Swiss technology company Ecovolta has unveiled a “standardised” lithium-ion battery, aimed at speeding up the development of electric vehicles.
Ecovolta, which announced the start of operations at a battery pack manufacturing and R&D plant in Switzerland earlier this year, said its ‘evoTraction’ battery “significantly cuts the time and expense needed to bring electric vehicles to the serial production stage”.
Ecovolta chief technology officer Paul Hauser said: “We estimate that vehicle manufacturers using a battery with an operating voltage of 48 volts and a capacity of 10 kilowatt hours, for example, will be able to save a total of €250,000-500,000 (US$283,000-567,000) in development and certification costs.”
“Our customers are generally looking at a development time of up to two years for a battery pack and the accompanying battery management system. The evoTraction battery, on the other hand, can be configured within a few hours, whether it’s being used in a golf cart or a lorry,”
According to Ecovolta, standardisation “cuts the costs per kilowatt hour of electricity stored, lowering the barriers to entry for companies looking to move into e-mobility”. It covers aspects of the dimensions, capacity levels and electronics, the company said.
Users of the battery “receive fully documented certification for all battery packs, including the crucial UN 38.3 certification for transport safety”.
The new battery is available in 24V, 48V and 400V as well as a capacity of 2.5kWh to 15 kWh. Up to 16 batteries can be connected in series in any configuration, and up to 32 strings can be connected in parallel, allowing a battery voltage of between 24V and 829V and a total capacity of up to around 7,600 kWh.
“Every individual battery module has a fixed length of 520 millimetres and a width of 218 mm, while the height depends on the voltage and capacity. This creates clear parameters for the vehicle design,” Ecovolta said.