Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr Annette Schavan and the prime minister of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg Stefan Mappus spoke at the HIU's inauguration event on 17 January 2011. Photo: Andreas Drollinger

New Helmholtz Institute for Battery Research

The Helmholtz Association systematically develops research on electrochemical and other storage options and thus bundles the competencies available in Germany. In this spirit, the new Helmholtz Institute for Electrochemical Energy Research in Ulm (HIU) has now started its work after its establishment at the end of 2010 by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Ulm. Associate partners are the German Aerospace Centre and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg.

The new Helmholtz Institute will be created on the campus of the University of Ulm as an outpost of the KIT with an annual budget of five million Euro. In order for research to start soon, the four partners already are in the process of creating new work groups within the HIU. During the first development phase, four new professorships are to be instituted and around 35 employees are to be hired; further employees can be financed through third-party funds projects. The HIU will focus its research on the fields of fundamental electrochemical research, materials research, the theory and modelling of electrochemical processes and on overall system approaches such as battery management and material availability. Furthermore, methods of analysis will be developed for research into atomic processes during the charging and discharging sequences. Lithium-ion technology will play a key role in this regard. With the establishment of the HIU, the KIT strengthens research on batteries and electromobility. Thus a competence centre unique in Europe is created linking the sites at Karlsruhe and Ulm. "We need efficient options to store the fluctuating energy from wind and the sun if we are to safeguard energy supply and mobility also in a post-fossil era" says Prof. Dr Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association.

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