BATTmobil – battery models for increased crashworthiness of electric vehicles

A short-circuit caused by external forces, as they occur in crash situations, leads to an uncontrolled discharge of the battery cell. As a consequence, the battery cell heats up locally and, if it comes to the worst, this results in an explosive reaction of the cell.

Within the BATTmobil project, the deformation behavior of battery cells is investigated experimentally as well as by means of simulations. It shows that their behavior is determined essentially by their inner structure. As long as this structure remains largely intact, battery cells can withstand astonishingly large deformations. For predicting possible failure loads and to assess the criticality of the occurrence of a short-circuit, the deformation behavior is simulated. Within this context, it is decisive that the experimentally identified failure mechanisms are modeled correctly.

Thus, correspondingly validated simulation models enable a detailed insight into the cell behavior and can be applied in order to increase the crashworthiness of battery modules and vehicle structures.

BATTmobil is a research project funded by the State Ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg for Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing Construction. Research partners within the project are Fraunhofer EMI and Fraunhofer IWM.

Please, read the press release on the project start of BATTmobil (in German only)

Please, read the2017 press release on the project funding by the State Ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg for Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing Construction (in German only)