Britishvolt passes battery safety tests
Britishvolt has successfully passed essential industry standard battery cell safety tests meaning the company can now ship development cells to customers for testing – including blue-chip OEMs.
AIS, which provides a complete lithium- ion battery testing service, was the selected safety testing house and passed the cells.
Dr Allan Paterson, Chief Technical Officer, Britishvolt: “Britishvolt is in the process of distributing cells for testing to seven customers, including blue-chip OEMs. UN38.3 certification is a significant step as it ensures cells are safe to be transported. To be deemed safe for transportation, lithium-ion cells must not show any signs of leak, rupture, disassemble or fire hazard. An exhaustive test programme consisting of a variety of simulated extreme conditions such as high altitude, very low and high temperatures and several mechanical abusive tests are performed.”
UN38.3 certification is a significant step as it ensures cells are safe to be transported. To be deemed safe for transportation, lithium-ion cells must not show any signs of leak, rupture, disassemble or fire hazard. An exhaustive test programme consisting of a variety of simulated extreme conditions such as high altitude, very low and high temperatures and several mechanical abusive tests are performed.
Andrew Bennion, Managing Director, AIS: “AIS is delighted to have been selected by Britishvolt and proud that our expertise in certification and homologation to various international standards has enabled us to support them in successfully achieving this major milestone. We have been developing our lithium- ion battery testing capabilities for some time and we will continue to expand and invest in this exciting area. We are looking forward to supporting Britishvolt with their further testing requirements in the near future.”
Ian Whiting, Commercial Director, UKBIC: “UKBIC is proud to see one of its key customers, Britishvolt, pass these important battery cell safety standards, a huge milestone for the company. Battery cell safety is of paramount importance to all stakeholders. Building battery cells of this quality on behalf of our customers is further endorsement of the state-of-the-art UKBIC facility and our “baseline- cell platform” developed to support rapid industrialisation. UKBIC is one of the very few organisations in the world to offer this service to battery cells developers.”
Britishvolt has already signed memorandums of understanding with four separate OEMs, including Lotus and Aston Martin, which have cumulative demand in exceeding 6GWh in 2025, as well as a joint development agreement with one. The stage is set for the full 38GWh factory capacity that will be supplied annually from its Gigaplant site in Northumberland.
Britishvolt has already developed successful A Samples and is scaling up its unique cell formulations at UKBIC in Coventry and will also have its own scale up facilities from 2024 at Hams Hall in the Midlands, UK.
Image courtesy of Britishvolt.
