Investing in EV/PHEV

With American Recovery and Reinvestment

Act of 2009 funds of $2.4 billion being invested into advanced battery and electric drive projects, the automotive industry has undergone a significant transformation over the past year and a half. And while hybrid and electric vehicle development has grown exponentially since those funds were allocated, public concern over the safety of electric vehicles (EVs), lithium-ion batteries, and EV charging stations has also increased. To help alleviate buyers' concerns-as well as their own-automakers and suppliers have invested heavily into new test

equipment and facilities to learn as much about these new advanced energy systems as possible.

With the added weight of battery systems in EVs and plugin hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs). many companies are being forced to re-examine their test requirements. which are written for smaller. lighter components. as welI as their test equipment. which is intended to handle much lower masses.

As an example, vibration test equipment provider Data Physics Corp., which typicalIy has supplied shakers producing 6000 to 7000 lbf (27 to 31 kN) for use in the automotive industry is now receiving orders for water-cooled electrodynamic

TESTING| ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT FEATURE

kind of a fire. So even when there are cold temperatures, there are still concerns that there could be an occurrence of a problem"

Envirotronics' Ion Battery chamber features an array of safety equipment in the event of a problem, including an electrical door lock system, optical and acoustical alarm, a special venting duct, an over pressure release valve, a fire detection system, and flushing device.

"If there is an explosion, the burst disk will open up, and furnace-type duct is connected to the top of that chamber and goes to the outside of the building to relieve that energy that is displaced inside the chamber; Arvo said

shakers producing 20,000 to 50,000 lbf (89 to 222 kN) mainly for use in testing hybrid components and battery packs,

"As a whole, the automotive Industry started pushing up its specifications a couple of years ago;" said Kevin W. McIntosh, Shaker Operations Manager, Data Physics. "But in this case, It's Just the amount of total moving mass that they're pushing. Where the components used to be much smaller subassemblies, now the battery packs and the compo­ nents for the hybrid and electric vehl­ des are Just larger components that weigh more"

Data Physics recently delivered a 5O,OOO-lbf (222-kN) shaker system to Hitachi in the US. for hybrid component testing, and BMW recently purchased two 20,OOO-lbf (89-kN) shakers for tis facility in Germany. Another 50,OOO-Ibf shaker Is currently In production for a German automaker for research and development testing of large payloads and Is expected to be delivered by the end of 201O.

Environmental extremes

The safety risks of lithium-ion batteries are understood, with external overheating, overload, over discharge, too high charging current, piercing, crushing, and external short-ctrcuit potentially causing thermal runaway leading to

leaks, smoke, gas release, fire, and explosion. Vehicle and battery manufacturers are working to reduce these risks, and environmental testing is an integral component in the development and validation of battery systems.

It has always been a concern when you test lithium-Ion batteries because they can outgas. So If there's a fire, you try to snuff It out, and It keeps constantly feeding oxygen to the fire; said TIm Koenlgsknecht, Marketing Manager, Envirotronics. So there's a lot of concern about that when they do testing:'

Envirotronics has been manufacturers environmental test chambers for decades, ranging in size from 32-ft' (0.9- m') to whole-vehlde chambers up to 75 ft long, 24 ft tall, and 23 ft wide (23 m long, 7.3 m tall, and 7.0 m wide) and covering a temperature range of -70 to

+ 180°C (-94 to +356°F). In addition to testing for hot and cold in the same unit, chambers can also add humidity to see how the batteries respond to moisture

"Batteries Just don't like the cold, [researchers] like to test these

In a cold climate and see what happens,"said Bill Arvo, national Sales for Weiss Group , part of the Envirotronics Group. could still have of short-circuit situation in those cold temperatures, which may cause some