Advanced composite materials improving design and safety of EV battery systems

Authors

K. Seidel - Teijin Automotive Technologies Wuppertal GmbH

Summary

With automotive OEMs focusing on increasing electrification, development of highly integrated battery systems with increased energy density is a key challenge. The unique properties of advanced composite materials make them an increasingly attractive alternative to metals in addressing the complex, multi-domain requirements for EV battery enclosures. Teijin Automotive Technologies has been supplying compression-molded composite EV battery covers to more than 34 different OEM programs, such as Chevy Volt or Ford Mach-E (Fig. 1), in the US, EU and China for almost a decade.

With increasing requirements for safety, fire and thermal runaway protection as well as structural and design integration, Teijin is continuously improving its materials, focusing on the development of flame retardant compounds with superior temperature resistance increasing the safety and passenger protection against thermal runaway events. To demonstrate the potential of these composite materials, Teijin has recently developed a full-sized, multi-material battery enclosure (MMB).

The overall dimensions of the battery system are approximately 2.2 m in length, 1.6 m width and 170 mm in height. A total of 30 battery modules are packaged within this usable volume of 0.34 m3, providing a total capacity of approximately 110 kWh, assuming lithium ion cell modules, like used for example in the VW ID.3. Within the concept development, an internal cooling system located directly underneath the cell modules was considered….