) within the automotive industry, but rarely adopted by battery developers. The project will also develop a battery energy manager, working with Lotus and Cranfield, in order to be able to push the chemistry to its limits and achieve 400Wh/kg cell energy density with practical cycle life and performance metrics. The output of the project will offer a battery system for automotive applications that can not only store more energy than today’s technology but can also harness significantly more of that energy, resulting in a compound improvement for next generation Electric Vehicles.

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Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Battery (REVB) - design and integration of novel state estimation/control algorithms & system optimisation techniques
GENESIS (Generating Energetic Novel cells and Systems Inspired by Software)
BABE: Battery management control system for Advanced Battery Engineering
New Biomass Anode Technology and Silicon Electrodes with high Energy Density (New BATSEED)
REVEL (Retrofitting Electric Vehicles to Extend Lifetime)

Original classification

Collaborative R&D

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