Press Release

A new technical report by Fraunhofer ISI and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) provides a detailed picture of where and when charging demand for battery electric trucks is likely to arise across Europe through 2045. Using the newly developed VESUVIO model, the researchers show that charging demand will grow strongly in the coming decades, remain highly concentrated in a limited number of locations, and differ substantially across countries.

Since 1986, the calibration laboratory at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has been measuring solar cells, and since 1991, photo-voltaic (PV) modules as well. Over the course of its forty-year history, it has calibrated the performance of thousands of solar cells and modules using a wide variety of technologies. To date, the “CalLab” has confirmed 152 record results. Sixty-six of these records were for PV modules—primarily silicon modules—while 86 referred to solar cells. The first record was set in 1992 by a mini silicon solar module with an efficiency of 16.4 percent, submitted by Deutsche Aerospace Aktiengesellschaft and featuring Bayer silicon wafers. The most recent record measured by CalLab confirmed that a module from AZUR SPACE, temicon and Fraunhofer ISE, with an efficiency of 34.4 percent, is currently the world’s most efficient solar module.

For the energy transition to succeed, practical solutions are needed that connect different sectors such as electricity, heating, and mobility. To provide a new home for this research, the cornerstone for the Demonstration Center for Sector Coupling (Demonstrationszentrums für Sektorkopplung, DZS) was laid today at the HAW Hamburg Energy Campus in Bergedorf, Germany. The new research building will serve as a shared space for the Competence Center for Energy Transition (CC4E) at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES. There, scientists will work together with industry partners to develop and test innovative technologies for the energy transition and make them accessible to the public.

Hydrogen use is a key component of decarbonization, but ensuring the long-term operation of electrolysers and fuel cells is challenging. Fluctuating operating conditions lead to wear and performance losses. Fraunhofer IFAM has now achieved a decisive breakthrough with dynamic impedance spectroscopy: This diagnostic method enables precise analysis during operation, detects overloads in real time, and identifies weak points at an early stage. This allows for the targeted optimization of resilience and efficiency, extends the service life of the systems, and reduces operating costs – a technological leap with enormous potential for the hydrogen economy.

Importing green hydrogen via international supply chains from overseas to North Rhine-Westphalia is technically feasible, potentially competitive and logistically viable. This is demonstrated by the RE-Chain study (“Building Resilient Energy Supply Chains”) conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT. The study was commissioned by the Port of Amsterdam and Duisburger Hafen AG (duisport).

Together with partners from research and industry, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has modified the structure of battery electrodes so that the battery cells can store 10 to 15 percent more energy at the same weight. They achieved this by more than tripling the coating thickness of the battery electrodes—for example, in lithium-ion batteries—which simultaneously reduces the number of current collectors in the battery cell. The research team implemented the new electrode architecture in lithium-ion pouch cells manufactured using industry-standard processes. Furthermore, they successfully applied the concept to zinc-ion and sodium-ion battery cells.

At high discharge currents, the temperature inside a lithium-ion cell is usually inaccessible to measurement; measurements are typically taken at the cell casing. Yet the heat generated during discharge is critical to safety and service life—and thus also to the design of the battery management system. RResearchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, in collaboration with Hilti AG, have developed a minimally invasive method for retrofitting thermocouples into the electrode core of commercial pouch cells. The results have been published as open access in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.

Lithium has become an indispensable part of our daily lives, yet its extraction takes a toll on the environment and local livelihoods. This is where the German-Chilean research project “PaNaBat” comes in: a joint networking platform aims to strengthen collaboration in research, education, technology transfer, and industrial cooperation in the areas of sustainable battery raw materials, lithium extraction, and battery recycling. Fraunhofer ISE is contributing its extensive laboratory and research infrastructure for the development of battery materials and cell technologies.

The more than 23,000 large aircraft worldwide consume approximately 350 billion liters of fuel annually and account for about 3 percent of human-caused CO2 emissions. For long-haul flights over 4,000 km in particular, there is no alternative to liquid fuels, as only these provide a sufficiently high energy density. The development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) has now reached an important milestone: Following successful qualification by the international standardization organization ASTM, methanol has been recognized as an approved feedstock for the alcohol-to-jet production pathway. This means that in the future, methanol-to-jet blending components can be produced and mixed with at least 50 percent by volume of conventional kerosene to create a “drop-in” fuel—one that is fully compatible and can be used without any modifications to aircraft, engines, or existing infrastructure.

Against the unique backdrop of the historic museum ship PEKING at the German Port Museum in Hamburg, international experts gathered for Windship Day 2026, a high-level conference, dedicated to the future of wind-powered commercial shipping. Held as a side event to the world's leading maritime trade fair SMM, the conference hosted by Fraunhofer Workgroup Sustainable Maritime Mobility brought together stakeholders from shipping, shipbuilding, technology, research, finance, logistics, and policy to discuss how wind propulsion can contribute to the decarbonisation of global maritime transport.