How Advanced Composite Prepregs Enhance EV Battery Design

The global automotive industry continues to pursue designing the perfect electric vehicle (EV) that acts as a drop-in replacement for internal combustion cars. The battery is at the heart of the matter. The first manufacturer capable of solving the many EV battery challenges the industry now faces will have a huge competitive advantage. Here’s hoping designers are paying attention to advanced composite prepregs.

As an advanced composite prepreg supplier, we’ve seen these fascinating materials increasingly play a more important role in enhancing battery safety and efficiency. Materials like glass-epoxy, phenolic, and carbon fiber-reinforced prepregs are changing battery design for the better.

Designers find them attractive because they offer superior mechanical properties. Throw in better flame retardance in design flexibility, and you have a recipe for producing better batteries. That’s exactly what the automotive industry needs.

Making Batteries Safer

EV batteries are based on lithium-ion technology. It’s great technology, but there is an implicit challenge that leads to safety concerns: difficult thermal management. Fail to manage a battery’s internal temperature and you end up with thermal runaway. That leads to fire and potential explosion.

Composite prepregs deployed in battery enclosures and insulation systems help by damping vibration, absorbing acids, and slowing flame propagation. All three contribute to reducing or preventing thermal runaway. Moreover, certain composite materials can act as fire barriers to keep minor fires from becoming major catastrophes.

Advanced composite prepregs are making EV batteries safer in other ways:

• Crash Safety – Prepreg materials can be designed to absorb impact energy. A well-designed battery maintains cell integrity to reduce the risk of chemical leaks in the event of a crash.
• Electrical Safety – Advanced composites can be designed with superior dielectric properties that prevent electrical shorts. Isolating shorts in high-voltage battery components protects sensitive equipment from damage.

The beauty of using composite prepregs to manufacture EV batteries is their ease of use. Prepregs are more easily deployed than composites and other forms. They are also fairly easy to handle and bring consistency to the composite layup.

Making Batteries More Efficient

Composite prepregs are equally attractive as materials for enhancing battery efficiency. It starts with lightweight construction. As you know, composites are lightweight alternatives to metals. They make lighter batteries that contribute to increased range and energy efficiency.

Also consider:

• Structural Integration – Prepregs designed as structural battery composites can combine energy storage and load bearing functions simultaneously. The result is reduced mass and space optimization. Safety features can be designed directly into vehicle structures.
• Design Flexibility – Composite prepreg materials can be molded into very complex shapes thanks to their flexibility. That means designers can engineer customized, highly efficient battery pack layouts with improved cooling systems. Battery performance improvements are realized through better designs.

Prepreg flexibility is such that designers and engineers are not locked into narrow pathways for developing new EV batteries. They can go to places that battery technology has never been before.

What We Are Working On

The drive to continually improve EV battery design requires companies like ours to keep pushing the envelope. Right now is an exciting time to be in this industry. The best in our business are currently working on:

• Materials with improved flame retardance
• Structural battery composites with better energy density
• Materials capable of supporting increased driving range
• Materials that enhance passenger protection

EVs have come a long way since the automotive industry first began working on them. But there’s still a long way to go. And at the center of it all are EV batteries. We’re doing our part by supplying manufacturers with advanced composite prepregs.