US giant buys up London battery test lab
Allison is the world’s largest maker of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions, and alongside Vantage Power and the battery test lab it has also bought AxleTech’s electric vehicle (EV) systems division as part of a signficant shift to electric powertrain systems.
Vantage Power has particular focus on battery technology development, vehicle integration and control systems, as well as vehicle connectivity and telemetry. It has its own in-house cell testing lab in Greenford, London, which allows electrical characterisation of battery cells as well as life cycle tests with application dependent duty cycles. This allows electrical characterisation of battery cells as well as the capability to control thermal conditions of test cycles, including accelerated aging tests, temperature controlled battery cycles as well as root cause analysis on failed cells.
It can also be used to electrically characterise cells for their properties such as state of charge (SOC) vs open circuit voltage (OCV), DC internal resistance and many others. This can be done for a number of cell formats including cylindrical, pouch and prismatic using an Arbin BT2000 battery cycler and ESPEC thermal chamber.
This is important because the properties of batteries, like many chemical processes, change with temperature and so these must be controlled precisely using state of the art equipment. The outputs of the battery test lab feeds directly into battery and energy management strategies and thermal simulation work. Vantage Power has used the test technology to build comprehensive models of its own battery pack for sophisticated SOC algorithms, complex thermal simulations and for the formation of battery life models which prolong the life of its battery pack.
It also has an in-house pilot manufacturing line for a full high voltage, liquid cooled battery system. This uses individual cylindrical cells and pre-manufactured parts that go through multiple stages of welding and modular manual assembly for an electric powertrain.
Its power technologies have been deployed in a wide range of applications including complete electric hybrid repower systems for buses to grid energy storage. It has developed a highly tuned and very well tested cell welding process which overcomes the complexities traditionally associated with welding lithium-ion cells to current-carrying busbars. This simpler technique can reduce both the part count and the cost of joining cells into blocks.
Next: BMS software
VP also has extensive intellectual property in BMS software for high voltage lithium-ion battery systems and has proven this in real-world operation through a library of proprietary algorithms. It has also developed advanced thermal management systems, ranging from immersive cell cooling through to direct contact evaporativeand isothermal structural elements as well as forced air cooling.
Vantage Power’s entrepreneurial spirit and technological advancements complement our strategic priorities to meet and exceed our customers’ demands,” said David S. Graziosi, President and CEO of Allison Transmission. “Through this and other growth initiatives, we will continue to build upon our conventional and electric hybrid products today while differentiating ourselves in the electrification and fuel cell markets.”
Allison Transmission has a more than 103-year history of leading technological advancements: from James Allison owning the winning racecar of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 1915 to building every transmission that is in the United States Army’s Abrams Battle Tank. Allison is moving into electric systems with new electric powertrain solutions and expanding system and integration level capabilities in alternative propulsion. Both of these acquisitions align with Allison’s position in propulsion technology, and will complement its existing capabilities to advance electrification adoption in commercial vehicles.
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