Flash Battery participates in the General Assembly of the European project Thor

18 and 19 June 2024 were two important days for the evolution of the battery industry in Europe. On this date, the General Assembly of the European project Thor, part of the Horizon Europe funding programme, was held in Brussels, hosted by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) at the MOBI Electromobility Research Centre.

The project, which was unveiled in April 2022 and officially started on 1 June 2023, unites a network of 8 partners from 6 EU countries, committed for 48 months to work side by side to accelerate the growth of the European battery industry.

This event marked the first year since the start of the project, bringing together the consortium partners for a dynamic and productive discussion on technical advances and future prospects for the evolution of the technologies developed.

Together to make the battery testing process leaner and faster

Making the battery value chain leaner and faster to promote the spread of sustainable mobility is the goal of Project Thor.

In fact, the consortium is committed to creating a holistic virtual digital twin that simulates the behaviour of cells, modules and batteries to shorten the time and reduce the number of battery tests, thus accelerating the introduction of batteries onto the market, with a focus on performance, longevity and, of course, safety. Through an interdisciplinary approach involving experimenters and modelling experts, the project’s public and private partners will combine their knowledge in the fields of testing, modelling and AI to develop new battery testing methodologies.

In particular, Flash Battery will contribute to the standardisation of methodologies by validating the final solutions developed, providing a specific demonstrator and batteries for benchmarking purposes. We will also lead a work package aimed at demonstrating the potential of the digital twin and assessing its impact on the entire battery development process, including testing.

In Brussels, partners gather to review a year of progress and innovation

The meeting held in Brussels provided a valuable opportunity to take stock of the progress of activities and technical progress achieved so far by the various partners, with a view to jointly discussing the next technological developments.

The discussion was enriched by a visit to the VUB’s MOBI Electromobility Research Centre, a centre that is at the forefront of numerous cutting-edge research projects, including those relating to next-generation cells, sensors and electric mobility.

A stimulating moment of the day was the exchange of ideas regarding the prospects for the future exploitation of the results obtained within the consortium, with a particular focus on the Key Exploitable Results (KER), i.e. the main results identified as interesting and prioritised due to their high potential to generate benefits across the entire product value chain and to serve as input for further research.

The role of Flash Battery within the conference

Flash Battery, in particular, presented to the other partners some alternative designs of modules and demo packs, developed ad hoc for the functionalities required by the project, and showed the results of thermal characterisations and FEM (Finite Element Method) analyses, identifying the prototype solutions to be built in the coming months within the project.

Flash Battery will host the General Assembly next year directly at our HQ. We are confident that it will be another moment of great sharing and progress for all project partners!

SEE HERE THE PHOTOGALLERY OF THE EVENT!