MAHLE Powertrain has opened a new facility for the extensive testing of EV battery modules. The facility, based at the company’s Northampton technical center, enables the strip-down and disassembly of modules and compact vehicle batteries for post-test assessment, and provides a climate-controlled environment to carry out real-world simulated testing with the aim of streamlining the test and validation stages of emerging technologies.

“With electrification the automotive industry’s preferred method for achieving emissions targets, there is a very time and cost-sensitive need to develop enabling technologies such as the battery module,” says Simon Reader, MAHLE’s Director of Engineering Services. “The new facility [will] provide an extensive capability that aids battery assessment, test, and optimization. In-house development of such a facility would be time- and cost-prohibitive for OEMs, so it makes perfect sense for MAHLE Powertrain, which can provide an end-to-end powertrain solution, to offer a broad range of expertise and capability that’s able to accelerate development time while reducing cost, in one place.”

The facility also enables testing under simulated drive-cycle conditions to evaluate the performance of battery systems in real-world environments. This includes the ability to assess cells, modules, and battery packs for steady-state testing of open-circuit voltage, storage capacity and thermal characteristics, including voltage response under high discharge, thermal behavior and internal resistance.

Source: MAHLE Powertrain