Day Two - Wednesday, February 17, 2021

ADVANCES IN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY AS A CORE FACTOR IN EVOLVING BEV DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE DECISION-MAKING

08:30 Virtual Event Platform Opens

08:50 Chair's Welcome And Introduction

KEYNOTE BATTERY DEVELOPER PANEL DISCUSSION

09:00   Assessing Key Advancements In Battery Technology And Their Implications For BEV Design & Integration

The purpose of this panel is bring together developers at the leading edge of battery technology development to explore and discuss key advances and emerging trends in the sector, and how this will impact the way OEMs not only manage their supply chains, but how they design and build their vehicles. For example, what advances are being made in battery cost and weight efficiencies - and what would this mean for vehicle lightweighting requirements? Do solid state batteries represent a realistic near-term option for OEMs, and how would this impact safety requirements and thermal management, once volatile Lithium-Ion batteries are (potentially) phased out?

Mini Case Study 1: Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing and emerging Lithium-Ion/Lithium-Ion Phosphate technologies in relation to BEV engineering and performance

Mini Case Study 2: Advances in achieving greater efficiencies between battery cost and weight

Mini Case Study 3: Solid state batteries as a viable alternative to lithium-ion: what is the estimated development timeline for these components and how they would impact BEV design and integration

Mini Case Study 4: Standardization Of EV Batteries In Order To Promote A Green Whole-Lifecycle Through Reuse

Oliver Gross, Technical Fellow - Electrified Architecture, FCA

Charles Maury, Chief Scientist, Zero EV

Aayush Tandon, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Electra Meccanica

09:30 Questions And Discussion

SECOND LIFE EV BATTERIES AND THE CIRCLE ECONOMY

09:40   Assessing The Viability Of Battery Reuse/Second Life As A Central Component In The Green Circle Economy For OEMs And Consumers, And How This Could Impact OEM Design Choices

• What the battery reuse/second life means in practical terms
• How battery reuse could open additional revenue streams for OEMs, whilst also promoting sustainability
• Reuse/remanufacturing as a means of reducing dependency on mined rare materials for reduce cost and environmental impact

Will Paxton, Electrification Lead, Ford Greenfield Labs

10:10   Questions And Discussion

10:20   Assessment Of Breakthroughs And Improvements In Battery Technologies and power management for range and reliability improvement

• Looking at the impact of solar integration on range extension and battery life
• Bekathroughs in battery technologies and integration for improved safety
• Viability of industry standardization across battery products as a means of reducing cost and building more streamlined supply chains

10:50   Questions And Discussion

11:00    Networking Coffee Break : During the refreshment break, we give delegates the opportunity to hear from and question some of the leading vendors and services providers on some of the new technologies and applications being developed in the BEV and wider automotive industry

THE IMPORTANCE OF BATTERY ACCESSIBILITY FOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR, AND HOW THIS IMPACTS PLATFORM DESIGN DECISIONS

11:30 Assessing The Pros And Cons Of Skateboard And Unibody Platforms In Terms Of Battery Accessibility And Servicing

This panel discussion will explore the impact of different platform designs (skateboard & unibody) on battery accessibility, and this could be an important factor in consumer purchasing decisions and through-life care.

• How Unibody designs promote accessibility, and improve ease of servicing
• Ways in which Unibody designs are incorporating accessibility into designs inherently, and through specific design choices
• Evaluating the core benefits of Skateboard designs, from cost efficiency to flexibility of the final models
• Mitigating a Skateboard design's inherent lack of battery accessibility - and assessing the degree to which this could impact consumer buying decisions

12:00    Questions And Discussion

STRATEGIES FOR MITIGATING BATTERY SERVICING AND RECYCLING COSTS

12:10 Design And Engineering Strategies To Enable OEMs To Reduce Servicing And Recycling Costs For EV Battery Packs

• Exploring how material choices - and joining techniques (e.g. adhesives and laser welding) - impact the accessibility of battery cells for servicing
• How OEMs can factor in future servicing costs and requirements into their vehicle designs, to mitigate costs down the line
• Servicing and through-life support as an additional revenue stream for OEMs, and how this is built into EV design

12:40   Questions And Discussion

12:50    Networking Lunch : During the refreshment break, we give delegates the opportunity to hear from and question some of the leading vendors and services providers on some of the new technologies and applications being developed in the BEV and wider automotive industry

EFFECTIVE THERMAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND IMPLEMENTATIONS ACROSS DESIGNS AND VEHICLE TYPES

HOW DIFFERENT BATTERY INTEGRATION METHODS AND SAFETY FACTORS BETWEEN SKATEBOARD/UNIBODY IMPACT THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

13:50    Formulating Requirements For - And Implementing - Effective Thermal Management Systems For Unibody Design EVs

• Approaches being taken by traditional OEMs in thermal management within Unibody systems - existing methodologies in contrast to disruptors like Tesla
• Assessing the degree to which unibody vehicles provide greater/lesser flexibility in terms of approaches to thermal management systems
• Implementation of battery management systems within a unibody designs - can there ever be an industry standard

Karl Plattenberger, Chief Engineer - Powertrain and Thermal Systems, Mahindra Automotive NA

14:20    Questions And Discussion

14:30   Assessing The Thermal Management Requirements For Skateboard Design Vehicles, And How This Impacts Implementation Of Thermal Systems

• With the battery comprising a key element of the vehicles wider structure, how are thermal management systems installed with skateboard designs
• Do challenges around battery accessibility within Skateboard designs impact thermal management requirements for these vehicles
• Implementation of battery management systems within skateboard designs

Charles Maury, Chief Scientist, Zero EV

Damon Gonzales,Mechanical Systems Engineer, Zero EV

15:00    Questions And Discussion

EVALUATING METHODS FOR PREVENTING THERMAL RUNAWAY IN LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES

15:10 Identifying The Optimal Technology For Preventing Thermal Runaway In Lithium-ion Batteries: Water-glycol Coolant Lines Vs. Air-Cooling

• Determining core requirements of cooling systems in vehicles utilising Lithium-Ion batteries
• Assessing the viability of water-glycol coolant lines - do they represent a scalable and cost effective options for startups and traditional OEMs alike
• Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of air-cooled systems in road and high-performance vehicles

Aayush Tandon, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Electra Meccanica

15:40    Questions And Discussion

15:50   Networking Coffee Break: During the refreshment break, we give delegates the opportunity to hear from and question some of the leading vendors and services providers on some of the new technologies and applications being developed in the BEV and wider automotive industry

STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING NOISE, VIBRATION AND HARSHNESS IN DEDICATED ELECTRIC VEHICLES

16:20 Solving NVH Suppression Challenges Through Optimised Material Selection And Engineering Choices

• Designing battery enclosures to withstand not just a crash, but also harshness and vibration
• Understanding unique challenges posed by the acoustic footprint of an EV: is it possible for a vehicle to be too quiet, and how can this be addressed?
• Mitigating twisting and distortion from being transferred from the suspension into battery enclosure of a Skateboard design

16:50   Questions And Discussion

HOW OEMS ARE APPROACHING DIFFERING MANUFACTURING BREAKPOINTS: HIGH VS. LOW VOLUME PRODUCTION

16:40 Manufacturing Case Study On Solutions For Cost Effectively Integrating B.E.V. into I.C.E. Production

• Overview of challenges faced by traditional OEMs operating plants geared towards mass production, in cost effectively producing lower volumes of BEVs
• Integrating BEVs into existing ICE production plants
• Exploring how platform design (e.g. skateboard) could allow traditional OEMs to mass produce platforms for sale to other manufacturers, allowing high volume production

17:10 Q&A

17:20 Chair's closing remarks and end of Day Two

17:30   End Of Day Two