Stellantis says it has made a “smarter, more efficient” battery
After four years of designing, modeling, and simulating, a team of 25 engineers and researchers from Stellantis, the French National Center for Scientific Research, and Saft unveiled a prototype of an “energy storage” battery, one that integrates the inverter and charger functions to create a more efficient battery that can provide more driving range. Stellantis says the new design is more reliable, less costly, and easier to package.
The project has made it possible to validate multiple new technical concepts and master their control and operation in preparation for automotive or stationary applications, “a real paradigm shift in the design of electric powertrains,” Stellantis says.
The project uses electronic conversion boards that perform the power inverter and charger functions and are mounted as close as possible to the cells of the lithium-ion battery. A sophisticated control system enables alternating current needed to spin an electric motor to be produced directly by the battery.
The next step is to build a fully functional prototype vehicle that will be tested by Stellantis. The project team intends to make this technology available in the Stellantis group of brands—which includes Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Maserati—before the end of this decade. The battery system should allow for reduced vehicle weight and lower cost of EV powertrain and vehicle manufacturing, all while offering a large number of new features.
“Our journey to electrification is fueled by innovation and research excellence that uses the latest technology to address the real needs of our EV customers such as range, roominess, and affordability while reducing carbon footprint by improving efficiency,” said Ned Curic, Stellantis’ chief engineering and technology officer. “This revolutionary battery system could mark a decisive step in Stellantis’ commitment to provide useful, easy, and advanced technology to all.”
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Well, people have been foretelling battery tech improvements on this forum ever since I started reading it, so I guess this is one of those “steps forward”. Hyperbole in marketing news releases, though, is sometimes not completely realistic. We’ll see how this pans out…
The US government gave a relatively small grant to a US company named UniEnergy whose engineers designed and built what is called a vanadium redox flow battery which is far superior to the lithium batteries that are soon going to be filling landfills because they can’t be recycled. But our geniuses at the DOE, in 2017 gave China a sublicense to produce it and in 2021 GAVE China full rights to it.