Fuel-Cell Electric Buses (FCEBs) have been deployed in multiple demonstrations in Europe, Canada and the USA, but they still suffer from high costs and low availability. Oddly enough, the low availability has almost always been due to control issues and hybridisation strategies rather than problems in the fuel cells themselves. Giantleap aims to increase the availability and reduce the total cost of ownership of FCEBs by increasing the lifetime and reliability of the fuel cell system; this will be achieved with advanced online diagnostics of the fuel cells and the balance-of-plant components of the system, coupled with prognostics methods to calculate the system's residual useful life, and advanced control algorithms able to exploit this information to maximise the system's life. The same control system will also be engineered for robustness, in order to increase availability to the level of diesel buses or better. Giantleap will improve the understanding of degradation in fuel-cell systems with extensive experimentation and analysis; diagnostic and prognostic methods will focus on exploitation of current sensors to make the novel control approach cost-effective. Giantleap includes the demonstration of a prototype in relevant environment, allowing the project to reach technology readiness level 6. The prototype will be a trailer-mounted fuel-cell based range extender meant for battery city buses. The ability to swap out the range extender in case of malfunctions greatly increases the availability of the bus, while the large battery capacity allows the bus to complete its route should malfunctions occur during usage. Furthermore, the large battery capacity will give the control system ample opportunity to optimise fuel-cell usage via hybridisation management strategies.

Batteries are not yet the ideal energy container they were promised to be. They are expensive, fragile and potentially dangerous. Moreover the current EV cannot compete yet with traditional vehicles when it comes to driving range and flexibility. EVERLASTING intends to bring Li-ion batteries closer to this ideal by focusing on the following technology areas. • Predicting the behavior of battery systems in all circumstances and over their full lifetime. This enables accurate dimensioning and choice of the correct battery type, leading to lower cost. It also facilitates the development of a powerful battery management system during all stages of its evolution from idea to fully tested product. • Sensing signals beyond the standard parameters of current, voltage and temperature. This multi-sensing approach provides more varied and in-depth data on the status of the battery facilitating a pro-active and effective management of the batteries, preventing issues rather than mitigating them. • Monitoring the status of the battery by interpreting the rich sensor data. By intelligently combining this information with road, vehicle and driver data we intend to offer accurate higher-level driver feedback. This induces a bigger trust and hence a lower range anxiety. • Managing the battery in a proactive way, based on a correct assessment of its status. Efficient thermal management and load management results in increased reliability and safety and leads to lower overall cost through an increased lifetime. • Defining a standard BMS architecture and interfaces and gathering the necessary support in the market. This allows an industry of standard BMS components to flourish which will result in lower cost.

The SOLiDIFY project proposes a unique manufacturing process and solid-electrolyte material to fabricate Lithium-metal solid-state batteries – known as Gen. 4b on the EU battery roadmap. The concept is based on a solid nanocomposite electrolyte or nano-SCE. It is made by a sol-gel reaction which is used advantageously for a liquid-to-solid approach in the fabrication of the composite cathode and the solid-electrolyte separator. The general strategy to reach the target energy density of 1200Wh/L (400Wh/kg) in 20 minutes charging time is: (1) enabling the integration of high-energy NMC active materials and (2) development of new electrode architectures for high mass loading and enabled by the liquid-to-solid approach. An added imposed challenge is a water-based cell assembly process. To this end, suitable protection of the high-energy NMC powder with ALD thin-film coatings is pursued. Finally, thin lithium foils with protective artificial interphase coatings will be developed for lamination on the nano-SCE separator. The main goal of SOLiDIFY is to bring the liquid-processed solid-state cell fabrication concept from demonstration in the lab (TRL3) to demonstration of prototypes in pilot line (TRL6), with upscaling of the concept both towards (1) the development of manufacturable materials and processes and (2) the discovery of full cell assembly schemes with ultimate demonstration of 1Ah pouch cells. The material research will focus on (1) solutions enabling the upscaling process and manufacturability and (2) further improvement of cell integration steps to enhance performance. Manufacturable parameters such cost, environmental impact and recycling will also be handled. The larger scope of the SOLiDIFY project entails the development of a novel and potentially European-lead solid-state battery technology with fully covered EU value chain.

Li-ion batteries are still the limiting factor for mass scale adoption of electrified vehicles and there is a need for new batteries that enable EVs with higher driving range, higher safety and faster charging at lower cost. LiS is a promising alternative to Li-ion free of critical raw material (CRM) and non-limited in capacity and energy by material of intercalation. LISA proposes the development of high energy and safe LiS battery cells with hybrid solid state non-flammable electrolytes validated at 10Ah cell level according to EUCAR industrial standards for automotive integration. LISA will solve specific LiS bottlenecks on metallic lithium protection, power rate, and volumetric energy density; together with cost the main selection criteria for EV batteries. The sustainability of the technology will be assessed from an environmental and economic perspective. The technology will be delivered ready for use within the corresponding state of charge estimator facilitating battery pack integration. Today, LiS is twice lighter than Li-ion and has reached only 10% of the sulphur theoretical energy density (2600Wh/kg) at cell prototype level (250-300Wh/kg), with potentially 800Wh/l (600Wh/kg) achievable by improving materials, components and manufacturing. LISA is strongly oriented to the development of lithium metal protection and solid state electrolyte; and will incorporate manufacturability concepts enabling integration in future manufacturing lines. Moreover, the outcome of the project in terms of new materials, components, cells, and manufacturability will be transferable to other lithium-anode based technologies such as Li-ion and solid state lithium technologies. As such, LISA will have a large impact on existing and next-generation EV batteries, delivering technology with higher energy density beyond the theoretical capacities of chemistries using CRM – i.e. natural graphite and cobalt - or silicon-based chemistries inherently limited by their manufacturability.

H2Haul will develop and demonstrate a total of 16 new heavy-duty (26–44t) hydrogen fuel cell trucks in real-world commercial operations. The project includes two major European truck manufacturers (IVECO and VDL), who will build on existing small-scale prototyping activities to develop new zero-emission trucks tailored to the needs of European customers, mainly in large supermarket fleets. The vehicles will be standardised as far as possible to help encourage the development of the European supply chain. New high-capacity hydrogen refuelling stations will be installed to provide reliable, low carbon hydrogen supplies to the trucks. Most of the stations will be publicly accessible and this project will thus support the uptake of a broader range of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. The vehicles and infrastructure will be thoroughly tested via an extended trial with the high-profile end users over several years. The comprehensive data monitoring and analysis tasks will ensure that the technical, economic, and environmental performance of the hardware is assessed, and that the business case for further deployment of heavy-duty fuel cell trucks is developed. The scope and ambition of this innovative project will create a range of valuable information that will be disseminated widely amongst truck operators, representatives of the retail sector, policy makers, and the broader hydrogen industry. Hence, H2Haul will validate the ability of hydrogen fuel cell trucks to provide zero-emission mobility in heavy-duty applications and lay the foundations for commercialisation of this sector in Europe during the 2020s.