FAAM Research Center

FAAM Research Center is the R&D company of Seri Industrial S.p.A. dealing with the development of lead-acid and lithium-ion technologies.

Seri Industrial is a listed company on the MTA, with about 765 employees and 200 M€ of revenues. The mission is to accelerate the energetic transition to sustainability and decarbonisation, controlling the supply chain of electric accumulators and plastic materials, thanks to the expertise present in its two business units: FIB (owner of the historical brand FAAM) and Seri Plast, for accumulators and plastics respectively.

FAAM Research Center manages the FIB’s R&D activities. The activities carried out by FRC’s researchers relate to the development of lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion cells with current and next generation chemistries, electronic components for lithium-ion batteries (BMS and packs), recycling of lithium-ion batteries, and to the respective scale-up.

FIB has established the first lithium-ion cell and battery production plant in Italy, with an initial capacity of 300 MWh/y, targeting motive power, ESS, public transport, naval and defense applications. The plant has been designed and will be started up (second semester of 2020) with the full involvement of the R&D team.

The R&D team has also collaborated with FIB and the Seri Group for the submission to the European Commission and to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development of a project of research, development and industrialization of Li-ion cells of new generation (gen 3b and 4) and of a pilot line for lithium-ion battery recycling. The European project, called IPCEI (Important Project of European Interest), has the objective of creating in Europe a complete supply chain for Li-ion battery production, from mining to recycling, involving cell/battery development and collaborating with final users (e.g. car makers). FIB’s project has been approved and granted 505 M€ (nominal amount) on an overall grant of 570 M€ for the Italian Consortium. FAAM Research Center will be in charge of all the R&D activities related to this project, which will lead to the installation of the first gigafactory in Italy, with an annual capacity of 2.5 GWh, by 2023.