R. Collins
IDTechEx,
United States
Keywords: thermal management, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, thermal runaway
Summary:
Thermal management is often the most overlooked area for lithium-ion batteries but is one of the most significant and essential for commercial success. Increasing fast charging power demands and enhanced performance requirements for electric vehicles mean highly effective thermal systems will be required. IDTechEx analyse all categories of electric vehicles on land, sea, and air and forecast a growth of plug-in passenger cars to sales of over 6m in 2025 and over 17m in 2030. This commercial uptake brings about large amount of battery demand along with their associated technologies. Lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles can have active or passive cooling mechanisms. IDTechEx expect active liquid and refrigerant cooling to be the dominant technology in the mid-term, but with air-cooled still adopted by many OEMs and an increasing potential for immersion cooled variants. This presentation will benchmark and criticise all these technologies as well as provide a specific look at the material considerations at pack, module, and cell level as well as the relevant interfaces, adhesives, and encapsulants. The strategy choices are all in the backdrop of increasing fear of thermal runaway. High profile fires and a shifting regulatory landscape mean necessary considerations are needed on control, detection, and containment by pack manufacturers. This talk will include: - Market overview of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles - Technology benchmarking of different active and passive cooled solutions - Outlook for shifting OEM strategies and key market drivers - Key material considerations and player analysis - Assessment of current and future fire safety requirements