British government minister Greg Clark today unveiled the first phase of a £246 million (US$320 million) investment in battery technology with the launch of the Faraday Challenge, designed to boost research and development and position the UK at the forefront of energy storage.

In Europe the number of e-buses in circulation is far smaller than in China, which accounts for 98% of the world’s fleets. However, the market is entering a period of rapid growth. This comes with significant challenges for batteries, Anil Srivastava of Leclanché writes.

Britain’s government has thrown its weight behind vehicle-to-grid (V2G) by announcing £20 million (US$25.8 million) would be available for a competition to further the development of the bi-directional electric vehicle charging technology.

As early as next year, demand for energy storage in consumer electronics could be overtaken by markets for electric mobility and stationary energy storage, Lux Research has forecast.

News in brief from this week in energy storage around the world.

With a surprise general election coming in June for Britain’s ballot-weary voters, Ian Larive of Low Carbon looks at the possibility of political flux interrupting the industry’s momentum – and why whichever party is victorious, they should back energy storage.

Over €12 million (US$13.18 million) in funding will be provided to two European projects to examine and exploit synergies between the stationary energy storage and transport sectors, through the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding instrument.

Increasing Li-ion demand will help to continue to lower energy storage costs, but also brings up an important issue: what should be done with the batteries after they are used in vehicles? Chris Robinson of Lux Research weighs up the pros and cons of recycling versus repurposing for second-life use.

The merging of Tesla and SolarCity into a single entity creates a new company well-placed to deliver a full range of energy-related products and services to consumers, analysts have said.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) senior analyst Logan Goldie-Scot discusses with Energy-Storage.News drivers for the recent uptick in storage across the globe, as well as insights on why America has an ideal regulatory approach to storage technologies, the recent UK tender, and the potential of dynamic markets in Asia Pacific.