Increasing the Safety of Battery Modules in Electric Vehicles with Polyurethane Pultrusion | NewsLIGHT #15 | Covestro

Driven by climate change, regulation, and CO₂ reduction, eMobility is projected to grow significantly in the coming years. Of the many opportunities that eMobility creates for innovative materials, perhaps none is more important than safety. This is especially true in terms of crash safety, as any deformation of the battery pack can lead to rupture and thermal runaway. Covestro has taken this challenge and has developed an innovative new battery component to increase crash safety in electric vehicles. The battery pack concept incorporates Covestro’s Baydur^® PUL pultrusion technology.

Pultrusion is a well-established and cost efficient manufacturing process used to create composite parts from polyurethane resin and fibers such as glass or carbon. In the process, continuous fibers are pulled through a tempered pultrusion die while liquid polyurethane is injected. The material is shaped and hardened before being cut into desired dimensions. The cost efficient process is ideal for a vehicles battery frame as OEMs seek lightweight, strong, and modular designs for future purpose built electric vehicles.

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During development of the innovative battery housing, several design options were considered. These options included using pultruded polyurethane as various parts of the construction (bottom plate, struts, frame). To validate and compare the designs, several simulations were conducted. These included two crash simulations and three ECE R100 tests. The two China Crush and side-pole crash tests evaluated energy absorption and deformation. Three ECE R100 tests evaluated mechanical integrity, mechanical shock and vibration.

Results of the simulation were compared with a benchmark battery pack of current materials. The results showed that the Covestro Baydur® PUL material can significantly outperform the benchmark pack in the key crash tests. The results of these tests will be reviewed and recommendations of further design options will be discussed. Ultimately, the evaluation has showed that advanced composite materials can continue to drive innovation in the automotive industry.

CoBe Battery Pack Top View © Covestro

CoBE Battery Pack Pultrusion Profiles © Covestro

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