Echion Technologies (Echion), the world’s leading supplier of niobium-based anode materials, and the University of Birmingham, have been selected as the winners of the Collaboration Award at the Faraday Institution Community Awards 2024. The accolade, presented at the annual Faraday Institution Conference, recognised the collaboration between Echion and the University of Birmingham to advance the development of battery materials for high performance applications.
The Research Collaboration award, which was judged by a diverse panel of experts drawn from members of the Faraday Institution researcher community, acknowledges the success of the five-year collaboration, which has been led by Professor Peter Slater. The project has produced multiple successful patents and academic reports while contributing to the commercialisation of Echion’s innovative proprietary XNO® anode technology.
The award was presented at the Faraday Institution Conference, The Battery Breakthrough: From Research, to Scale-up, to Manufacturing, in Newcastle on 11th September, which was attended by over 500 delegates with the event delivered in partnership with Newcastle University.
Professor Peter Slater, Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, welcomed the award: “Over five years into our partnership with Echion, we have seen the impact that collaboration can have to both bolster academic knowledge and progress towards commercialisation for a real-world product. Our work has brought together academics at many different career stages, forging connections with industry staff, to develop the skills and experiences to improve this crucial technology.”
Dr Alex Groombridge, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Echion, said: “The teams at Echion and Birmingham are delighted to receive this award from the Faraday Institution. We have been working closely over the years with the research groups at Birmingham with many successes, and I hope we have showcased how academic and industrial researchers can come together to push the boundaries at the forefront of battery materials. We look forward to continuing our highly collaborative approach.”
The Faraday Institution is the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, skills development, market analysis, and early-stage commercialisation. It brings together research scientists and industry partners on commercially valuable projects to reduce battery cost, weight, and volume; improve performance and reliability; and develop whole-life strategies including recycling and reuse.
Dr Fiona Coomer, Research and Development Programme Manager at Echion, who was last year appointed to the Faraday Institution’s Training and Diversity Panel, was delighted with the award, saying: “Everyone at Echion is honoured to receive this recognition from the Faraday Institution. Our ongoing collaborations, both within academia and industry, have been central to our mission of developing innovative battery solutions. This award is not just for us but for all our partners that we have worked with to reach this point too.”
Echion also provides support to the Faraday Institution talent development initiatives by offering three-month internships to PhD researchers based at UK universities, working on energy storage. Internships can prove pivotal in defining career steps post PhD and build relationships that lead to future employment.
For more information on the PhD internship initiative, visit faraday.ac.uk/career-development/phd-internship-programme.
A spinout from the University of Cambridge, Echion is at the forefront of the British battery industry. Echion’s XNO® is an internationally patented niobium-based anode material that delivers lithium-ion battery performance highly suited for industrial, commercial, and high-value applications that demand the highest up-time, lowest total cost of ownership, and maximum performance. XNO® enables lithium-ion batteries that can safely charge in less than ten minutes, maintain high energy densities even at low temperatures, and deliver high power across a cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles.
Find out more about Echion’s leading XNO® technology at: https://echiontech.com/.
Notes to Editors
Photo caption: From left to right: Rob Weatherup (representing the Henry Royce Institute – award sponsor), Fiona Coomer (Echion Technologies), Peter Slater (University of Birmingham), Martin Freer (CEO of the Faraday Institution).
For more information, please contact David Hartley [email protected] or 01223 421835.
About Echion Technologies
Echion (Cambridge, UK) supplies its world-leading niobium-based anode material, XNO®, to cell manufacturers looking to build lithium-ion batteries with market-leading safety, cycle-life, and fast-charging capabilities. XNO® enables batteries to fast charge safely in less than 10 minutes, with high energy density and a cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles.
XNO® materials are based on proprietary mixed Niobium oxide compositions and microparticle designs protected by 13 international patent families and are now being scaled-up to the multi-thousand tonne/year production scale. The differentiated technology helps cell manufacturers gain a technical and commercial advantage in high-value, fast-growing markets where end-users require the safety, low total cost of ownership, and unique performance mix offered by XNO®.
This includes industrial and commercial e-mobility markets: rail, marine, AGVs, mining trucks and other off-highway vehicles, opportunity-charging e-buses and other high-utilisation EV fleets. XNO® also provides a unique value proposition for the micro-battery market and specific applications for the ESS, motorsports, and medical, markets.
