Europe's battery industry is strategically vital for the continent's economic resilience, industrial competitiveness, and climate transition. However, current battery testing and validation approaches present a significant bottleneck, being lengthy, costly, and fragmented, which slows development cycles and delays the deployment of safer, more reliable battery systems.
To address this challenge, MISTRAL aims to transform battery testing and validation into a strategic accelerator for European innovation. The project will develop, validate, and demonstrate an integrated framework for accelerated physical and virtual testing of battery ageing, reliability, and safety, from cell to pack level. This approach combines early-life multi-physical characterisation, AI-assisted experimental design, physics-based and data-driven modelling, and advanced X-in-the-loop validation.
This methodology will be demonstrated through three use cases: an electric passenger car, an e-bus, and stationary energy storage systems. The results are designed to be transferable to second-life, e-mobility, and stationary applications. The project held its kick-off meeting on October 14th in Barcelona, bringing together the 18 consortium partners to align objectives and define the roadmap.
With a total budget exceeding €7 million, the project will run for 42 months, commencing in October 2026. Coordinated by Eurecat, MISTRAL brings together 18 European partners covering the entire battery value chain, combining industrial, research, testing, digital, and standardisation capabilities.
IREC will lead the development of cell modelling and test campaign definition. Additionally, IREC will participate in the unified validation framework and in X-in-the-loop experimentation at component and system level, under the guidance of Lluís Trilla from the Power Systems department.
