On this past Valentine's Day, Volvo did another big thing! In an environment of -30 °C, an XC40 pure electric version P6 version was frozen in ice for 48 hours, and finally broke the ice. So in the face of such extreme low temperatures, can the XC40 pure electric version of the P6 version of the battery withstand such a challenge? The answer turned out to be "easy to pass", Volvo deserved to be from Northern Europe, and its blood naturally carried a warmth of melting frost, so how did Volvo do it? Let's analyze and analyze together.
Pure Blood from Northern Europe: Don't Be Afraid of 'Winter is Coming'
Volvo's test site is located in the Arctic Circle with a perennial temperature below -40°C, far exceeding the test limits of the daily use standard. Therefore, doing a good job in the "thermal management" of the whole vehicle is the top priority of Volvo's research and development. What is Thermal Management? The dynamic heat management in the car can be used to efficiently comb the heat flow of the whole vehicle such as battery, motor, electronic control, passenger compartment, etc. to save energy and efficiently, so as to carry out scientific heat energy distribution and effectively extend the mileage of electric vehicles in winter and summer.
Because of the sense of crisis of "born of worry", Volvo began a cryogenic exercise on batteries very early. Today, Volvo already has 9 battery cell-level experimental chambers in Shanghai, forming an overall research and development pattern integrating the three core components of electric vehicles such as motors, batteries and electronic controls, ensuring that it provides strong momentum for the subsequent electrification process. Based on its powerful thermal management software and hardware technology, Volvo has already achieved the three-step approach of "open source, throttling and intelligence", and completed the all-round support of the battery pack thermal management trinity.
1. Open source: high pressure cooling water heating, more efficient
If a worker desires to do a good thing, he must first use it. If you want to improve the efficiency of the battery, it is not okay to always be in a low temperature condition. As a result, Volvo added advanced "HVCH high-voltage cooling water heating technology" to the battery pack, which can effectively enhance the cruising range and help improve the charging efficiency of the battery at low temperatures.
On the other hand, Volvo also equipped the battery pack with an "active liquid cooling system", and the full module is combined with the cooling device to improve the heat dissipation efficiency of the battery cell. With the precise control of the upper and lower limits of the battery pack temperature, the vehicle can maximize the battery pack is always in the most efficient operating range, ensuring driving quality.
2. Throttling: one pump for two purposes, lower energy consumption
As we all know, fuel vehicles use engine waste heat as the main heat source, but electric vehicles need to install auxiliary heating systems due to the lack of engines, and currently "PTC system" and "heat pump system" are the mainstays. With the development of technology, the "heat pump system" with lower energy consumption and high efficiency is rapidly replacing the status of the traditional "PTC system".
However, most of the "heat pump systems" of electric vehicles on the market are only responsible for air conditioning heating, and battery heating is another independent system, generally using high-energy consumption "PTC", which is not conducive to improving tram endurance. In contrast, Volvo's "heat pump system" is more advanced, its evaporator can absorb the heat emitted by the external environment and the battery, collect it into the air conditioning heating system, and then further assign the air conditioning circuit to the crew compartment and battery compartment, to achieve a "one pump, two use" dual heating efficient mode. While giving the occupants in the car 1 °C more warmth, it also gives the battery 1 ° more battery life.
3. Optimization: OTA to make BMS smarter
Because the thermal management of electric vehicles is very complex, it needs to involve more than a dozen different working conditions, each of which needs to use different cycles and circuits for thermal management, in order to cope with the new environment that will appear at any time, the subdivision of working conditions will be more and more. Therefore, it is particularly important to keep pace with the times, and OTA upgrades are the most efficient way to empower.
Volvo's BMS will be upgraded via OTAs to better distribute energy to the battery. For example, after a recent upgrade, the XC40 pure electric version of the P6 version has a "battery preheating" function, when the vehicle is in a charged state, the "battery preheating" will use the power grid instead of the vehicle battery to power, which effectively ensures the maximum endurance of the vehicle for the user and improves the life cycle of the battery.
All-round safety attitude: 360° safety + 1 °C responsibility
Since its founding in 1927, Volvo's undertone has been safe. Building every car with the ultimate safety concept is a promise that Volvo has been working hard to fulfill from beginning to end. Since proposing its three-step electrification strategy in 2013, Volvo has also carried out 360° security protection for battery packs from the outside in, from hardware to software. The environmental protection concept passed down has added 1° more responsibility to the society. Excellent products, only through the test, in order to make every step of the journey safe and worry-free.
1. External security: hard-core protection against loss of control
Volvo's hard-core protection measures start from the square shell, the battery pack adopts a "cage-type high-strength aluminum frame", and uses a free-standing partition space and collision energy absorption structure, while the addition of side beam reinforcement technology has raised the degree of safety protection to another level.
The effect of this stacking is also obvious, Volvo's battery pack easily reached the IP67 waterproof and dustproof level, so that the dust in the environment can not easily enter the inside of the battery pack. And at room temperature and pressure, even if the battery pack is temporarily immersed in 1 meter deep water, it will not cause harmful effects. Volvo has also redesigned the collapse zone with the addition of lower impact beams to effectively protect the crew compartment and battery pack from intrusion, providing safer protection for occupants and reducing the impact of collisions on batteries.
2. Internal safety: starting from the "core"
Compared to the hard-core housing, the "battery cell" inside the Volvo battery pack is also powerful enough. Volvo has chosen the NINGD era, which is also excellent in the field of batteries, as its partner for the electrification path. Volvo firmly believes that only the accumulation of a great deal of technical experience and the setting of test procedures under extremely stringent conditions can ensure the reliability, safety and stability of its products.
For example, the XC40 pure electric version P6 version adopts a "single crystal battery cell" with low nickel content, from the perspective of molecular structure, the single crystal structure is more stable and safe, thereby improving the cycle stability of the battery cell, effectively reducing the risk of thermal runaway, taking into account safety and practicality. In addition, Volvo sets up an barrier-free exhaust channel from the battery cell explosion-proof valve to the pressure relief valve in the battery pack inside the battery pack, which can release heat as quickly as possible, adding a safety guarantee to the battery safety.
3. Software security: Battery cold and warm know early
Under the new electrification strategy, Volvo is still technology-oriented, and has done a lot of homework in battery software system management, and the cold and warm of the battery must be known early.
The battery pack has no less than 50 temperature monitoring points of the "Skynet level", which can realize the millisecond reaction operation such as intelligent cooling and cooling, rapid power failure, automatic early warning, positive voltage oxygen resistance, etc., and prevent the occurrence of thermal runaway such as overcharge, overdischarge, temperature and short circuit of the battery pack.
4. Environmental protection inheritance: do not forget the original intention, to always have
In addition to the world's well-known safety, Volvo has also been a solid practitioner of the concept of environmental protection, in the development process of power batteries, Volvo's battery products use a large number of renewable energy for production, such as Volvo requires all primary aluminum to replace thermal power aluminum with hydroelectric aluminum, adhere to the "green power action". Similarly, in terms of batteries and steel, Volvo's approach is the same.
At the same time, on the recycling side, Volvo has strict recycling indicators and business ethics requirements for suppliers. In this regard, Volvo's attitude is clear: "In the life cycle of high-voltage batteries, we must vigorously further reduce carbon dioxide emissions to achieve the goal of the battery itself." At the time of the establishment of each new project, the emissions of carbon dioxide from batteries must achieve such a target.' It can be seen that Volvo not only adheres to environmental protection itself, but also leads more companies and suppliers to jointly move towards a sustainable development path based on energy conservation and emission reduction.
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From the past to the present, from the era of fuel vehicles to the era of electrification, Volvo has engraved "safety" into the brand DNA. With the blessing of a heavy shield, Volvo has spared no effort in battery safety performance. After entering the era of electric vehicles, we have seen that major car companies are releasing relevant autonomous driving technologies, but Volvo has always maintained a low profile, silently putting on a "protective cover" for three electrics, driving, etc., and silently guarding the safety of drivers and passengers in a unique way.
Perhaps in the update speed of the product matrix, Volvo is slightly slow, but as a forerunner in the era of electrification, Volvo is the first traditional car company to stand up and clearly "stop the production of traditional fuel vehicle time", and we have reason to believe that Volvo is prepared, rather than blindly following the trend. With the listing of the XC40 pure electric version P6 version, and Volvo's new pure electric C40 open pre-sale, we believe that a new batch of "wowo powder" will be born in the market, setting off a new round of attention and pursuit.