Parliamentary State Secretary Oliver Luksic hands over funding notifications for six research projects.
Berlin, 08.02.2023 – Oliver Luksic, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV – Bundesminister für Digitales und Verkehr), today handed over funding decisions totalling around 10 million euros for six research projects in Berlin. The consortia are being funded under the BMDV’s Electric Mobility Funding Guideline to support the market ramp-up of electric mobility by providing a stimulus for innovation.
Oliver Luksic: “Electric mobility holds tremendous potential for climate protection and the economy. With the Electric Mobility Funding Guideline, the BMDV is supporting projects that explore and further develop innovative charging technologies, vehicle components, system solutions or services. These research fields are important for Germany to take a leading role in electric mobility. With this funding, we are strengthening the competitiveness of industry and research in Germany.”
Supported projects
The project consortia receiving funding are developing solutions to ongoing issues involving grid integration, charging technology and battery safety. Specifically, the BMDV is supporting the following projects:
- The focus of the eMobiGrid project is on the flexible and scalable coupling of vehicles with the power grid, including for fast charging. The project is being conducted by Richter R&W – Steuerungstechnik GmbH (Ahorntal, Bavaria), the University of Bayreuth, Fraunhofer IISB (Erlangen, Bavaria), EnQS GmbH (Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg) and eCharge Hardy Barth GmbH (Birgland, Bavaria). (Total funding amount: approx. 3 million euros)
⠀ - The RWTH Aachen University and SMART/LAB GmbH (Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia) are researching solutions to avoid peak loads on company premises in the FlexFleet project. Strategies relating to grid expansion, smart charging, buffer storage and vehicle-to-grid are being incorporated. (Total funding amount: approx. 500,000 euros)
⠀ - In the Retail4Multi-Use research project, the Reiner Lemoine Institute (Berlin) and the DLR Institute for Transport Research (Berlin) are investigating how the utilisation of charging infrastructure at retail sites can be improved by the various user groups charging there. (Total funding amount: approx. 1.7 million euros)
⠀ - The aim of the UniCharge project is to develop universal charging electronic systems for electric vehicles that enable an efficient, bidirectional and intelligent transfer of energy. Infineon Technologies AG (Neubiberg, Bavaria), Finepower GmbH (Ismaning, Bavaria), Rafi GmbH & Co KG (Berg, Baden-Württemberg) and the Technical University of Dortmund constitute the project consortium. (Total funding amount: approx. 2 million euros)
⠀ - The BALSAM project seeks to provide the foundation of knowledge for better protective mechanisms in battery-electric vehicles. For this purpose, the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences, TDW GmbH (Bavaria), inuTech Gmbh (Nuremberg, Bavaria), BMW AG (Munich, Bavaria) and the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Berlin) are investigating the characteristics of batteries in the event of fire and the effect of harmful gases. (Total funding amount: approx. 2 million euros)
⠀ - As part of the SafeDaBatt project, FEV Europe GmbH (Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia) and RWTH Aachen University are conducting research into the early detection of faults in battery cells, with the aim of preventing performance losses and making the battery even safer. (Total funding amount: approx. 440,000 euros)
Funding of R&D projects by the BMDV
The BMDV’s Electric Mobility Funding Guideline supports research and development projects on battery-electric mobility. Since 2015, around 1,300 projects have been approved with 420 million euros in federal funding, including around 20,000 electric vehicles, almost 9,000 charging infrastructure units, 345 electric mobility concepts as a strategic basis for the electrification of vehicle fleets, and 35 research and development projects.
Further information
Project finder for current R&D projects
Electric Mobility Funding Programme
Image credits: Franz Josef, Berlin