Call for proposal: BESTEST, Battery Energy Storage Testing

The Battery Energy Storage Testing (BESTEST) laboratory is situated at the Joint Research Centre of Petten (The Netherlands). It features state-of-the-art equipped facilities for analysing performance of battery materials and cells. The capabilities include cell preparation, pre- and post-test battery cell tear-down, cell cycling under controlled temperature (in combination with impedance spectroscopy) and post-mortem diagnosis.

Within the frame of this open access call, the following facilities may be accessed:

• Temperature (or climate) chambers that allow cell storage and cell cycling under controlled temperature (or controlled temperature and humidity). Battery testers with different specifications and frequency response analysers are available for cell cycling.
• A micro X-ray computed tomography system (including data evaluation) is available for analysis of cells or battery electrodes.

Definition and conditions of access

Access to the research infrastructure is granted on the basis of Access Units.

For BESTEST, the Access Unit corresponds to 'Equipment Week', equal to the usage of the following equipment during five (5) working days:

1. Temperature Chambers BiA MTH 4.46 for cell cycling (using a Maccor Bidirectional Battery Tester and FRA, where required) ;
2. Climate Chambers Vötsch VCS3 7060-5 for cell cycling (using a Maccor Bidirectional Battery Testerand FRA, where required);
3. Micro X-Ray Computed Tomograph Phoenix Nanotom S.

The Equipment Week also includes the evaluation periods, e.g. evaluation of cycling or CT data using dedicated software.

• Estimated costs excluding consumables and expenses:
  • Research infrastructure operated by JRC staff: 2309 € / Equipment Week*
  • Research infrastructure operated by users: 1900 € / Equipment Week

* the cost of an Equipment Week is factored by the following amounts for the following list of equipment:

• 1 for equipment a);
• 2 for equipment b);
• 5 for equipment c).

Allocation of intellectual property rights

Intellectual property rights are allocated according to Paragraph III of Annex 1: Intellectual Property Rights

Eligibility criteria

• The Lead User Institution and User Institutions (see definitions in the Framework) must be from an EU Member State, or country associated to the EU Research Programme Horizon (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom).
• User Institutions belonging to international organisations provided that the JRC has concluded a Collaboration instrument that ensures reciprocity for Access of Users from the JRC and User Institutions to their respective Research Infrastructures. The JRC Director General may exceptionally authorise the participation of User Institutions belonging to international organisations in the absence of a Collaboration instrument under the conditions specified in the Framework .
• User Institutions established in a EU Member State or in a country associated to the Horizon Europe programme must not be directly or indirectly controlled by non-associated third countries, or by legal entities of non-associated third countries. The JRC Director General may exceptionally authorise the participation of User Institutions controlled directly or indirectly by non-associated third countries, or by legal entities of non-associated third countries.
• Individual Users must be nationals of a EU Member State or a country associated to the Horizon Europe programme. The JRC Director General may exceptionally authorise the participation of Users that are not nationals of EU Member States, or of a country associated to the Horizon Europe programme, for overriding justified reasons.
• Ethical considerations in accordance with EU Law, in particular Art. 19 of Regulation (EU) 1291/2013, and applicable laws and regulations in the EU Member States.
• The proposal submission form is complete and complies with the instructions.

How to apply

The proposal must be prepared using the Market-driven Proposal Submission Form.
During preparation of the proposal, applicants are encouraged to:

• Read the "Framework of Access to Joint Research Centre physical Research Infrastructures" and all related documents in the Framework for Access page.
• Contact the research infrastructure at JRC-ENERGY-STORAGEec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-ENERGY-STORAGE[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) to assess feasibility aspects related to the capacity of the research infrastructure.

The proposal should be submitted to JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESSec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

In addition, the Lead User shall complete the BESTEST List of equipment Form and send it to JRC-ENERGY-STORAGEec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-ENERGY-STORAGE[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

The JRC will only evaluate proposals that are complete and comply with the instructions in the proposal submission form.

Selection criteria

Proposal will be evaluated in accordance to the following selection criteria:

• Scientific implementation (50 points)
• Access to new User Institutions and SMEs (20 points)
• Strategic relevance (30 points)