Modelling and Crush Simulation of a Generic Battery Module for Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles are becoming a rapid growing part of the automotive scene. Batteries are considered as one of the most important and challenging components in the development of electric vehicles.

The mechanical performance of the battery module is of great interest and the crashworthiness analysis of the battery module is always a critical design aspect. In crash and other severe events, the battery module is subject to impact loads from different directions. The module is designed with a capability to be deformed and collapsed in a controlled manner to mitigate safety critical damage to battery cells inside the module. In the design process, it is necessary to consider the distribution of the impact loads during the crash to minimize the local damage.

In this paper, a finite element model is developed and used as an efficient simulation tool to analyze the dynamic behavior of a generic battery module upon crushing and shocking.