Automotive Catch here Shaking up EV battery development


Responding to soaring demand from the UK automotive industry for advanced battery safety testing, HORIBA MIRA has invested £1.5m in a new large climatic vibration laboratory and battery abuse facility


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et to open in October, the new Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory is the UK’s first battery vibration test facility - or ‘shaker’ as it’s known in the industry - to also offer electrical and thermal cycling. It enables battery charging and discharging whilst in use, along with climatic capability, to carry out tests in ambient conditions ranging from -40°C to 100°C. The new twin vibration facility can operate in three axes and has the capacity to vibrate up to one tonne of mass, making it ideal for testing the biggest EV batteries on the market to regulatory standards such as UN38.3 and ECEReg100.


The unique ‘shaker’ is the second part of a recent £1.5m investment by HORIBA MIRA into battery safety related testing, which includes its new Battery Abuse Test Facility (BAT) that opened in July. The BAT facility provides abuse and safety testing at cell, module and pack level, in all-weather conditions, supported by


high speed cameras, thermal imaging and gas detection.


This £1.5m investment significantly strengthens HORIBA MIRA’s comprehensive battery development capability, enabling end- to-end engineering and test solutions for cell, modules and complete battery packs. The two new facilities answer demand from the UK automotive industry for advanced battery safety testing capabilities, many of which were not previously available in the UK or did not meet the latest industry needs. In fact, the distinct advantage of the new ‘shaker’ is that it can electrically and thermally cycle a battery during vibration testing and is fully programmable to reflect actual vehicle duty cycles – a unique function in the UK that will help provide test results that are representative of real-world conditions. Another major benefit of using the Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory is that tests that have traditionally been performed


individually can now be done


simultaneously. This reduces the overall test duration and the number of test samples required, providing the added bonus of lower product development costs. Eamonn Martin, solution manager for Electrification and


Environmental Validation at HORIBA MIRA, says: “The environmental and societal drive towards zero emissions transport has increased the need for more advanced battery engineering and the testing capability to support that. At HORIBA MIRA we’ve been developing batteries and testing them for our customers for almost 20 years, this latest investment complements our existing EV battery development portfolio with additional capability to validate the latest battery technologies.


“Our new Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory, or ‘shaker’ as it’s known, along with the Battery Abuse Facility opened earlier this year, will enable our customers


to access a comprehensive range of battery test capabilities – regardless of size, weight and complexity – with the option of a fully managed test service.”


HORIBA MIRA specialises in developing batteries for niche applications and provides OEMS and Tier 1s with a comprehensive in-house design, development, build and test solution for battery systems. The firm’s market-leading Battery Test Management Solution (BTMS) manages the complete testing programme including all logistics - saving time and cost for customers.


horiba-mira.com


Semiconductor shortage will halt connected car technologies development


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he dwindling supplies of the semiconductors relied upon by car manufacturers, the unprecedented weather in Texas and a recent factory fire in Japan for one of the world’s leading auto chip makers, has created a perfect storm for the future of connected car technology and in-car entertainment, according to leading software


provider VNC Automotive.


Tom Blackie, founder and CEO, VNC Automotive, says: “This is the biggest threat to the development of truly connected vehicles that we will see in a generation. It comes at a time when vehicle manufactures are wrestling with the global impact of the of COVID pandemic and the acceleration towards the mass adoption of EVs. “Our customers are experiencing serious supply issues, with some making big long-term commitments in order to get any kind of guaranteed supply, and the implications are much higher costs. This situation is out of car manufacturers’ control and will force them to restrict production or compromise the technology they are able to implement in cars. “This will ultimately impact consumers, who will be left with stagnated systems or, in extreme cases, retrograde technology as manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers are forced to hobble systems to work with less


www.cieonline.co.uk


advanced semiconductor designs. As a leader in the field of systems and software development, we’re concerned that it will lead to a generation of cars that will became quickly incompatible with future mobile phones and connectivity technology. In this way it may have knock on effects for the development of EVs and even autonomous technologies.”


With its software in approximately 35 million vehicles worldwide, VNC Automotive works across the entire transportation industry, including consumer, commercial, emergency services, as well as mobility. Its technology lies at the heart of a vehicles’ entertainment, navigation and telematics systems, allowing manufacturers and OEMs to enrich the experience of both drivers and passengers, through connectivity, multimedia and productivity. Headquartered in one of the world’s largest technology clusters, in Cambridge UK, VNC automotive offers an end to end service, from proof-of-concept, technology delivery and through into production. Each project is tailored to the client’s needs but draws upon the company’s expertise of working with the world leading equipment providers and automotive manufactures.


vncautomotive.com Components in Electronics May 2021 21


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