Projects

Imperial recognises that innovation in the use of energy within the built environment and within transport systems is needed to make deep reductions in carbon emissions.

The College’s expertise includes electric and hybrid vehicles, transport use modelling and low-carbon heat. The following research groups are doing work on how we can build a sustainable urban environment and transport systems.

Energy Futures Lab works with a wide range of research groups at the College who are working on numerous projects in the area.

The institute's work is supported by our Low Carbon Cities and Transport Research Theme Lead and Champions.

These are a selection of the projects being done under the Low Carbon Cities and Transport theme at the College.

Multi-Scale Modelling Fast Start

The Multi-Scale Modelling Fast Start project is investigating the fundamental science of batteries to build better systems for EVs. The team's work is developing a better understanding of the fundamental science going on inside batteries. They will then capture this knowledge in models to build better battery systems. This will allow better modelling tools to design battery systems tailored to the specific product and its proposed use.

The project is led by Dr Greg Offer of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. It received £10m of funding from the Faraday Institution. It will run from March 2018 to February 2021.

Air.Car

The Air.Car project is developing emission models and measurements to help develop smart devices for monitoring vehicle emissions in real time. The team are working on real-time NOx emissions estimation capability and measuring emissions from Diesel engines for model evaluation. The research could allows local authorities to implement dynamic road charging based on actual vehicle emissions.

The project is led by Dr Marc Stettler of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It is an ongoing collaboration with Tantalum.

E4Future

The E4Future project is investigating using electric vehicles as flexible energy storage. The team are looking at how a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) system can allow electric vehicle to charge during low-demand, cheap tariff periods and at high demand times feed the electricity stored in their battery back to the grid.

They are testing the commercial value of V2G for companies that run a fleet of electric vehicles by collecting data from 1,000 individual charging points to understand the technical characteristics of vehicle to grid charging, for both the vehicles and the electricity network.

The academic lead at is Professor Goran Strbac of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The project has received £9.8m of funding from InnovateUK and will run April 2018 to March 2021. The partners in the project include Nissan, NUVVE, National Grid, UK Power Networks, Northern Powergrid and Newcastle University.

Renewable Traction Power project

The Renewable Traction Power project investigated the feasibility of using track-side solar panels to provide electricity to power trains.

The academic lead at Imperial was Professor Tim Green of Energy Futures Lab. Funded by InnovateUK, the partners included, 10:10, Turbo Power Systems and Community Energy South.

You can read the final report as a PDF.

Faraday Institution

The Faraday Institution is the UK's National, battery technology research institute, based in Oxfordshire. Founded in 2017 with £65m from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, Imperial College London is a member of the founding consortium.

The institution is the UK’s independent centre for electrochemical energy storage science and technology. It supports research, training, and analysis; manages the Faraday Battery Challenge and endeavours to make the UK the go-to place for the research, development, manufacture and production of new electrical storage technologies for both the automotive and the wider relevant sectors.

Faraday Institution Projects

The Faraday Institution Projects are a series of projects funded by the Faraday Institution investigating the issues around batteries for electric vehicles. They are funded by the Faraday Institution through two calls: Innovation - research and development and Innovation - feasibility studies. They are led at Imperial by the Electrochemical Science and Engineering group.

The advanced BAttery Thermal MANagement project

The advanced BAttery Thermal MANagement project (BATMAN) is developing next generation of battery packs with significantly extended lifetimes for industrial machinery and road vehicles.

The Automotive Technology Transfer of Energy Storage Thermal Strategies project

The Automotive Technology Transfer of Energy Storage Thermal Strategies project (ATTESTS) is investigating the feasibility of new battery module designs to extend battery life for marine applications and road vehicles with similar load profiles.

The Cool Running Battery project

The Cool Running Battery project (CoRuBa) is developing novel materials for advanced thermal management systems for battery packs. It is a collaboration betweenImperial and FAC Technology.

The IMproved Power bAttery Cooling Technology project

The IMproved Power bAttery Cooling Technology project (IMPACT) aims to understand the effect of heat and the impact of cooling on a new breed of batteries made from lithium titanate cells. It is a collaboration between Imperial, Arcola Energy, Reaction Engines, Flint Engineering and Brunel University London.

The Advanced Battery Life Extension project

The Advanced Battery Life Extension project (ABLE) is in collaboration with M-Kopa and Denchi Power. Led at Imperial by Dr Billy Wu and Dr. Sam Cooper, ABLE aims to extend a technique developed at Imperial College London to help repurpose old batteries from electric vehicles for use as am energy storage solution in a solar home system.

Thermal Hazard Technology

The Thermal Hazard Technology project is developing novel methods of thermal management for laboratory testing of lithium ion batteries.