Researchers all around the world are teaming up with automotive manufacturers and battery manufacturers in order to design “improvements in battery packs” that will help Electric Vehicles (EVs) drive faster. For EVs, longer battery life equates to a longer driving distance. So, General Electric (GE), Ford, and the University of Michigan are working together on a new project with the goal of extending battery life for EVs.

The short range of many electric vehicle batteries remains one of the greatest barriers to its widespread adoption. Improvements in the range, cost and life of the battery are considered critical for electric vehicles to be competitive. But now, the researchers from GE, Ford, and The University of Michigan are working on a three-year $3.1 million project, funded by ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy). They’re trying to attempt to develop smart, miniaturized sensing systems with the goal of extending the life of the battery pack inside the EV or hybrid cars.

Aaron Knobloch, principal investigator and mechanical engineer at GE Global Research said, “With better sensors and new battery analytics, we think we can make substantial progress at increasing battery life. This, in turn, could help bring down its overall cost and the cost entitlement of buying an electric car.”

GE is going to use its ultra-thin (small sized) battery sensor system with sophisticated modeling of cell behavior to control and optimize battery management systems in EVs. Be noted, sensors, used inside electric vehicles are for measuring the health of the battery and monitor different factors like current, voltage and temperature. The smaller the battery sensors are the better understanding of battery performance and life inside current EVs. The smaller sensor which GE is going to use will certainly enable better understanding of battery performance and life inside current EVs.

Charles Monroe, a chemical engineering professor on the University of Michigan team said, “The big challenge is to make battery management programs adapt and work fast.”

Scientists at the University of Michigan will verify the advanced battery models from the data generated by GE sensors. The data will also allow the scientists to create schemes that use instantaneous sensor data to predict future battery cell and battery pack behavior. Once the researchers develop the systems, Ford will integrate the new system in one of its electric vehicles for validation.

Source : Hybrid Cars

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