The more links in the heat transfer chain, the worse the heat removal efficiency, so the server segment has long adopted the technology of immersion liquid cooling. As it turns out, representatives of Taiwan’s Xing Mobility are ready to offer a similar solution to manufacturers of traction batteries, and the British Caterham will introduce the Project V sports car with this know-how by 2027.
This was stated in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review by Kazuho Takahashi, president of Caterham’s parent company VT Holdings. The British automaker intends to use the Xing Mobility immersion liquid cooling system in the traction batteries of the Project V sports car as one of the first in the world. Formally, McLaren already did this in 2018 in its Speedtail hybrid, but it was released in a quantity of only 100 units, and it used an internal combustion engine as part of the power plant.
Taiwanese company Xing Mobility was founded in 2015 by former Tesla and Panasonic executives, initially with the goal of developing electric vehicles, but the difficulties of the pandemic forced it to look at other market segments, and eventually decided to focus on creating liquid cooling systems for traction batteries of electric vehicles. For manufacturers of electric sports cars, the speed of heat transfer in such systems is very important, since the power subsystem of the car is subject to increased loads during intensive driving. As noted by representatives of Xing Mobility, the immersed liquid system provides 30% faster heat exchange compared to traditional ones.
In the latter, the elements of the battery cooling system contact the battery cells via a thermal interface and various heat-conducting plates, and Xing Mobility suggests immersing these very battery cells in a cooling liquid. Judging by server systems of a similar operating principle, a special dielectric liquid is used. The Taiwanese company is ready to build such cooling systems for battery cells of any manufacturer. In the case of the Caterham sports car, these will be Panasonic cells.
However, in addition to the high cost, such solutions have another drawback – the increased weight of the traction battery. A solution may be to reduce the number of battery cells in the battery in order to reduce the weight, since with a developed network of charging stations, the decrease in battery capacity can be compensated by increasing the charging speed.
The Xing Mobility system uses a set of sensors and advanced monitoring to quickly create the optimal temperature regime for the operation of traction batteries. The temperature of the cells can be maintained in the optimal range from 0 to 40 degrees Celsius in almost any conditions, including winter. By heating the batteries, this system ensures more efficient charging and prevents the loss of battery capacity in the cold. At high-speed charging stations, the time to replenish the charge from 10 to 80% can be reduced to 13 minutes, while cars with a traditional battery cooling system can spend up to 40 minutes on this due to its overheating.
Caterham is going to sell its Project V electric coupe for $106,000. For more affordable electric cars, the introduction of a system of immersive liquid cooling of the battery remains impractical. Xing Mobility intends to start its mass production next year and will try to reduce the cost. High costs have already scared off several Japanese automakers from such systems, as the source notes.