Revolutionary and lightweight Battery Thermal Management System for Next Generation Electric Vehicle (ROBuST)

This project will develop and validate a battery thermal management system (ROBuST) for ZEV application. ROBuST'S advantages of lightweight, geometric flexibility, enhanced thermal performance/stability is due to an enlarged contact surface area (between the technology and the battery cells), that reduces the weight of battery packs up to 18%, leading to a 12%+ energy density improvement.

The flexible geometry of the ROBuST innovation enables its be incorporation with all cell types (cylindrical, prismatic and pounch), this a great advantage over other counterparts (cold plate cooling, heat pipe cooling, etc).

The industrial partner (PAK Engineering Ltd.) will draw upon its expertise in niche heat exchanger design/manufacturing and bring forward an innovative manufacturing technology to de-risk the ROBuST technology scale-up, enabling its immediate incorporation with battery pack assembly/supply chain.

The academic partner (Loughborough University) will conduct modelling for ROBuST, providing guidance in its design and validation process.

The project outcome, an innovative and lightweight battery thermal management system, will be of vital importance to accelerate current ZEVs towards its next generation with reduced number of batteries, enhanced battery performance, extended driving range, battery longevity, higher safety and durability, thereby helping to achieve the UK government's ambition of zero carbon emission by 2050\.