Integrating advanced materials, cell design and manufacturing development for high-performance batteries aimed at mobility (Batt4EU Partnership)

This funding opportunity is part of the Horizon Europe program, focusing on advancing battery technology for mobility applications, specifically under the Batt4EU Partnership. The call addresses high-performance battery technologies aimed at transitioning from conventional liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries to solid-state lithium-ion batteries, with an emphasis on developing diverse battery chemistries and scaling production.

Eligible applicants include universities, research institutes, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large enterprises, and industry consortia. The program encourages collaboration, particularly with organizations like the European Battery Alliance. Projects are expected to establish a consortium that reflects a multidisciplinary approach to battery technology development.

The grant operates as a monetary funding mechanism with a budget indicating projects can receive between €1 million and €5 million, with a total budget of €30 million designated for multiple projects. The application process is a single-stage open call, with proposals due by January 20, 2026, following an opening date set for September 16, 2025.

The nature of the grant supports research, development, and innovation activities with a focus on advanced manufacturing processes, particularly in relation to solid-state battery technologies. Projects should involve optimizing existing production lines rather than overhauling them completely. Key objectives include evaluating and validating improvements in energy consumption, production yield, quality, and sustainability.

Applicants are encouraged to focus on key manufacturing processes to improve efficiency and assess the economic viability of these enhancements. The expected projects should also integrate advanced materials into battery designs, implement digital control systems, and leverage data analytics for optimized production and decision-making.

Geographically, the projects are limited to EU Member States and associated countries, prioritizing materials sourced from these regions unless valid alternatives are unavailable. The projects must demonstrate their impact on the European battery ecosystem, contributing to the monitoring of key performance indicators defined by the Batt4EU Partnership.

The application is open to collaboration, potentially involving the European Commission's Joint Research Centre for experimental research support. There is no explicit co-funding requirement indicated, though economic feasibility within proposals is necessary.

The anticipated success rates for applications are competitive, reflecting common standards seen in Horizon Europe grant calls. Applicants need to ensure compliance with specific conditions set forth in the Horizon Europe work programme, including legal and financial criteria.

This initiative aims to enhance the competitiveness of European manufacturers in the battery sector, aligning with the transition to sustainable energy solutions and a circular economy through innovative research and substantial investment in advanced battery technologies.

The EU Funding and Tenders Portal presents a call for proposals under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically within Cluster 5, call 01-2026 (WP 2025), focusing on "Integrating advanced materials, cell design and manufacturing development for high-performance batteries aimed at mobility (Batt4EU Partnership)" with topic ID HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-04. This call seeks to support European battery cell manufacturers in transitioning from Gen.3 liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries to high-performance solid-state lithium-ion batteries, increase the diversity of battery chemistries and cell designs, and enable European Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to stay competitive. The long-term goal is to achieve scaled production for premium products, particularly for applications like aviation, and large-scale production in the long run.

The scope of the projects should cover quasi-solid and all-solid-state lithium-ion battery technologies, with a liquid electrolyte weight percentage of up to 5%, including Si-C composite anodes or lithium metal anodes.

The projects are expected to focus on process-specific machinery and technological upgrades, identifying and targeting at least one key manufacturing process for enhancement, optimizing and testing critical processes within existing production lines, rather than overhauling the entire production system. These processes should be critical to the transition from liquid electrolyte to solid-state batteries and have the potential for high-impact improvements in terms of production yield, quality, cost, and sustainability, including energy consumption.

The projects are expected to cover all of the following tasks:

1.  Provide detailed plans on how existing machinery and systems can be adapted to optimize the chosen process, ensuring that these enhancements are both impactful and economically viable.
2.  Modify existing machinery to better support the specialized requirements of the targeted process, including enhancing capabilities to handle new materials and designs efficiently.
3.  Develop and implement technological innovations that specifically enhance the chosen process, such as precision manufacturing tools and additive manufacturing.

Feasibility and Impact Validation: Projects are expected to conduct pilot testing to validate the feasibility and benefits of the enhancements on the chosen process. Proposals are expected to include clear metrics for evaluating improvements, such as reductions in energy consumption, increases in production yield, and enhancements in product consistency. Projects are encouraged to evaluate the impact of the new or improved process on other steps in the manufacturing line, including any necessary modifications to adjacent processes, or across other parts of the production line and in different manufacturing environments.

Advanced Materials and Cell Design Integration: Projects are expected to tailor the design of the produced cell to maximize the benefits of the improved process. This can be done through the development of new advanced materials or through the integration of existing materials to improve the targeted manufacturing process.

Digitalisation, Data Integration and Analytics and Process Control: Projects are expected to cover at least one of the following tasks:

1.  Implement advanced control systems and digital technologies that are specifically designed to optimize the chosen process, improving efficiency, and reducing waste.
2.  Develop new process simulation methods, process models and materials chemistry models allowing to virtually assess novel cell designs’ flexible manufacturability at scale for adapted existing plants.

In addition, projects are encouraged to leverage data analytics and data-driven approaches (artificial intelligence) to enhance decision-making and process optimisation, focusing on the specific needs and challenges of the targeted process.

Whenever the expected exploitation of project results entails developing, creating, manufacturing and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, the plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results must include a strategy for such exploitation. The exploitation plans are expected to include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan).

Proposals could consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), whose contribution could consist of performing experimental research on battery performance and/or safety.

Projects are expected to collaborate and contribute to the activities of the Coordination and Support Action defined under the topic HORIZON-CL5-2025-D2-02-06.

To strengthen the European battery ecosystem, projects are expected to use materials, products and equipment produced in EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe, unless it is demonstrated that no valid option exists. The procurement strategies should be described in the proposal, especially and to the furthest extent possible the place of production of the elements.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

The call is a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) with a single-stage submission process. The planned opening date is 16 September 2025, and the deadline for submission is 20 January 2026, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The total budget for the call is 30,000,000 EUR, with an indicative contribution of around 10,000,000 EUR per grant, and an indicative number of 3 grants.

General conditions for participation include admissibility conditions related to proposal page limits and layout, eligible countries, and other eligibility criteria, as described in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and the Application Form. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are also specified. The evaluation and award process, including award criteria, scoring, thresholds, submission, evaluation processes, and indicative timeline, are detailed in the General Annexes and the Online Manual. Legal and financial aspects of the grants are also outlined in the General Annexes.

Specific conditions include the application and evaluation forms, model grant agreement (MGA), and additional documents such as the HE Programme Guide, HE Main Work Programme sections, HE Framework Programme, HE Specific Programme Decision, EU Financial Regulation, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA, and Funding & Tenders Portal guidelines.

The EU Funding & Tenders Portal offers various support services, including an Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk, and a Partner Search function.

In summary, this funding opportunity aims to bolster the European battery industry by supporting the transition to advanced solid-state lithium-ion battery technologies. It encourages projects that focus on improving manufacturing processes, integrating advanced materials and cell designs, and leveraging digitalization and data analytics. The call is part of the Horizon Europe program and the Batt4EU partnership, emphasizing the importance of a strong European battery ecosystem and the need for collaboration and innovation in this critical sector.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated, but based on the nature of Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Innovation Actions (IA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA), eligible applicants can include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other relevant organizations from EU member states and associated countries. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission can also participate as a member of the consortium. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Funding Type: The primary funding mechanism is grants, specifically through HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA).

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity appears to require a consortium, as the Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium selected for funding, and projects are expected to collaborate and contribute to the activities of a Coordination and Support Action. Partner Search help is also available.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon Europe. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The target sector is energy, specifically focusing on battery technology, advanced materials, manufacturing, and digitalization in the context of electric vehicle mobility and aviation. The scope covers quasi-solid and all-solid-state lithium-ion battery technologies (up to 5% liquid electrolyte weight percentage) which encompasses Si-C composite anodes or lithium metal anodes.

Mentioned Countries: EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe are mentioned as locations where materials, products, and equipment should be procured from, to strengthen the European battery ecosystem.

Project Stage: The project stage targets development, validation, demonstration, and commercialization, with an emphasis on optimizing existing production lines and scaling production for both medium-term (premium products) and long-term (large-scale production) applications.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic and type of action (RIA, IA, CSA), ranging from €1.5 million to €30 million. For example, HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-04 (RIA) has a budget of €30 million, while HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D2-09 (CSA) has a budget of €1.5 million. The indicative number of grants per topic also varies, typically ranging from 1 to 3.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to support their research, development, and innovation activities.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants per topic provides some insight into the potential competitiveness.

Co-funding Requirement: The information does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

This opportunity is a set of funding calls under the Horizon Europe program, specifically within Cluster 5, targeting research and innovation in the area of advanced battery technologies for mobility applications. The calls aim to support European battery cell manufacturers in transitioning to high-performance, solid-state lithium-ion batteries, increase the diversity of battery chemistries and cell designs, and scale up production for various applications, including aviation and electric vehicles. The scope includes quasi-solid and all-solid-state lithium-ion battery technologies with specific anode materials. Projects are expected to focus on process-specific machinery and technological upgrades, feasibility and impact validation through pilot testing, advanced materials and cell design integration, and digitalization, data integration, and analytics for process control. Applicants are expected to collaborate and contribute to the activities of a Coordination and Support Action and prioritize the procurement of materials and equipment from EU Member States and associated countries. The funding is provided through grants, with varying budgets and indicative numbers of grants per topic. The application process is a single-stage submission, and consortia are expected. This initiative is part of the co-programmed European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU) and aims to strengthen the European battery ecosystem and enhance the competitiveness of European OEMs. The indicative opening date for the calls is September 16, 2025, and the deadline for submission is January 20, 2026.