Smart Sensors Inside Battery Cells Tell You Exactly When They'll Fail

The project included a techno-economic feasibility study covering manufacturability, but specific per-cell costs are not published in the available data. The sensor types used — Fiber Bragg Gratings, reference electrodes, luminescence probes, and photo-acoustic gas sensors — are established technologies, which suggests costs could be driven down at scale. Contact the consortium for feasibility study results.

The project explicitly addressed manufacturability and adaptability to other cell technologies in its techno-economic feasibility study. With at least 12 cell prototypes and at least 12 prototypes of each sensor type produced, the consortium demonstrated repeatable manufacturing. However, full gigafactory-scale integration would require further engineering beyond this proof of concept.

The consortium of 10 partners across 4 countries (AT, DE, FR, PT) includes 5 industry partners. IP is likely shared among consortium members under the Horizon 2020 grant agreement. CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) coordinated the project. Licensing discussions would need to go through the relevant IP holders in the consortium.

Yes. The project demonstrated improvement of cell functional performance and safety through 2 specific use cases for EV applications. The proof-of-concept multi-sensor platform was tested as a 'lab-on-a-cell' — a cell prototype equipped with physical and virtual sensors providing real-time state indicators.

Current battery management systems estimate internal states from external voltage and current measurements. INSTABAT's 4 physical sensors directly measure temperature and heat flow, pressure, strain, lithium-ion concentration and distribution, and CO2 concentration inside the cell. Combined with 2 virtual sensors based on electrochemical and thermal models, this provides time- and space-resolved monitoring of what actually happens inside the cell.

The techno-economic feasibility study specifically addressed adaptability to other cell technologies beyond the project's primary Li-ion focus. Based on available project data, the sensor platform was designed with adaptability in mind, though specific chemistry compatibility results would need to be confirmed with the consortium.

Battery regulations in the EU (particularly the EU Battery Regulation) are increasingly demanding better state-of-health tracking and digital battery passports. INSTABAT's in-cell sensing directly supports compliance with these emerging requirements by providing verified internal data rather than estimated parameters. This positions the technology well for upcoming regulatory mandates.