Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has invested 2,6 million euros in funding for Project SiKuBa. The project targets safe and sustainable plastic-based EV battery housings.

The research initiative will study formation and propagation of hot gas and particle flows and their interaction with structural elements experimentally as well as via simulation models, which will lead to increased cost- and time-efficiency in the development phase. It will also be possible to assess battery safety regarding load case scenarios, materials, and component design. SiKuBa is an acronym for “safe and sustainable plastic-based battery housings.”

Plastic enclosures have many advantages over metal enclosures: They are lighter, more durable, cheaper to produce, and have better electrical insulation. In the event of a damaged cell, the battery housing can be exposed to enormous thermal loads if thermal runaway of individual cells occurs. In the worst case, this reaction can spread to adjoining cells, known as thermal propagation. The battery housing has a high safety-relevant function in this case, as it can contain spread of the resulting hot gases and particles. One challenge, however, is proving its safety, which is complex and expensive.

The research consortium consists of Farasis Energy,  plastic battery enclosure pioneer Kautex Textron, the Ernst-Mach-Institut (EMI) and the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Their efforts are aimed at making plastic-based battery housings safer by means of virtual design and, thus, increasing the safety of electric vehicles (EVs).

Farasis Energy, a developer and producer of high-performance lithium-ion battery technology and pouch cells for electromobility, is leading the method development of the simulation model for mapping thermal runaway of individual cells and propagation in the module. The company is also providing support on all battery-related topics within the project. The three-year project started in July 2023.