EV battery testing facility opens in UK

A facility dedicated to electrified powertrain battery pack and module testing and development has been opened in Northhampton in the United Kingdom.

The Mahle Powertrain plant also enables post-test strip-down for assessment, its climate-controlled cell enabling a simulated, repeatable real-world test environment.

It’s a response to the growing time and cost pressures facing vehicle manufacturers seeking to develop latest generation automotive electrification technologies, Mahle Group says.

“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,” Mahle engineering services director Simon Reader says.

“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 Mahle Powertrain, which can provide an end to end powertrain solution, to offer a broad range of expertise and capability that’s able to accelerate development time while reducing cost, in one place.”

As well as offering post-assessment suitability analysis, the battery pack assembly and testing facility enables testing under simulated drive-cycle conditions to evaluate the performance of battery systems in real-use environments. Included within the testing remit is 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 new highly modular facility, which can conduct dynamic test cycles and steady state characterisation testing with or without battery management systems in-situ.

The facility can do tests within the temperature range of minus 40 degrees Celsius to 100C with precise humidity control and protection from a EUCAR 5 fire detection and suppression system.

The remote-control chamber receives bi-directional power supply suitable for module testing with cycling software and control of the environmental chamber.

“The needs of the automotive industry are evolving and by working with a trusted powertrain partner for testing or development work, OEMs are able to combat challenges while streamlining new vehicle development processes,” Reader adds.

Mahle Powertrain is a specialist in providing engineering services for the design, development and integration of advanced internal combustion engines (ICE) and electrified powertrain systems.

As a services subsidiary of the Mahle Group, Mahle Powertrain has eight technical centres in the UK, Germany, USA, China and Brazil and is well-placed to provide solutions around the globe.

Mahle Powertrain was formed from the acquisition of the Cosworth powertrain development team in 2005.