Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD
We have featured battery safety extensively in this issue. The topic is a growing concern as we use more and more lithium based batteries, which have a risk of catastrophic failure. In fact, our Special Focus section on high-reliability technologies actually feature two separate articles on the subject, one on virtual prototyping and the other on using AI to prevent thermal runaway. Safer batteries are essential in the drive to increase EV adoption and large scale energy storage. It is an area of the industry where heavy investment is made in research. Battery safety is also one of the reasons that we have a restricted rate of charging for EVs, as excessive currents can cause a rise in temperature that can be a trigger for those battery malfunctions. Slow charging rates are top of the list of complaints for EV users, and a large reason why they currently have a slow uptake. If there was a way to keep the batteries safe while larger currents were used to charge the vehicle, it would be a major boon for the industry.
Now, an innovation that will provide a method of faster battery charging has come from a most unlikely source, fossil fuel giant Shell. The company has developed a high-performance EV thermal management fluid that can reduce charging times without making any compromises in regard to battery safety, thermal stability or lifespan. To demonstrate the capabilities of the solution, the company partnered with RML Group to develop a 34 kWH battery pack that uses Shell’s new EV-Plus Thermal Fluid featuring Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) Technology, which is capable of charging from 10% to 80% capacity in under 10 minutes – almost 5X the rate of charge of today’s EVs.
The new Shell EV-Plus Thermal Fluids are electrically non-conductive fluids that were developed to facilitate excellent heat transfer by filling all of the spaces within the battery pack and maximise direct contact between the fluid and each battery cell. The fluids are able to deal with the very large amount of heat generated by the rapid charging process and provide consistent control of temperatures across the pack to protect against adverse thermal effects.
The new thermal fluids build on previous immersion cooling fluid products that the company developed for cooling datacentres and have been certified for use with 4th and 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors in that environment.
Until we have safer battery chemistries, innovations like this are vital to the continued development of EV technology to meet customer requirements. Faster charging is the top priority for EV owners and potential buyers now that the range issue has mostly been solved. A ten-minute charging time would be ideal for the vast majority of people if the technology can be commercialized at a reasonable cost.
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