(Photo by thingermejig on Flickr)
Auto technology producer and consultancy Ricardo Inc. is taking an important step to producing hybrid and EV battery systems in the United States. Ricardo has stated its intention to build a Battery Systems Development Center at the company’s Detroit Technological Campus. The goal of this cutting-edge facility will be to test and install battery packs that will exceed CAFE standards of 35 miles per gallon in new vehicles.
Ricardo’s Virtual Vehicle Development Environment is a lone wolf in an American auto industry that is stuck in the past. The firm will run battery pack prototypes through testing chambers to determine safety and performance. These chambers are fitted with filtration devices and safety mechanisms to ensure that faulty packs are isolated away from testing personnel. Each battery pack run through the Virtual Vehicle Development Environment will be connected to battery cyclers and high-voltage instruments to simulate the strains of operating battery-powered vehicles. Once a battery pack is put through an extensive list of diagnostic tests, Ricardo’s staff will install the pack into a hybrid or all-electric vehicle in a state-of-the-art garage area.
The primary goal for Ricardo’s Battery Systems Development Center is to ensure the best balance between price and performance for high-voltage battery packs. Ricardo engineers will work on other projects that apply high-voltage battery systems to commercial vehicles and equipment. The center will run tests to determine if battery packs can be inserted into farm equipment, buses, tanks and other machinery to improve fuel efficiency. Ricardo will consult with domestic and foreign automakers as well as specialty clients like the U.S. military to ensure implementation of battery packs outside of the company’s facility.
Ricardo’s investment in a new battery research center would help the Big Three and other American industries in a stronger economy. Sadly, the Battery Systems Development Center may be far more useful for foreign automakers working in the United States than America’s legacy automakers. We need other battery makers and research firms to make similar investments as Ricardo in order to realize a measurable effect on the hybrid and EV market. By mimicking the Virtual Vehicle Development Environment en masse, America’s auto industry could rapidly decrease the costs of EV batteries and leap forward into the future of auto technology.
