Pushing the EU to the forefront of the battery sector
The European Union has set in place the ambitious goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. To meet this goal, it is moving towards a decarbonised transport system. This comes as air pollution derived from transport is a major problem for cities in Europe and worldwide. On top of this, traffic congestion is set to continue to increase due to the exponential growth of urban populations. Hybrid and Electric vehicles (H&EVs) are a key component of the overall transport solution. However, H&EVs may be left behind in the green energy uprising without a battery revolution. Addressing this is the EU-funded BATTERY PLUS project. “Our main objective was to serve the light and heavy-duty EV niche markets with the best state of the art battery technology thanks to plug and play smart modular batteries with minimum time to market,” explains project coordinator and CEO of MILLOR BATTERY®, Baltasar López.
Introducing flexiFIVEL® and flexiEBUST®
In line with their objective, the project developed two battery lines: MILLOR BATTERY® flexiFIVEL® and flexiEBUST®. “They are now both certified, industrialised and market ready for future industry leaders,” confirms López. flexiFIVEL® smart, portable and modular technology is suitable for light electric vehicles such as the next generation of electric scooters and motorbikes. Consisting of battery packs with an integrated smart display, users can see the running time and State of Charge. flexiFIVEL® can be customised, has overtemperature protection and overcurrent recursive electronic protection, amongst other key features. The flexiEBUST® line of modular batteries, on the other hand, has been developed as the perfect choice for original equipment manufacturers designing future electric buses, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles. flexiEBUST® can also be assembled and disassembled easily. The project’s battery solutions are not only bringing breakthrough improvements from the technological side but also in terms of sustainability as well as people’s safety. “They include a proprietary high voltage monitoring device to know if the battery has voltage when performing maintenance activities, ensuring the safety of operators. These features together with the project’s accurate monitoring system will radically reduce batteries total cost of ownership,” adds López.
Transforming the battery market in Evs
“We are very proud of having the low voltage flexiFIVEL® and the high voltage flexiEBUST® battery lines. We have also developed the revolutionary concept of fast maintenance safety box including the most appropriate battery elements,” notes López. With the MILLOR BATTERY® flexiFIVEL® and flexiEBUST® solutions market ready, the project will help European companies develop their new EVs in an extremely short space of time and with minimum investment for battery development. “We hope these two brilliant solutions will become an industry standard for niche market vehicles obtaining agility and independence from third countries, as all of our development and production facilities are located in Barcelona,” concludes López. Looking to the future, project work will help position the EU at the forefront of the electric-vehicle development race, arming EVs with the best batteries. While at the same time, contributing to the EU’s climate goals by helping to reduce air and traffic pollution as well as supporting sustainable development, increasing safety, and facilitating the efforts to develop an electric battery manipulator to load electric batteries onto hybrid cars.
Keywords
BATTERY PLUS, EV, flexiFIVEL®, flexiEBUST®, Hybrid and Electric vehicles, battery development
