Reliefed receives funding from Vinnova to develop the first z.truded bipolar fuel cell plates
Reliefed Technologies have been selected from over 1000 applications to receive 2.5 million euros in grant and 3.5 million euros in equity from the European Innovation Council, EIC. The funding aims to support the development and commercialization efforts of the z.trusion manufacturing technology and fund the establishment of a world's first z.trusion Tech Center, thereby accelerating the adoption of z.trusion® technology in the battery industry.
The competitive race to design the best performing, commercially viable, yet regulatory approved battery packs is on, and the market is expected to boom in the next couple of years. But designing the next generation of battery packs is not easy. They must be light, strong, thermally regulated, recyclable and cheap, a challenge attracting some of the smartest minds in the world. However, there is one specific hurdle and limiting factor that all engineers equipped with the task needs to consider no matter how intelligent of a design: The efficiency, physical constraints, and associated cost of existing manufacturing technologies.
This is where z.trusion comes in. z.trusion is patented manufacturing innovation that allows for cost-efficient manufacturing of advanced three dimensional, lightweight optimized profiles, simply by upgrading one of the most widespread adopted manufacturing technologies in the world, namely extrusion. The technology brings a unique opportunity for cost sensitive industries such as automotive and construction, to rethink their product range and save large amounts of material, energy and CO2 emissions in the process.
To exemplify the possibilities that z.trusion brings to the automotive industry, Reliefed Technologies developed a tab-cooled battery solution and tested it together with RISE (Research Institute of Sweden) in 2022 with notable results: 6C charging from 20-80% SOC. The result in itself generated a substantial market interest and shows what a critical technology z.trusion will be for the competitiveness of one of Europe’s most vital industries.
EIC (Europe's flagship innovation program), has selected Reliefed Technologies to receive a grant and equity to fund the creation of a z.trusion Tech Center, furnished with z.trusion upgraded extrusion lines for aluminum and other various materials. The Tech Center will be the first of its kind in the world and will be instrumental in enabling the rapid prototyping and technical validation required to realize future battery designs and make z.trusion automotive ready. The financial support from EIC will also be used to realize and commercialize the promising tab-cooled battery solution in collaboration with customers and key partners such as Fraunhofer IWU, Henkel and Jönköpings Universitet.
“This financial support is a very welcome contribution and confirms the strength of our business plan and the competency of our team. This money will speed up the implementation of z.trusion in both automotive and other key industries and reduce the world’s CO2e emissions at an even faster rate.” - says Mikael Eklund, CEO of Reliefed Technologies.