In the long haul transport sector, the reduction of real driving emissions and fuel consumption is the main societal challenge. The LONGRUN project will contribute to lower the impacts by developing different engines, drivelines and demonstrator vehicles with 10% energy saving (TtW) and related CO2, 30% lower emission exhaust (NOx, CO and others), and 50% Peak Thermal Efficiency. A second achievement will be the multiscale simulation framework to support the design and development of efficient powertrains, including hybrids for both trucks and coaches. With the proposed initiatives a leading position in hybrid powertrain technology and Internal Combustion Engine operating on renewable fuels in Europe will be guaranteed. A single solution is not enough to achieve these targets. The LONGRUN project brings together leading OEMs of trucks and coaches and their suppliers and research partners, to develop a set of innovations and applications, and to publish major roadmaps for technology and fuels in time for the revision of the CO2 emission standards for heavy duty vehicles in 2022 to support decision making with most recent and validated results and to make recommendations for future policies. The OEMs will develop 8 demonstrators (3 engines, 1 hybrid drivelines, 2 coaches and 3 trucks); within them technical sub-systems and components will be demonstrated, including electro-hybrid drives, optimised ICEs and aftertreatment systems for alternative and renewable fuels, electric motors, smart auxiliaries, on-board energy recuperation and storage devices and power electronics. This includes concepts for connected and digitalised fleet management, predictive maintenance and operation in relation to electrification where appropriate to maximise the emissions reduction potential. The 30 partners will accelerate the transition from fossil-based fuels to alternative and renewable fuels and to a strong reduction of fossil-based CO2 and air pollutant emissions in Europe

This project will develop an open standard for heavy-duty fuel-cell modules in terms of size, interfaces, control and test protocols, with the objective of kickstarting the use of fuel cells and hydrogen in the heavy-duty mobility sector, where electrification with batteries is impractical. Multiple modules may be integrated in a system, similar to AA batteries; this will allow using the same modules for multiple sizes. Combined with the standardisation across several sectors (road, offroad, rail, maritime, etc.) represented by participating OEMs, the same modules will address a large pooled market. The size of the market, and the availability of multiple module suppliers (8 in this project alone) will create a fair competition environment where OEMs may choose and change vendors, driving down prices and activating a virtuous cycle through economies of scale and achieving one of the main goals of the FCH JU's Work Programme in the heavy-duty mobility sector. This project will also produce prototypes form 8 leading FC vendors, which will then be thoroughly tested by two independent institutes for compliance with the open standards produced by the project itself. The project will feature significant dissemination and outreach activities, especially towards external OEMs that may become customers of the module suppliers.

The ASSURED Project proposal addresses the topic GV-08-2017, “Electrified urban commercial vehicles integration with fast charging infrastructure” of the Green Vehicle work programme. A 39-member consortium from 12 different EU Member States will conduct the work. The overall objectives of ASSURED are: - Analysing the needs of the cities, operators and end-users to derive the requirements and specifications for the next generation of electrically chargeable heavy-duty (HD) vehicles (i.e. buses), medium-duty (MD) trucks and light duty vehicles for operation within an urban environment; - Improving the total cost of ownership (TCO) through better understanding of the impact of fast charging profiles on battery lifetime, sizing, safety, grid reliability and energy- efficiency of the charger-vehicle combination; - Development of next generation modular high-power charging solutions for electrified HD and MD vehicles; - Development of innovative charging management strategies to improve the TCO, the environmental impact, operational cost and the impact on the grid stability from the fleet upscaling point of view; - Demonstration of 6 electrically chargeable HD vehicles (public transport buses), 3 MD trucks (2 refuse collections & 1 delivery truck) and 1 light duty vehicle with automatic fast charging; - Development of interoperable and scalable high power charging solutions among different key European charging solution providers; - Demonstration of energy and cost efficient wireless charging solutions up to 100 kW for an electric light duty vehicle (VAN); - Evaluating the cost, energy efficiency, impact on the grid of the different use cases, noise and environmental impact of the ASSURED solutions; - To actively support the take‐up of business cases and exploitation of project results across Europe of the use cases by partner cities (Barcelona, Osnabruck, Goteborg, Brussels, Jaworzno, Munich, Eindhoven, Bayonne, Madrid) and end users.

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 20Ah 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.

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.