Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have partnered to launch the Berlin Battery Lab in Berlin, Germany, to collectively develop and take a look at useful resource-environment friendly battery applied sciences with a spotlight on sodium-primarily based programs.
March 20, 2026. By News Bureau
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) have inaugurated the Berlin Battery Lab (BBL). At this new analysis platform, BAM, HZB and HU will collectively develop and take a look at useful resource-environment friendly battery applied sciences with a spotlight on sodium-primarily based programs.
Together, they may develop new supplies, examine revolutionary cell chemistries, and produce battery prototypes. The analysis infrastructure of the Berlin Battery Lab can also be open to exterior companions from science and business and is designed to speed up the switch from analysis to software, acknowledged BAM.
The Berlin Battery Lab will perform as a central platform that strategically integrates the complementary experience of the taking part establishments. BAM will contribute with its experience in battery security and the event of revolutionary power supplies. HU is likely one of the main educational analysis establishments within the area of sodium-ion batteries, whereas HZB gives lengthy-standing expertise in lithium-sulfur battery analysis and operates BESSY II, an X-ray supply for finding out battery-chemical processes.
At the inauguration, the Berlin Senator for Science, Health and Care, Dr. Ina Czyborra, acknowledged, “The Berlin Battery Lab illustrates Berlin’s strength in strategically bringing together top-level research and technological needs through close cooperation between three outstanding partners and a short path from research to application.”
Dr Czyborra additional added, “Battery research is a key technology on the High-Tech Agenda. The Berlin Battery Lab strengthens Germany’s technological sovereignty by reducing dependence on critical raw materials and increasing the resilience of key value chains. It is providing the Berlin Battery Lab with an additional EUR 2.4 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) between 2026 and 2028.”
Prof. Dr Ulrich Panne, President of BAM, stated, “Many new battery technologies are being developed in Germany, but they are not reaching application quickly enough. This is exactly where the Berlin Battery Lab makes a difference. Here in Berlin, we bring together research, development and cell manufacturing while integrating safety considerations and regulatory requirements to help transfer sustainable innovations into practice.”
Prof. Dr Bernd Rech, Scientific Director of HZB, stated, “At the Berlin Battery Lab, we combine our diverse competencies to accelerate development and technology transfer to industry. At HZB, we are establishing a new pouch-cell laboratory for sodium-ion batteries and providing state-of-the-art characterisation methods at BESSY II.”
With the Berlin Battery Lab, BAM, HU Berlin and HZB are making a analysis surroundings within the German capital that systematically combines basic analysis, supplies improvement, cell design and security testing at a single location. This bridges an necessary hole on the trail to industrial software. Start-ups and expertise-oriented firms stand to profit specifically: the lab is open for cooperation and goals to considerably help the event of domestically produced, sustainable battery applied sciences, BAM acknowledged.