Oxfordshire‘s About:Energy launches battery design platform

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Daniel Face

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About:Energy, an Oxfordshire-based tech spinout from the University of Birmingham, has announced the launch of its battery design software platform, The Voltt.

The new platform is designed to improve battery performance while shortening R&D timelines. It also promises to reduce development risk for battery cells and systems in the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as more niche sectors.

Users will be able to easily compare different battery types in a centralised database to decide which cells would be best suited to their own design projects.

The Voltt launches with three subscription tiers. ‘Enter’ only predicts the electrical and thermal behaviours of a battery design; ‘Explore’ adds electrochemical behaviours, including voltage current behaviour and internal state of the battery; and finally, ‘Elevate’ offers all of the above, plus information on degradation due to cumulative use and shelf-life and a variety of customisable features.

Gavin White, Co-founder and CEO of About:Energy, said: “The team’s outstanding achievement to progress from ideation to a fully operational cloud platform, built on data obtained from world-leading characterisation and modelling, has been remarkable.

“The launch of Voltt marks the first milestone in a series of ambitious objectives aimed at revolutionising the approach to battery system design.”

About:Energy recently showcased the first version of the platform at The Royal Academy of Engineering, sharing their development roadmap with industry leaders, researchers, policy makers, and investors.

The characterisation and modelling technologies which power The Voltt are the culmination of research programmes at Imperial College London, the University of Birmingham, and The Faraday Institution.

The Voltt is soon set to benefit from a £1 million government-funded project as part of the Faraday Battery Challenge programme, which it will put towards improving the core capability of the new platform to predict battery ageing.

Pam Thomas, CEO of The Faraday Institution, said: “About:Energy was set up as a commercial vehicle to provide industry organisations with modelling capabilities.

“The organisation is clearly going from strength to strength to strength, contributing to the Battery Parameterisation eXchange initiative, and further enhancing the UK’s battery development capabilities.”

Daniel Face

Born and raised in Berkshire, Dan fell into journalism after completing his bachelor’s degree in English at UCL. Writing for The Business Magazine and local Biz News sites has given him the opportunity to chat with all manner of small business owners and share their success stories with a wider audience. Outside of work, Dan enjoys live music, board games and quiz shows, and is making a slow but persistent effort to learn Spanish.