International EV Batteries 2023…Roundtable interview with five of …
International EV Batteries conference, 7-8 November 2023, Aston Villa Football Club, Birmingham
Ahead of our eighth annual International EV Batteries conference, we caught up with five of the event's speakers as they discuss their roles and involvement with regards to the conference topic, industry challenges and why it is important for engineers to attend.
Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience with electric vehicles
Lisa Bingley, MIRA Technology Institute (LB): In my role as operations director for the MIRA Technology Institute (MTI), I am responsible for its overall management including building links between partners and industry. I am a Chartered Engineer and moved into my current role following a 19-year career with HORIBA MIRA working in emerging technology.
The MIRA Technology Institute provides its students with a bespoke curriculum aimed at satisfying an ever-increasing need for specialist skills in the UK automotive sector with a particular focus on electrification and connected and autonomous vehicles cultivating the skills necessary to operate at the cutting edge of automotive technology.
I am Immediate Past Chair of the Events Programme Committee and Vice Chair of the IMechE Automobile Division Board.
Mark Collins, Volvo Trucks (MC): As Product Manager for the Volvo electric truck range in the UK and Ireland, I am responsible for the portfolio of vehicles which range from 16–44 tonne gross mass and the future technology roadmap. This includes the positioning of vehicles and technology with respect to international, national and local legislation as well as providing engineering support to the network of companies that build bodies and trailers for vehicles as we transition to new, more efficient ways to draw power from an electric vehicle via a ‘Power Take Off’.
Joe Stevenson, Anaphite (JSA): I am CEO of Anaphite. Anaphite works on electrodes for cells for electric vehicles. The technology we have developed enables us to design, formulate and manufacture well structured, homogenous powders containing all the components of advanced cathodes. Our customers are cell and vehicle manufacturers. Our technology provides them three advantages: improved product performance; greatly reduced manufacturing costs; and compliance with current and future standards on carbon emissions and the use of hazardous substances.
I have been at Anaphite for a year but have spent more than 25 years in chemical and electrochemical businesses in the UK supplying functional materials and components, primarily for automotive and energy applications.
Joel Sylvester, Dukosi (JSD): At Dukosi, we provide a unique battery monitoring solution based on intelligent chip-on-cell technology for maximizing the utilization of battery systems for electric vehicles (EV) which is a massive growth market, but also for a wide range of industrial transport and stationary energy storage applications. Part of my role as CTO is to try and anticipate how the needs of EV energy storage and management will evolve over next five to ten years. This is to ensure that Dukosi has the solutions that not only meet today’s EV requirements but can also help shape future EV power architectures and deliver on sustainability goals for the long term. So, I spend a lot of time deep in the guts of EVs, looking at the engineering problems and help to come up with innovative solutions to problems that EV manufacturers may not even know they have yet.
Rocco Potenza, bp (RP): I am an Expert Technologist in the Advanced Electrification Research team (Research & Innovation, bp), where I am responsible for demonstrating the differentiated performance of Castrol ON’s Thermal fluids for Electric Vehicle applications, specifically for immersion cooled battery packs, but also for other onboard applications where benefits exist, such as high-power electronics.
Q: What is the top challenge facing your industry at present?
LB: At a macro level, the climate crisis is focusing the minds of every organisation in the automotive sector and beyond. The electric revolution is gathering pace bringing a complete change of culture and mindset that is challenging for a well-established sector.
The most significant challenge we face is the skills shortage and how we are going to address the shortfall in qualified engineers and technicians quickly enough to keep up with the pace of change. Not only does the industry face a skills shortage but the training arena is also struggling to recruit appropriately qualified and experienced personnel to pass on their skills to the next generation of automotive engineers.
MC: Heavy-duty commercial vehicles are often expected to travel in excess of 150,000km per annum using very energy dense EN590 diesel utilising a mature refilling network with the current operating limitations being largely dictated by legal driving times. As we transition to different technologies, the challenge is around getting the desired energy on board with an almost non-existent truck public charging network whilst remaining compliant with legal and technical gross vehicle and axle masses as well as fitting in with overall length regulations.
JSA: Cells are a third of the cost of a typical EV, and their performance is a major contributor to the overall performance of the vehicle, so there is huge pressure along the supply chain to improve performance, durability and reliability while reducing cost. The electrification of EVs requires a hundred-fold increase in cell production globally, but this scaling creates as many challenges as it solves because the cell manufacturing requires very high precision to meet required performance and yield. On top of this, regulations on emissions and hazardous substances will make many current approaches unviable in the future. So it isn’t one challenge, but it is primarily a manufacturing – and a design-for-manufacturing – challenge.
JSD: As a technology company providing semiconductors and embedded software for battery systems, particularly for the automotive industry, I would say that meeting the demands of functional safety is high on the list, and continuous innovation with sustainability built in not far behind. Bringing automotive qualified, functionally safe silicon to market takes a long time. Dukosi’s chip-on-cell technology has been developed to provide greater safety and meet the reliability requirements for automotive applications. Ensuring productive second and third life and efficient recycling of cells and batteries is an industry and environmental imperative that needs planning today. Our unique 24/7 monitoring of cell data and event logging also provides lifetime traceability to help build a more circular and sustainable value chain.
RP: The need to help the world get to net-zero is the biggest challenge facing industry today but for the mobility and industrial lubricants sector, it presents huge opportunities and it's at the heart of Castrol's PATH360 sustainability strategy. The demand for more sustainable and efficient lubricants is on the increase and at Castrol we're working across a number of sectors to provide advanced fluids for thermal management which can be used in EVs as well as data centres for example.
Q: How would you say your industry has evolved over the past five years?
LB: The MTI first opened its doors exactly five years ago and at that time we were at the forefront of the move to electrification which has continued to gather pace since then. The pandemic shutdown and associated shortfall in raw materials at the midpoint of this period undoubtedly set the industry back and delayed the rapid rollout of the latest technological advances. The sector has now caught up and continues to focus its efforts on adapting to a new world of connected, electric and autonomous vehicles.
MC: Within the last five years, heavy duty vehicle manufacturers have had the first significant CO2e reduction targets introduced, with the baseline across the EU and the UK being set between summer 2019 - summer 2020 through measuring CO2 output of vehicles via the ‘Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool’, VECTO.
The immediate target of a -15% reduction by 2025, -45% by 2030, -65% by 2035 and -90% by 2040 compared to the baseline has meant that a variety of different fuel types and technologies have been introduced. An example is the large-scale introduction of liquified natural gas/biogas, compressed natural gas and battery electric vehicles with the development of fuel-cell electric vehicles in progress too. The implications of this are widespread, including the need for different skills in engineering, technicians, new tooling, infrastructure, national and local policy and workshop adaptations.
JSA: The last five years have seen the industrialisation of cells designed for BEV applications, and the creation of whole new industrial sectors in Europe and the US. Li-ion cell making was for decades almost entirely in the Far East and largely serving the consumer electronics industry. Vehicle applications have transformed it completely, with new customers, new technologies, new manufactures all entering the market.
JSD: Battery management systems (BMS) have been at the heart of EV performance, and traditional wired architectures have dominated the BMS for the past decade with little innovation or differentiation. With the EV market continuing rapid growth and new brands emerging, automotive OEMs are looking for better battery performance, safety and essentially more miles per charge to differentiate themselves from the competition. We are seeing greater investment in research and development in battery technologies along the whole global battery value chain. Wireless BMS is emerging to provide improved battery monitoring capabilities while chip-on-cell or smart cells are also gaining interest. With new pack architectures such as cell-to-pack and structural batteries being explored as the future of EV power I think there will be more rapid evolution coming up.
RP: The growing emphasis on net-zero means that in the mobility industry we are seeing stricter regulations as well as increased customer demands for sustainable solutions.
At Castrol we’re developing advanced formulations for Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and Hybrid vehicles to enhance efficiency, reduce friction and extend lifespan. And we’ve already launched Castrol ON - a range of advanced electric vehicle (EV) fluids including EV Transmission Fluids, EV Thermal Fluids and EV Greases.
Thinking circular is also critical and recently, Castrol with their longstanding partner Jaguar TCS Racing, successfully used re-refined Castrol ON EV Transmission Fluid in the team’s all-electric race cars at the 2023 Monaco E-Prix. The ultimate aim is to apply the learnings from the race track to road cars.
Q: What developments are going on in your industry that may have an impact on the development of future electric vehicles and battery technology?
LB: We are currently engaged in training logistics sector businesses to take advantage of developments in hydrogen fuel cell technology and to realise the potential that a switch to cleaner, greener hydrogen fuel could bring to EV fleet operations. As our ability to manufacture ‘green’ hydrogen increases, this fuel source will become ever more accessible and appealing.
At the MTI we are focused on issues around functional safety and cyber security, building skills to ensure vehicle resilience within a connected world. The advance of AI will also have a significant impact on the industry in the medium to long term.
MC: The introduction of battery electric vehicles is a drastic change to the industry and as a result, we are in a period of demonstrations and trials to prove the technology. One such example is the Zero Emission Road Freight Demonstration, ZERFD, in the UK, which is £140mil of investment from the Department for Transport in partnership with Innovate UK, focussed on the largest, most difficult to decarbonise heavy goods vehicles, those with a combination mass of 40-44 tonnes, alongside installation of the beginning of a publicly accessible high-power charging network. This will be followed by a 5-year reporting period.
As well as this, some member states of the EU and the UK (England, Scotland, and Wales excl. Northern Ireland) have adopted a 2000kg increase in maximum allowable masses for certain zero-emission vehicles.
JSA: Anaphite works in cathode design and manufacture. The high level developments that we work within and try to accelerate are in cell chemistries, in cell production technologies and in new types of cell.
The chemistry of the active material in the cathode defines the cell type – NMC, NCA, LFP, etc. The first part of our job is to formulate cathodes to gain maximum performance from these materials.
In cell production, we work entirely on materials for dry coating. This process technology avoids the need for solvent in the electrode coating process, which in turn removes the need for ovens for drying the electrodes. As Volkswagen said when announcing their ambition to have dry coated electrodes in production by 2027, this removes half of the processing cost from cell production.
Our technology will also accelerate new types of cell design, such as solid state, which are on the OEMs’ technology roadmaps.
JSD: Dukosi’s intelligent chip-on-cell technology will allow powertrain design to be freed from the constraints of modular BMS architectures. The number of battery cells and their configuration will be matched to the demands of the motor drive. Configuring packs for different market segments will be easier and quicker. Cell-level monitoring enabled by our chip-on-cell technology can go beyond the restrictions of existing battery management systems, thereby facilitating the introduction of new pack architectures, safer and simpler designs, new cell chemistries, better thermal management and more.
RP: To give you some examples, bp is investing heavily in the roll out of a fast and ultra-fast charger network, as we believe customers want and need fast charging as they make the switch to electric vehicles. This requires high-power grid connections, planning permissions and land in the right places. It’s a complex process and we’re working to break down the barriers to progress to get the chargers in the ground as quickly as possible.
Second thermal management is becoming increasingly important. The batteries in electric vehicles work hardest when they are charging and discharging energy – and this is when they can reach undesirable temperatures. As the technology in EVs advances, their batteries will face unprecedented pressure, due to developments in vehicle performance, and ultra-fast charging.
In an effort to combat these challenges, Castrol has developed a Thermal Management EV Fluid that can keep the battery operating at an ideal temperature and continues to work on unique technology for similar products in the future.
To continue to innovate to meet these evolving needs, bp is investing in state-of-the-art EV battery testing centres and analytical laboratories to continue to innovate to meet these evolving needs. This includes investing up to £50 million for a new electric vehicle battery testing centre and analytical laboratory in Pangbourne, UK. To advance the development of engineering, battery technology and fluid technology into applications such as electric vehicles, charging and data centres.
Q: What will you be presenting at the conference and how will this benefit participants?
MC: The transport industry is going through the largest technology shift in decades which poses logistical, infrastructure and physical challenges. I will be presenting how battery electric technology fits in today and what the immediate challenges are covering both vehicle architecture and infrastructure.
Participants will benefit from finding out how legislation is changing to accommodate ‘zero-emission’ vehicles and understand what the new opportunities are with used/end-of-life automotive batteries.
JSA: I will be talking about the challenges of cell production and about how Anaphite’s electrode dry-coating technology can drastically reduce the cost and environmental impact of cell production while matching or beating the performance of current wet-coated systems. I will also talk about the synergies and trade-offs between chemistry, production engineering and vehicle engineering along this value chain.
JSD: I will be talking about some of the demands of cell-to-pack architectures, the advantages as well as some of the serviceability challenges, and the safety implications. And I’ll explain how per-cell BMS technology can be part of the solution. I’ll also touch on how the European Battery Passport regulations can be met with on-cell lifetime traceability.
RP: I will be presenting on the topic of “Thermal runaway and fire prevention in EV battery packs using immersion thermal management”. Safety for Electric Vehicles is a topic of utmost importance, and we want to demonstrate that immersion cooling of battery packs is not only providing better performance in normal operation under high charge rate scenarios, but also helps manage and prevent safety instances such as Thermal Runaway Propagation. This requires a change of mindset which can only be achieved with solid and robust data underpinning it.
Q: Why is it important for engineers and industry to come together at this event and share best practice?
LB: At the MTI, we bring engineers, industry, and training providers together every day and the relationships we have fostered over the last five years have brought significant success to students and businesses alike. We have learned that working in close collaboration is the best recipe for success and hope that this event will provide a catalyst for some great interactions.
MC: Policy is there to determine a desired outcome, whether that is a reduction in pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. Engineers are the enablers to determine the best way to achieve a desired outcome by researching, developing, and testing technology. Battery-electric vehicles can play a key role in both improving air quality in the transport industry as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The in-use emissions of a vehicle are only part of the puzzle. Production of electricity, manufacturing of parts and remanufacturing, refurbishing, recycling, repurposing of materials are all important aspects which is only achieved through collaboration.
JSA: Industrialising and deploying electric vehicles is a huge engineering challenge, spanning mechanical, electrical and electronic, manufacturing, chemical and civil branches of the discipline. Anaphite is a working in one step in the value chain, but we need chemists, electrochemists and chemical engineers to do our part. Working across disciplines and across the supply chain is essential for success, which is why I am so pleased to be taking part in the IMechE’s International EV Batteries conference.
JSD: As engineers, we are naturally curious, motivated to solve problems, and be part of technology that improves people lives. Sustainability and reducing environmental impact for future generations is what also drives us in this industry. Best practices sometimes seems an overused term, but it’s at events like these that you can learn, discuss and collaborate to help drive the industry forward - without having to reinvent the wheel or repeating someone else’s mistakes.
RP: The automotive and mobility world is undergoing an unprecedented transformation in a relatively short period of time. It is important that the scientific and engineering communities come together in forums like the IMechE, to shape the change and ensure that we are working together to deliver fast through scientific sharing, addressing technical challenges and the introduction of new standards, to name a few.
This year’s International EV Batteries conference will be taking place on 7-8 November 2023 at Aston Villa Football Club, Birmingham. To book your place, please visit www.imeche.org/evbatteries[1].
References
- ^ www.imeche.org/evbatteries (www.imeche.org)