THERMAL MANAGEMENT
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // January 2020 // 51
From smartphones to jet planes,
supercars to static storage, lithiumion
batteries have become the default
for diverse industries and a driver of
technological change. Global
production has risen quickly, from 20GWh in
2010 to 120GWh in 2017 according to a recent
European Commission report, and it’s
underpinning the shift to electric vehicles.
Almost half of that capacity – and growing – is
going into ‘mobility solutions’.
However, that proliferation has been
accompanied by high-profi le safety concerns.
Battery fi res have grounded plane fl eets,
caused expensive recalls of consumer
electronics and led to hold luggage restrictions
for fl ights. But while a burning electric car still
piques the interest of content-hungry news
agencies, the risks appear to be overstated.
Statistics are skewed by the smaller vehicle
parc, but the track record is good. Of the
480,000 batteries Envision-AESC has built for
Nissan’s electric vehicles, the company says
there have been zero ‘critical incidents’
globally. Tesla, meanwhile, claims one fi re per
273 million km (170 million miles) travelled in
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