Ricardo wins £972k UK grant to develop modular battery packs
A £972k UK government grant will fund Ricardo's modular battery pack project, targeting 2.6kW/L power density.
- £972k
- £940k
- 2.6kW/L
- 220Wh/L
What Happened
Ricardo has secured funding from the UK government's Battery Innovation Programme to design and develop a next-generation Advanced Modular Battery Systems (AMBERS). The programme, a £452 million UK Government-funded initiative delivered by Innovate UK and supported by the Department for Business and Trade as part of the Industrial Strategy, runs from 2026 to 2030 to accelerate battery innovation across automotive, aerospace, off-highway, storage and maritime sectors. For AMBERS, the programme provides £972k, matched by £940k from consortium partners. The project aims to bring together UK capabilities in cell supply, systems engineering, and pack manufacturing to accelerate scalable, high-power battery platforms for automotive, aerospace, off-highway, and defence applications, with the ultimate goal of strengthening sovereign supply to UK customers.
The battery pack design uses modular building blocks comprising an array of cells with integrated water-glycol cooling. It will use 21700 power cells that can be configured in predefined series and parallel patterns to meet multiple current and voltage requirements. The baseline pack is planned to achieve a power density of 2.6kW/L and an energy density of 220Wh/L, which the project describes as one of the best performance packs in the market. At the end of the project, the scalable packs will be available off the shelf for vehicle manufacturers.
- Advanced cooling architecture enabling higher discharge rates
- Wireless battery management system (BMS)
- AI estimation of State of Charge, State of Health, DC Internal Resistance, Remaining Useful Life, and thermal runaway index
“This new product offering will expand our portfolio of high-performance powertrains and bring to market a range of advanced technologies that Ricardo has been developing in recent years. By providing a scalable architecture, customers will no longer have to invest millions of pounds in development. They will be able to purchase the baseline battery pack design developed under project AMBERS or onl”
Ricardo is leading a consortium that includes Volklec and Hyperbat. Volklec, a UK-based battery cell manufacturer, will supply high-power 21700 cells for integration into the AMBERS system, supporting a sovereign UK battery supply chain. Hyperbat, a Unipart business, will manufacture the battery packs at its Coventry site. The ultimate goal is to produce the product in the UK for local and international markets.
Why this matters
The project aims to give UK vehicle makers access to high-performance, off-the-shelf battery packs, removing the need for millions of pounds in custom development. It also supports a sovereign UK battery supply chain, with cells from Volklec and pack assembly at Hyperbat's Coventry site. If the targets are met, the packs could become one of the best-performing on the market, helping accelerate electric powertrains across automotive, aerospace, off-highway…
Terms in This Story
- BMS
- Battery management system – an electronic system that monitors and controls a battery's charging, discharging, temperature, and state of charge.
- Power density
- The amount of power a battery can deliver per unit volume or weight.
- Energy density
- The amount of energy stored in a battery per unit volume or weight.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.