First sheet aluminium battery enclosure for electric vehicles
Available globally, the aluminim battery enclosure is a more sustainable for battery electric vehicles, a market that is expected to more than triple globally by 2025.
Using aluminium means the enclosure is up to 50 percent lighter than an equivalent steel design. As a result, it matches the best energy density in the industry by enabling more than 160 watt-hours per kilogram, an extremely efficient design for OEMs and Tier 1 battery pack manufacturers. It also can accommodate all battery cell types and is designed particularly for battery electric vehicles with larger power packs such as pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles and crossovers.
The enclosure is built with Novelis’ Advanz aluminum products and part of the Novelis Alumineering portfolio, a collection of design solutions for the automotive industry. For mass production electric vehicles, the aluminum sheet design is more cost-effective than aluminum extrusion and casting-intense designs.
Using Novelis’ highly-formable alloys, the battery enclosure provides car and battery pack makers the ability to achieve deep drawn, complex shapes tailored to specific vehicle design requirements. The lightweight, high-strength material can help extend range, allowing vehicles to go 6-10 percent further on a single charge. With safety as a top priority, Novelis conducted extensive testing simulations to ensure its innovative, high-strength materials will protect batteries from road debris and vehicle crashes.
“This is the first project resulting from Novelis’ recently launched Customer Solution Center network, which brings research and technical platforms, operations and commercial development together to increase collaboration and innovation with our partners,” said Pierre Labat, Vice President, Global Automotive, Novelis Inc. “With our investment in design, joining and crash management capabilities, we were able to create a stronger, more efficient, and more cost-effective enclosure that can be fully customized to meet our customers’ needs.”
The design incorporates direct feedback from industry partners as well as automotive design engineers. It also uses the inherent benefits of aluminum being more corrosion-resistant, easily recyclable and having better thermal conductivity, which helps keep battery cells cool and increases its lifespan as compared to steel designs.
“Novelis’ approach to the battery enclosure opportunity focuses on smartly balancing lightweighting with production cost, structural and thermal efficiency, and crash management, which we believe are the key drivers for adopting an aluminum-intensive solution for the marketplace,” said Kai-Uwe Salzmann, Vice President and CTO, EDAG
Novelis, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, operates in 10 countries with approximately 11,000 employees. It is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries and metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India.
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