The “revolutionary” study was conducted by scientists as part of the SafeBattery project together with several industry partners – AVL, Audi, and Daimler. Their goal was to find out how the battery can behave under certain circumstances throughout its entire service life, for which the batteries were subjected to various tests – for the influence of vibrations, strong accelerations, serious accidents, as well as constant charging and discharging.
Using crash tests, simulation models, and calculation methods, the researchers determined that vibrations and accelerations do not affect the behavior of batteries in terms of safety. But as a result of constant charging and discharging of the battery, significant mechanical and electrical changes in the structure of the battery were noticed. Namely, scientists found that old batteries (compared to new ones) have higher rigidity under mechanical load due to natural degradation (a decrease in the actual capacity of the power cells). In other words, over time, batteries have a reduced energy potential, which makes them less prone to accidental ignition, which is typical for electric vehicles.
“Changes [in the ‘filling’ of the battery during operation – ed.] do not necessarily mean that batteries become more dangerous with age. On the contrary, impacts over time make them safer because they lose electricity,” said the head of the study, Christian Ellersdorfer.
Thus, now manufacturers (and buyers too) know what to expect from an electric car battery. At least in one aspect.
