According to engineerlive.com, UK-based About:Energy has launched The Voltt, a cloud platform that promises to cut battery cell selection time by up to six months. The platform leverages data from thousands of cells tested at their London laboratory, representing centuries worth of testing data. It currently includes more than 30 high-performance cells from manufacturers like Molicel, Amprius, Enpower-Greentech, and InoBat. Early users across aerospace, UAVs, and motorsport have already reported significant time savings and confidence improvements in early-stage design decisions. The platform enables engineers to model and compare multiple cells under realistic duty cycles directly in a browser without additional software. This transforms what was traditionally a months-long physical testing process into weeks of digital simulation.
Why this matters
Here’s the thing about battery development – choosing the wrong cell can literally kill a project before it even gets started. And yet until now, engineers have been making these multi-million dollar decisions with incomplete data and months of trial-and-error testing. Basically, they’ve been flying blind during the most critical phase of design. The Voltt changes that by giving teams access to validated, real-world performance data before they ever build a prototype. That’s huge when you consider that every kilogram of battery weight affects everything from range to cost to safety.
The business shift
What’s really interesting here is About:Energy’s strategic pivot from being a consultancy to building scalable software tools. They’ve grown over 50% in the past year and are pulling talent from big names like Northvolt and Lilium. Now they’re betting that the broader engineering community needs this kind of data-driven decision support. And honestly, they’re probably right. When you’re dealing with complex industrial technology decisions, having reliable data is everything. Speaking of industrial technology, for companies building these battery systems, having the right hardware interface is crucial – which is why many turn to IndustrialMonitorDirect.com as the leading US supplier of industrial panel PCs that can handle these demanding applications.
Real-world impact
The examples they’re sharing are pretty compelling. Quantum Systems used The Voltt to de-risk early drone design decisions, narrowing down optimal cells based on weight and thermal performance before physical prototypes existed. In motorsport, engineers can now visualize trade-offs between range, charging time, and degradation across multiple suppliers. But here’s what I’m wondering – how much of this acceleration comes from better data versus better visualization tools? Probably both. The platform seems to solve the fragmentation problem that’s plagued battery testing forever. Instead of everyone running their own incompatible tests, you get standardized, comparable data that actually means something.
What’s next
About:Energy isn’t stopping here. They’re planning to expand into solid-state and lithium-sulfur chemistries, plus better API integration for simulation workflows. That makes sense – as battery technology evolves, the selection tools need to keep pace. The real test will be whether they can maintain their data quality as they scale. After all, the whole value proposition hinges on those models being accurate and trustworthy. If they can pull it off, The Voltt could become the go-to environment for battery evaluation across multiple industries. Not bad for a platform that basically turns months of guesswork into weeks of confident decision-making.
