Ford Motor Co. has accelerated its efforts to improve battery technology for its electrified vehicles, including looking at ways to improve their performance in colder weather as part of a new initiative initially based in Europe and Asia.
Ford plans to create a “hub and spoke” system that allows Ford’s Electrified Powertrain Engineering (EPE) teams to share common technologies and test batteries virtually to develop new technology faster, while reducing the need for expensive prototypes.
The expanded engineering capabilities enabled by the Ford Engineering Laboratory allow the team to control a network of facilities in China, England, Germany, and the U.S. Through this network, the EPE team will take advantage of globally connected technologies to develop lighter and more durable EV batteries.
Ford is also expanding in China and Europe to accelerate battery technology research and development for new markets. By using a hardware and software system called Hardware-in-the-Loop, the global team can test battery technology and control system hardware in a virtual environment to simulate how batteries and control modules would behave in extreme environments in any part of the world.
Testing of batteries across a range of temperatures and charge/discharge cycling conditions is important for determining how quickly a battery could degrade in different parts of the world.
The global Ford team has used temperature testing extensively for more than a decade as part of its production battery design and validation process.
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