Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ALBATROSS (Advanced Light-weight BATteRy systems Optimized for fast charging, Safety, and Second-life applications.)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-06-30
The ALBATROSS battery pack will make a positive impact on society with the integration of EVs with smart grids, bringing a positive behavioral change in society’s acceptance of EVs as a primary method of transportation and overall improved safety. With the extended driving range and an intelligent BMS of the ALBATROSS system, the range of an EV can increase hundreds of kilometers over past BEVs. Drivers will be able to realize a full 700–1000 km trip in one day in just two 20-minute fast charges – without extra degradation of the battery – which allows the driver to take a short meal or rest break during the 20-minute charge and not feel anxious about the need and length of the charge. The project will develop and mature technologies that significantly improve EV range by increasing battery energy density while improving thermal and battery management systems to enable faster-charging rates and extended battery life. Improved designs of the battery modules and pack integration with attention to second-life applications and materials recycling will be cornerstones of achieving the impacts. The outputs of ALBATROSS will enable our automotive OEM partners to improve their competitiveness by reducing battery pack cost and increasing value for second-life applications, making them more attractive as well as reducing emissions over the full lifetime, thus meeting global legislative requirements.
Objectives of the ALBATROSS project are;
1-To achieve a 20% weight reduction of the battery system.
2-To develop solutions & processes for sustainable dismantling/recycling of battery packs/modules (materials, components, and sub-systems) taking into account safety and automation.
3-To create flexible advanced battery management systems capable of being used on different types of packs and mid-sized vehicles with different use patterns, and underlying provisions to be used in second-life applications.
4-To create advanced functionalities of BMS to enable control of modules and packs and their remote maintenance and troubleshooting, software updating, and other functions, taking into account safety and modularity aspects at increased battery pack energy density as well as health and environmental aspects over the lifecycle including cases of failure, and reuse/recycling.
5-To develop systems compatible with high-power ultra-fast charging and related implications, including high and low-temperature charging, insulation, and advanced models (including for instance data mining and big data on existing databases) for monitoring thermal state and estimation of application-dependant State of Health
6–To develop and qualification of future performance-related test procedures of developed functionalities under real-world conditions, incl. extreme environmental conditions.
7–To validate battery performance functionalities at full scale should demonstrate this through pack integration into an existing vehicle to serve as a benchmark of achieved performance.
8–to develop and quantify future safety-related test procedures e.g. venting/management of gases, battery failure warning signals, and thermal propagation.
Objectives of the ALBATROSS project are;
1-To achieve a 20% weight reduction of the battery system.
2-To develop solutions & processes for sustainable dismantling/recycling of battery packs/modules (materials, components, and sub-systems) taking into account safety and automation.
3-To create flexible advanced battery management systems capable of being used on different types of packs and mid-sized vehicles with different use patterns, and underlying provisions to be used in second-life applications.
4-To create advanced functionalities of BMS to enable control of modules and packs and their remote maintenance and troubleshooting, software updating, and other functions, taking into account safety and modularity aspects at increased battery pack energy density as well as health and environmental aspects over the lifecycle including cases of failure, and reuse/recycling.
5-To develop systems compatible with high-power ultra-fast charging and related implications, including high and low-temperature charging, insulation, and advanced models (including for instance data mining and big data on existing databases) for monitoring thermal state and estimation of application-dependant State of Health
6–To develop and qualification of future performance-related test procedures of developed functionalities under real-world conditions, incl. extreme environmental conditions.
7–To validate battery performance functionalities at full scale should demonstrate this through pack integration into an existing vehicle to serve as a benchmark of achieved performance.
8–to develop and quantify future safety-related test procedures e.g. venting/management of gases, battery failure warning signals, and thermal propagation.
A comprehensive overview of the vehicle-based battery pack benchmark testing of the ALBATROSS baseline vehicle (The model Year 2021 BMW i3, 125kW), was conducted in order to evaluate the powertrain performance under several operating conditions. The battery tray integration developments and design studies in accordance with the feedback of welding process implementers for the BMW i3 have been made systematically related to each work package in order to create a final design. Performance requirement definition and specification for both light commercial vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles have been undertaken. A cell module has been designed that incorporates both cooling and heating. The focus of the cell selection was mostly around the packaging of as much energy within the available space, thus realizing the highest energy density possible. Three possible cells and packaging concepts matched to this have been considered within the BMW i3 battery tray. Using cylindrical cells led to a lower theoretical capacity than could be theoretically achieved using cylindrical cells. BMS hardware architecture was defined in such a way that it can be adjusted for different topologies. System on Chip solution has been chosen in the concept phase and a software development environment has been established. . Two-phase immersion cooling system and embedded thermal component parametric analysis and Loop heat pipe cooling system development studies are still ongoing in parallel with WP4 development. The development of algorithms to perform an assessment of SOH and EoL has been started. An agnostic Cloud solution was developed to give the ability to deploy/install on any platform inside and outside of the company. Applicability of the different robotic tools in the dismantling process, both commercial, and custom 3D printed grippers has been studied. Existing technologies for electric car vehicle battery recycling technology were reviewed, either already at the industrial or still at an experimental stage. The ALBATROSS database has been developed to store, manage and operate on information about battery cell and pack design layouts, analytical thermal analysis and electrical test for analyzing the thermal profile of battery cell, and FEM thermal simulation of a battery cell and pack.
The current need is to develop the EV market by providing high-density, efficient, safe battery packages in order to overcome “range anxiety” and “safety anxiety” hurdles resulting in vehicle drivers’ EV choice latency. Yet, at this time, the current industry strategy is to increase the battery sizes in order to increase range and lower charging frequency.ALBATROSS aims to provide the means to considerably improve the performance of the EV through reduced battery system weight by 20% at a constant electric vehicle range for mid-size battery electric cars. Outcomes of the ALBATROSS will overcome the uncertainty of range by achieving a 25% shorter recharging time with a 150kW charger compared to the best-in-class electric car available on the market in 2018. To assess this impact, ALBATROSS outcomes will be showcased in one real-case demonstrator and tested in BMW i3. Moreover, the minimum 20% compared to existing products' LCA improvement will be evaluated to contribute to Circular Economy goals. ALBATROSS will focus on achieving a significant extended useful battery life to 300000 km in real driving referring to a mid-size passenger car during high-power charging/discharging, thanks to the lightweight crash-worthy structures as a part of the try structures, improved battery, and thermal management systems and sensoring technologies. AI-based behavior models for accurate prediction of thermal behavior (thermal run-away and early warning battery failure detection). Two-phase flow system that provides supplementary cooling only when needed and can be used for either the e-motor or the battery to provide supplementary cooling during ultra-fast charging. To cover the whole lifecycle, strategies for the circular use of the end-of-life elements will allow to development of a KBE design automation system for eco-design and sustainability models.