BorgWarner Akasol AG
Ultra-High Energy Battery System for Electrified Commercial Vehicles
BorgWarner’s ultra high energy battery system exploits the full potential of its Akasol battery technology to lower the total cost of ownership for electrified commercial vehicles.
History and Background
Various battery formats and chemistries have been experimented with for vehicle propulsion since the early 1900s. However, the diversity of today’s mobility solutions prohibits the development of a universal battery type to suit all applications. Instead, battery designs must become more specialized to meet the specific requirements of each sector. For example, the electrified commercial vehicle (eCV) market is experiencing rapid growth, since buses and trucks can improve sustainability by providing higher transportation efficiency compared to smaller vehicles. To properly realize these advantages, the power source needs to be tailored to the operational demands of each type of eCV.
Ideas for the development of a next generation ultra high energy battery pack date back to 2018, when BorgWarner visited major electric bus and truck suppliers to gain a thorough understanding of their future needs. In 2019, this resulted in the battery module design that now forms the major building block of the battery pack discussed in this paper.
Battery Optimization for eCVs
Compared to a passenger battery electric vehicle (BEV), an electrified commercial vehicle (eCV) demands significantly different priorities from its batteries. For cars, initial purchase cost, energy and power density are primary considerations, but for the eCV market, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is critical, and this largely depends on how many times the battery must be replaced throughout the vehicle’s life. Mechanical robustness, longevity, compact dimensions, and light weight of the battery assume much higher importance for the commercial vehicle market, where continuous, long term usage must be assured while keeping vehicle payload capacity as high as possible.
To address this need, BorgWarner has developed an ultra high energy (UHE) battery system for energy intensive electric drivetrain applications operating at up to 750V. As BorgWarner’s award winning cylindrical cell (CYC) battery module already sets the benchmark for energy density in the eCV market, this is employed as the power source in the UHE battery pack. The new system provides battery life of up to 4,000 cycles. It is also sufficiently versatile to be matched to a customer’s usage profile; cells can be optimized towards maximum power density to take advantage of quick charging stops (opportunity charging) for an urban bus, or they can be optimized towards maximum energy density for long distance traffic such as buses using overnight charging facilities, intercity coaches, and trucks.
