The electrification of mobility requires more efficient, sustainable and competitive batteries. To this end, HOLiBAT, funded by Horizon Europe and coordinated by CIDETEC Energy Storage, will bring together 15 organisations from 9 countries over the next four years, with a budget of €8.8 million, to develop a new generation of batteries manufactured in Europe.
LEITAT will contribute with its expertise in sustainability, safety and circularity to incorporate these criteria from the earliest design stages. It will lead activities to identify synergies, interactions, challenges and bottlenecks between sustainability, safety and recyclability requirements, and implement Safety and Sustainability by Design and Recyclability by Design strategies. This integrated approach aims to minimise environmental impacts, improve the safety of energy storage systems and facilitate their end-of-life management.
LEITAT will also participate in the development and validation of recycling strategies and in proof-of-concept testing to demonstrate their feasibility, helping to strengthen the circularity of the future European battery value chain.
To address the challenges facing European industry, HOLiBAT will develop new materials with reduced reliance on critical raw materials such as cobalt and nickel, alongside innovative water-based manufacturing and dry processing methods to reduce energy consumption and waste generation. It will also integrate advanced digital tools and ultrasonic monitoring systems to detect defects during manufacturing. These advances aim to support more sustainable manufacturing and improve the quality and reliability of electric vehicle batteries.
The results will be validated in representative battery formats for electric mobility, contributing to the production of more sustainable, safer and more affordable batteries in Europe and strengthening the continent’s technological and industrial autonomy.
