A UK facility dedicated to streamlining the test and validation stages of emerging electric vehicle battery module technologies has been opened by powertrain specialists Mahle Powertrain.
The facility in Northampton will specialise in electrified powertrain battery pack and module testing and development in real-world environments.
The facility in Northampton enables the strip-down and disassembly of modules and compact vehicle batteries for post-test assessment, and provides a climate-controlled environment to carry out real-world simulated testing.
Simon Reader, Mahle’s director of engineering services, said: “With electrification seemingly the automotive industry’s preferred method for achieving stringent future emissions targets, there is a very time and cost-sensitive need to develop enabling technologies such as the battery module.
“The new facility has been carefully developed to provide an extensive capability that aids battery assessment, test and optimisation.
“In-house development of such a facility would be time and cost-prohibitive for OEMs and so it makes perfect sense for us to offer a broad range of expertise and capability that’s able to accelerate development time while reducing cost, in one place.”
The battery pack assembly and testing facility also enables testing under simulated drive-cycle conditions to evaluate the performance of battery systems in real-use environments. This includes the ability to assess cells, modules and battery packs for steady state testing of open circuit voltage, storage capacity and thermal characteristics, including voltage response under high discharge, thermal behaviour and internal resistance.
Assembly of new prototype units is also possible at the facility, which can conduct dynamic test cycles and steady state characterisation testing with or without battery management systems in-situ.