Caithness firm AMTE Power to partner with BMW and BP to develop fast-charging electric vehicle batteries
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Caithness-based AMTE Power is awaiting confirmation that it will join multinational names including BMW and BP on a UK Government funded project to rapidly speed up charge times for electric vehicles.
Dubbed Project Celeritas – the Latin for quickness or speed – the aim is to allow electric vehicles (EVs) to take only 12 minutes to have a 80 per cent charge, overcoming a key concern of potential owners that charging is a time consuming experience.
The £9.7 million project will be led by UK low carbon tech company Sprint Power and will also involve Fife-based semi-conductor manufacturer Clas-SiC and energy storage systems specialist Eltrium. Funding will come from the UK Government’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APCUK), as well as each consortium member.
AMTE, which manufactures lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets at its Caithness factory, will bring its own rapid charging cell technology innovations to the project, which will be based around BMW’s future battery specifications and requirements.
Current best-in-class charging systems take approximately 22 minutes for a 10 to 80 per cent charge for a 280-mile range, but the aim of delivering an 80 per cent charge in just 12 minutes is seen by the consortium partners as key to improving encouraging more consumers to make the switch from fossil fuel to battery power.
AMTE has also been selected as the lead supplier in a separate three year project called Ultra, which was also part funded by APCUK.
AMTE Power chief executive Kevin Brundish said: “We are looking forward to being confirmed as a partner in this project and to collaborating closely alongside these market leading companies in our sector.
"AMTE is focussed on bringing high power cells to the market which are different and complementary to traditional energy cells, and provide an opportunity to optimise fast charging, fast discharge (acceleration) and ultimately vehicle range. This is a prestigious project to be involved with and would contribute to ensuring we meet our targets for grant income.”
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