In two months, on April 3, 2012, NAATBatt will host a one-day workshop in Chicago on thermal safety in advanced traction batteries for plug-in electric vehicles (PEV’s).  The workshop will take a novel approach to an issue that has recently been the subject of much recent discussion.  To date that discussion has largely focused on system level solutions to the threat of thermal runaway in lithium-ion traction batteries.  The workshop in April, however, will concentrate primarily on electrochemical solutions that can prevent or control thermal incidents before they ever become an issue at the system level.

Whether the most effective thermal safety strategy for PEV’s will focus primarily on electrochemical solutions or on system solutions is still unclear.  Many factors will influence OEM’s decisions on that question.  In fuel cell vehicles, for example, OEM’s appear to have taken different approaches to the thermal safety issue.  The NAATBatt workshop will not promote one approach over another.

But what the NAATBatt workshop will do is provide as comprehensive an overview of possible electrochemical solutions to the thermal safety issue as has ever been provided in a single program.  We have assembled an All-Star lineup of experts, who will address thermal runaway at the electrochemical level and possible solutions to it.  Khal Amine of Argonne National Laboratory and Ralph Wise of Novolyte Technologies will talk about new approaches in electrolytes.  Dan Doughty of Battery Safety Consulting and Jeff Dahn of Dalhousie University will talk about innovations in cathode and anode materials.  In addition, NAATBatt has invited up to 15 companies and researchers working on novel approaches to thermal management  (both at the system and electrochemical levels) to make poster presentations at the workshop.

The afternoon of the workshop, however, will be spent listening to the customer.  A panel of representatives from OEM’s and the SAE will talk about what the OEM’s want their battery supply chain partners to be doing in order to help the OEM’s address the thermal safety issue in lithium-ion traction batteries.  If you are a supplier or hoping to become a supplier of automotive traction batteries or battery components, you should not miss this discussion.

The issue of thermal safety in traction batteries is critical to the future of electric drive.  Moreover, it is an issue of increasing importance, as PEV batteries become, inevitably, more powerful and more energy dense.  Join us in Chicago on April 3 to learn about new electrochemical approaches to the problem of thermal safety and to better understand how the industry can and will address that issue.  More information about the workshop can be seen by clicking here.

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