An engineering solution to break through EV uptake road blocks
Posted by: electime 4th October 2019
By Mark Lashbrook Technical Manager – Innovation, M&I Materials.
The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is well underway. In the UK and around Europe, deadlines are being set for last orders on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and companies with various visions are taking early steps in developing both EVs and charging infrastructure. Yet progress is hampered by the same perennial thorns in the sector’s side, namely: range anxiety and charging speeds.
Sixty-four per cent of respondents to a recent JD Power survey are concerned about the availability of charging stations and 59% are concerned about range. Most respondents said they’re only willing to wait 30 minutes to charge their vehicle to travel for 200 miles[1].
In built-up urban areas, a lack of off-street parking can make home-charging more of a challenge, leaving potential buyers with no easy answer on where to charge their car. Some might be able to charge at work. Others will be left needing to charge their car in the same way they currently fill up, with a trip to a forecourt. Here’s where a lack of superfast charging can become an everyday problem rather than a challenge reserved just for motorway journeys.
This barrier to entry needs to be removed to ensure electric vehicles are widely adopted, but are also the desired choice well before consumers are unable to purchase ICE vehicles.
Some argue that changing behaviour patterns is the solution here, altering our relationship with our cars. Yet, we shouldn’t be too quick to write off an engineering solution. We think that, as the EV sector hots up, immersion cooling can play a crucial role in reducing range anxiety and increasing charging speeds.
An engineered solution to range anxiety
Increasing battery capacity will extend a vehicle’s range. However, as the power rises, thermal management becomes more of an issue in both the charging station and the battery cells.
Immersion cooling is a method of thermal management that can keep batteries and charge points cool. The immersion cooling of charge points comprises liquid flowing from the charge point cable to its connector in a temperature-controlled loop. Keeping the charge point and the EV battery cool during this process keeps both within optimal temperature operating ranges which makes for better performance and will ultimately allow for superfast charging.
But is this the full answer? Unfortunately, it isn’t as simple as just innovating faster charge points – it is also about batteries, but that’s for the next blog…
[1] https://electrek.co/2019/07/31/electric-vehicles-major-education-issue-study/
