2023-10-03 15:49:54
Check if they catch fire in the event of overload, test their resistance to vibrations: a battery testing center for electric vehicles, presented as unique in Europe, was inaugurated on Tuesday in the northern “battery valley” from France.
This “Giga Test Center” was created by CRITT M2A, a mobility research center resulting from a public-private partnership, in Bruay-la-Buissière (Pas-de-Calais), in a region which must accommodate the four battery factories for electric cars announced in France.
Extreme temperatures, overload, vibration
CRITT M2A has invested 13.7 million euros to transform its installations dedicated to thermal energy into a cutting-edge center testing the conformity of electric vehicle batteries, and putting them to the test with a view to their approval.
The installations include “climatic chambers” where the battery cells will be subjected to temperatures ranging from -40 to +90 degrees, a bunker where the batteries will be placed in a situation of overload or short circuit to observe if they catch fire or explode, and a “vibrating pot” to test their resistance to vibrations.
First client, ACC, a joint venture of Stellantis, TotalEnergies and Mercedes-Benz, which opened, in May, the first mega-factory in France, located around thirty kilometers away, in Douvrin. Verkor, which is to set up in Dunkirk (North), also plans to carry out tests there. New investments are planned to meet the needs of other mega-factories in the coming years.
“The need for batteries will increase tenfold” in ten years
“In Germany, manufacturers have themselves integrated their own production conformity tests” while “in the French battery valley”, “we are proposing to invest for them and pool this”, explains the president of CRITT M2A Jérôme Bodelle. He notes a “very big tension in Europe on the means of testing” electric batteries, once morest a backdrop of “permanent renewal of technologies” and evolution of standards.
“The need for batteries will increase tenfold in the next ten years, and the needs for testing and certification are considerable,” summarized Marc Mortureux, general director of the Automobile Platform (PFA), which represents manufacturers and equipment manufacturers. “There are safety and sustainability issues,” he added, indicating that in September, 19% of cars registered in France were electric.
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