EIC Accelerator Winner Basquevolt and the Solid-State Battery Race

In June 2022 the Basque Government and five partners, among them Iberdrola, Enagás and CIE Automotive, announced a company that would make 10 GWh of solid-state battery cells a year by 2027, with a first production line costing more than €700 million and more than 800 direct jobs, according to Smartgrids Info and electrive. Basquevolt has announced no such factory since. In June 2025 its board approved a narrower plan: to develop and supply the electrolyte, the layer between the electrodes, to other cell makers, as Energías Renovables and Capital Riesgo reported.

That electrolyte is what the EIC Accelerator funds. Basquevolt was selected at the March 2025 cut-off for blended finance, and CORDIS records an EU contribution of €2,499,219 for the Electro-Lite project, signed on 10 October 2025 and running from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2027. The project title calls it a "semi-solid polymer electrolyte". A year into the grant, the company is active: it has a development agreement with Renault Group's Ampere and, since May 2026, a lithium-metal cell on sale that it rates at 402 Wh/kg. The independent validation of that figure has not been published.

A research centre's spin-off with a gigafactory brief

The Spanish commercial register gazette shows the company was incorporated on 9 April 2021 with €60,000 of capital, wholly owned by the foundation that runs CIC energiGUNE, the Basque research centre for energy storage, with the stated purpose of designing, making and selling battery cells and other storage components (BORME, 6 May 2021). The CORDIS objective and later press coverage date the founding to June 2022, which is when the consortium presented the project in public; the two dates describe different events.

The technology came from CIC energiGUNE. Both Smartgrids Info and the EIC Scaling Club name Michel Armand, the chemist known for early work on polymer electrolytes, as the scientist behind it, and both describe a composite electrolyte patented by the research centre.

In March 2024 the register recorded a new corporate purpose: the research, development and production of electrolytes, other polymers and electrochemical products for incorporation into energy storage devices (BORME, 21 March 2024). The public announcement of the electrolyte strategy followed in June 2025. In between, the register shows that Francisco Carranza, whom the EIC Scaling Club calls co-founder and former chief executive, ceased as director and managing director in an entry of 27 March 2025 (BORME, 3 April 2025), and Pablo Fernández Santos, the former CTO, took over as director general that month, per Energías Renovables and the Basque technology park network. No source gives a reason for the change.

What the electrolyte is meant to do

A conventional lithium-ion cell uses a liquid electrolyte. Basquevolt pairs its polymer electrolyte with a lithium-metal anode, which the company says gives higher energy density than liquid-electrolyte cells, better thermal stability and faster charging (Battery-News). The CORDIS objective describes Basquevolt's version as a gel polymer electrolyte and claims it solves "the main technological barriers that have hindered the commercialisation of solid-state batteries", with a manufacturing process "highly compatible" with existing lithium-ion gigafactories. The company tells the press the electrolyte raises energy density by more than 50% over today's cells and so extends electric vehicle range by more than 50% without a bigger battery (Energías Renovables, 11 July 2025; electrive, 18 March 2026). These are the company's figures.

The labels are not consistent. The company and most coverage call it a solid-state technology; the EIC project title calls it semi-solid. Reviewing the May 2026 cell, electrive wrote that it is unlikely to be solid-state "in the strictest sense", and noted that lithium-metal cells have historically suffered from dendrites and short cycle life, a point it said neither Basquevolt nor Ampere had addressed. The patent count differs too: the CORDIS objective cites 19 patents, while the company website now lists more than 36 patents and patent applications.

What the EIC project promised

According to CORDIS, Electro-Lite will "accelerate the optimisation of our electrolyte formulation, validate our technology with battery manufacturers and scale up electrolyte production to a commercial scale". The project carries a 100% climate tracker in CORDIS. The total project cost is listed as "no data". Basquevolt was one of 40 companies chosen from about 1,000 proposals, per Energías Renovables, and the technology park network reported a score of 9 out of 9. Both reported that the blended award could add an equity investment of up to €10 million in a later capital round. We found no announcement by the EIC or the company that the EIC Fund has invested.

1. Optimise the electrolyte formulationIn progressThe company calls the BQV400L the fourth generation of its lithium-metal technology, per electrive.
2. Validate with battery and car makersAgreement signedJoint development agreement with Ampere for pre-A sample cells, February 2026; other OEM partners unnamed.
3. Independent performance dataPendingThe company says an external laboratory is validating the BQV400L; no result is public.
4. Commercial-scale electrolyte productionNot yet shownProduction from 2027 is the company's target; no plant capacity has been announced.

Ampere, a new investor and a cell on sale

On 25 February 2026 Ampere, Renault Group's electric vehicle unit, and Basquevolt announced a joint development agreement to validate lithium-metal cells against pre-A sample prototype requirements, the early stage at which a car maker tests a component, after more than twelve months of earlier collaboration (InnoEnergy; Battery-News). Basquevolt said its process needs about 30% less capital per GWh and about 30% less energy per kWh in a conventional gigafactory. Ampere is the only car maker named. Enagás wrote in March 2025 that the company had agreements with two major car makers (Enagás Emprende), and the March 2026 investment release spoke of three (Capital Riesgo).

On 22 May 2026 the company launched the BQV400L, a 27 Ah cell with a nickel manganese cobalt cathode, a lithium-metal anode and its polymer electrolyte, rated at 402 Wh/kg with 8.9C pulse power, made in Spain with 75% European components and available immediately, per electrive and Battery-News. Electrive reported that an unnamed independent laboratory is validating the results, and that EDF and an unnamed car maker are testing lithium-metal cells above 400 Wh/kg with the company. Battery-News called the cell an intermediate step towards the company's solid-state technology. Earlier, Enagás reported that customers and external tests had validated a 20 Ah prototype cell, without naming them.

The money on record

The register shows share capital rising from €60,000 to €10.25 million by February 2023 (BORME), €14.02 million in November 2025 after an increase of €3.77 million by conversion of debt that created a new class C of shares, in the same entry that appointed the Basque public investor Ekarpen to the board (BORME), €15.19 million in February 2026, when the Vital foundation joined the board (BORME), and €15.64 million in June 2026 (BORME). Share capital is the nominal value of the shares and does not show any premium investors paid on top.

The size of the 2025 round is reported two ways: "nearly €10 million" from Ekarpen, Stellum and CDTI Innvierte, per Enagás Emprende, and €10.5 million from the same three, per Energías Renovables. In March 2026 Axon Partners Group joined through its climate technology strategy, with matching public money from CDTI's Innvierte scheme; neither amount was disclosed (electrive; Capital Riesgo). That release said the money would take the technology towards TRL 6, scale electrolyte production and expand cell manufacturing capacity. The filed accounts are not freely available, so revenue, losses and staff numbers could not be checked.

Why Brussels cares about the electrolyte

The Commission's Battery Booster, proposed in December 2025, puts €1.8 billion behind European production, €1.5 billion of it as interest-free loans for cell makers during ramp-up, and names solid-state batteries among the future needs it aims to prepare for. The CORDIS objective presents Electro-Lite in those terms, as a "100% European alternative" that would strengthen technological sovereignty, and the company says all its intellectual property is owned in Europe. A material that drops into existing lithium-ion lines, if it works as claimed, fits a policy that is funding those lines.

The reporting is based on publicly available sources, listed below.