A research programme to develop a standardised and commercially-ready replaceable cartridge lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles has begun in Japan.
Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation (CJPT) and Yamamoto Transport aim to solve electric vehicle concerns over charge times, increased load on grids during multiple charging and logistic downtimes for fleet owners.
CJPT was launched in March 2021 by Toyota Motor Corporation with Isuzu Motors and Hino Motors and has since been joined by Suzuki and Daihatsu.
To solve the above issues, CJPT and Yamamoto Transport will study the practical application of detachable and portable cartridge batteries, based on a series of potential benefits that include:
- Reducing the cost of introducing BEVs: costs can be reduced by limiting battery capacity to match actual driving range requirements. This could also reduce the total amount of batteries required
- Reducing the requirement for recharging infrastructure
- Reducing logistics downtime
- Levelling off electricity demand: replacement batteries can be recharged while vehicles are in operation, reducing peak power demand
CJPT believes the development of common-specification cartridge batteries and recharging systems for commercial vehicles will reduce costs and encourage widespread adoption.
The company is also looking at ways of matching battery use to operational requirements to produce an efficient energy management solution.
Yamamoto Transport also intends to study ways of increasing the resilience of electric energy supply communities that could include the delivery of cartridge batteries to disaster zones where access to the power infrastructure is down.