Fully integrated! New battery concepts for electric vehicles – more compact, less expensive and more

Driving enjoyment and electric drive – two terms that are no longer contradictory. Today, hardly any automobile manufacturer goes without an “e-car“ in its range of models. However, further full-scale research in the advancement of energy storage materials and concepts as well as the constant improvement of corresponding production technologies has to be conducted until electric vehicles become established in everyday life.

On that point, Bernd Becker, chairman of the management board of thyssenkrupp System Engineering, says: “Production research contributes crucially to transferring intelligent battery concepts from the idea to the industrialization”. Furthermore, optimal cost, performance and lifespan shall be achieved by means of intelligent system architectures and future-oriented lightweight housings.

The three project partners thyssenkrupp System Engineering GmbH, IAV GmbH and Fraunhofer IKTS take this a vital step further. With EMBATT, they develop the concept and specially tailored production technologies for lithium-based high-performance batteries set-up in a planar manner, which are directly integrated into the chassis of the vehicle.

“Thereby, significantly more compact energy storage solutions with energy densities of 450 Wh/l and therefore ranges of up to 1000 km are realizable“, explains Wolfgang Reimann, division director “E-Traktion” of the IAV GmbH. However, technological challenges have to be dealt with in advance. This becomes possible by pooling the specific experiences and competencies of the three partners in a joint project.

IAV as one of the leading engineering partners of the automotive industry contributes its development expertise to the EMBATT project, from vehicle conception, vehicle safety, battery design and construction to the application of the control unit software. Fraunhofer IKTS conducts research on the development of customized materials and specific methods for electrode manufacturing. thyssenkrupp System Engineering has expertise in manufacturing production plants and production equipment for vehicle construction and battery manufacturing.

thyssenkrupp System Engineering and Fraunhofer IKTS jointly operate a pilot plant located in Pleissa, Saxony, where laser-based processing methods and joining processes for the efficient, generative production of lithium batteries are investigated alongside environmentally friendly processes for the manufacturing of battery electrodes. „Due to the promising connection of materials and technology know-how of the cooperation partners, system costs of Li-ion batteries are expected to be reduced to 200 €/kWh”, says Dr. Mareike Wolter, group manager “Mobile Energy Storage Systems” at Fraunhofer IKTS.

On the occasion of the Dresden Battery Days 2015“, the EMBATT project was presented to a professional audience for the first time. The development project will run three years and is supported by ERDF funds and the Free State of Saxony. The goal of this venture encompasses application-oriented production research up to successful industrialization in order to establish electric vehicles as part of everyday life in the future.

http://www.ikts.fraunhofer.de/en/pressandmedia/pressemitteilungen/embatt.html