HV Traction Battery: From Layout to Realization

From system layout to the vehicle integration a lot of design steps have to be taken into account regarding high-voltage (HV) batteries for electric vehicles. Electrical performance has to be traded off against mechanical and thermal issues several times during development. Besides the physical setup also the management of the battery system has to be considered and adapted to the chosen system layout, which leads among others to an optimized amount of sensors that are needed to ensure the safety of the system. As especially public transport is a promising sector for electric mobility, technical questions such as the thermal management and cell contacting shall be considered and shown by the example of a battery for a full-electric bus in the pilot-project “Smart Wheels”, supported by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). Within the project the battery system as well as a fast charge concept for the whole day operation of the vehicle were developed and taken into operation. This work aims to give an overview of the full development cycle in the design of a new traction battery including test results of the prototype and solutions for technical questions such as the thermal management.