Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI

Project

Energy storage monitoring for electric mobility (EMOTOR)

funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

For the electric mobility of the future, a main role will be played by key technologies for energy-efficient, resource-conserving, safe, affordable and high-performance electric vehicles. Already in 2009, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the funding program “Lithium-ion batteries (LIB 2015)” with the aim to develop one of the most important key technologies for the widespread use of technologies with low or zero CO2 emissions. The “Innovation Alliance” of the same name formed in November 2007 played an important role in this context. This alliance was set up to coordinate German research and development efforts in the field of lithium-ion batteries and to advance these by promoting a regular exchange of information among the actors involved.

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Recommendations: Policy and Actors of the Innovation System Electric Mobility

Within the funding program “Key technologies for electric mobility (STROM)”, the focus is on the research and development of novel, innovative electric vehicles including all the necessary sub-systems required for them. The accompanying research project “Energy storage monitoring for electric mobility (EMOTOR)”, which is part of the STROM program, builds on the nationally aligned LIB 2015-roadmapping of Fraunhofer ISI and supplements it with the international dimension as well as a benchmarking of the internationally leading countries. The tasks include a comprehensive international observation (monitoring) and analyzing scientific-technological trends, industrial-economic developments, ecological assessments and political framework conditions. The result will be recommendations regarding strategic actions for the German actors in science, industry and politics (see diagram).

The focus here is on all current and already visible future developments of energy storage systems (especially batteries) for electric mobility, beginning with materials research and nanotechnology right up to the integration of the storage technologies into their application concepts. The developments and framework conditions at the level of different electric mobility concepts (complete system) are not considered explicitly and are subject of another accompanying project in STROM. However, the resulting requirements concerning battery systems are considered as inputs in the analyses. Likewise, importance is also attached to the compatibility and coordination with other measures as well as the activities of the National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE). The analyses are done based on a comparative assessment (meta analyses) of international roadmaps, strategic documents and publicly available information as well as our own data acquisition, modeling, expert surveys and interviews. This includes analyses of the individual sub-systems of the innovation system (research, industry, competition, demand and politics) and how these interact with each other. A panel of experts meets each year, discusses and validates the results of the analyses and formulates options for courses of action for the German actors.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI accompanies the partners of the Innovation Alliance LIB 2015 with a roadmapping process. Within its framework, different battery designs, technological and additional performance characteristics as well as performance requirements in terms of application and market and the market penetration are investigated. This is done from a systemic, product-related perspective. Aspects of sustainability are also taken into account: They include defining and looking into different types of batteries, the availability of raw materials used in lithium-ion batteries as well as recycling, with all aspects being analyzed from the (raw) material perspective. In a concluding assessment, all results are brought together, thus creating the basis for the development of scenarios.