The partnership will advance battery modelling leading to potential benefits including reducing costs, improving battery lifetime and faster charging times for electric vehicles
The University of Portsmouth has entered a technology licensing agreement with About:Energy and the University of Southampton, to advance battery modelling and accelerate electrification across the automotive and energy storage industry.
The partnership will see About:Energy, a world-leading innovator in battery development software, develop the universities’ breakthrough technology, DandeLiion - a revolutionary ultra-fast system, designed to simplify and enhance the accuracy of modelling advanced electrochemical battery systems.
By harnessing DandeLiion technology with its own software platform The Voltt, About:Energy will significantly reduce the cost and timeline associated with battery development, also improving the way batteries are managed in the field to extend lifetime with partners. The start-up, which is a spinout from Imperial College London and the University of Birmingham, plans to integrate DandeLiion into its software for the global market early next year.
By improving the mathematics in battery models, it will enable the wider use of more advanced electrochemical models. These models are increasingly being employed in cell design and to shorten charging times. They provide critical insight into the physical processes occurring within a cell, thereby optimising performance and efficiency.
About:Energy Chairman and Co-Founder, Neil Morris, said: “The UK is renowned for its research excellence, but there’s a crucial need to translate this into tangible industry impacts. We’ve been collaborating closely with leading academic institutions like Portsmouth and Southampton to bridge this gap, ensuring that UK grant funding is not just an investment in research, but a catalyst for real-world innovation and economic growth.”
By integrating DandeLiion's world-leading simulators into About:Energy’s Voltt platform, we will be able to deploy the fruit of our research into the industrial and commercial sectors. Our fast, accurate battery simulations will allow users to accelerate and improve their design processes, facilitating better solutions to electrification, particularly in electric vehicles, and energy storage.
We are excited to see our work make a tangible impact in such an important area working towards a low-carbon, sustainable future.
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Southampton, helped to develop the theoretical underpinnings behind the DandeLiion simulator. In particular, developing and writing solvers for models which predict degradation; a fundamentally important process to understand because it limits battery lifetime. They've also made contributions to the core code, allowing it to run at high speed, and developing the front end (user interface), allowing users to setup and execute bespoke simulations with ease.
Professor Jamie Foster, Professor of Applied and Industrial Mathematics at the University of Portsmouth, who helped develop DandeLiion, said: “By integrating DandeLiion's world-leading simulators into About:Energy’s Voltt platform, we will be able to deploy the fruit of our research into the industrial and commercial sectors. Our fast, accurate battery simulations will allow users to accelerate and improve their design processes, facilitating better solutions to electrification, particularly in electric vehicles, and energy storage.
“We are excited to see our work make a tangible impact in such an important area working towards a low-carbon, sustainable future.”
Professor Giles Richardson, Project Manager of DandeLiion from the University of Southampton, said: “We are delighted to partner with About:Energy to bring DandeLiion to market. This breakthrough in battery modelling enables faster, more accurate simulations and wider application in cloud and embedded systems. By integrating DandeLiion into their platform, About:Energy is unlocking unprecedented progress in energy storage and management across automotive and renewables. We are proud our research will now translate into real-world impacts, supporting electrification and a sustainable future.”
DandeLiion, the innovative battery modelling technology, was developed over several years by Professor Jamie Foster and Dr Smita Sahu at the University of Portsmouth and Professor Giles Richardson and Dr Ivan Korotkin from the University of Southampton, backed by funding from The Faraday Institution amounting to £2m over five years.
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