EC Backs First Project for Battery Switch for Electric vehicles

A consortium coordinated by Better Place and including Renault SA, Continental, Ernst & Young, TÜV Rheinland, KEMA and five leading European institutions today announced formal approval from the European Commission for an R&D program to make it easier for European automobile and battery manufacturers to build electric cars with switchable batteries. Today’s announcement is the first project for switchable battery electric cars approved by the Commission.

The project calls for the “EASYBAT” Consortium to develop “off-the-shelf” automotive grade components and interfaces that enable the auto industry to easily integrate battery switching technology into their electric car platforms. The first large scale application of battery switching technology will be shown by Better Place and Renault with the commercial launch of the Renault Fluence Z.E. in Israel and Denmark by year end.

The EASYBAT solution will consist of interfaces for switching a battery in and out of an electric car quickly and safely; the connector interfaces between the car, the battery, the communications network, and the battery cooling system; and design specifications that meet European industry and safety standards. The solution will be integrated and tested on fully electric vehicles to ensure it meets production-grade manufacturing criteria and European safety standards.

Upon conclusion, EASYBAT will have a next generation, commercially available solution for battery switch integration components and design plans that allow for different types of batteries, not just a single standardized battery. Car manufacturers that want to focus on proprietary battery technology can do so and still be able to integrate their technology into a switchable battery electric car platform as envisioned by EASYBAT.

Part of the Seventh EU Framework Program (FP7), EASYBAT is a 2.5 year project, which is expected to run until June 2013. The European Commission will contribute €2.2 million to fund the project.

The EASYBAT Consortium brings together for the first time in one project, leaders in the fast-growing EV industry. Better Place, Renault and Continental will contribute their expertise in producing production-grade switchable battery electric cars. European standardization organizations, CEN/CENELEC, will facilitate the creation of agreements between the parties for the creation of consensus documents to facilitate standards development for battery switching.

TÜV Rheinland and KEMA will ensure that the EASYBAT solution complies with European safety directives and standards. Leading research institutes in Germany (RWTH Aachen, Fraunhofer Institute für Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung, and Technische Universität München), Denmark (Danish Technological Institute) and Israel (University of Haifa) will team together to provide research support.

The EASYBAT consortium consists of 11 European partners that come together from a wide spectrum of operational, industrial and academic fields. The members of the consortium include: Better Place (Israel) – the consortium coordinator, Ernst & Young (Israel) – the project administrator, Renault (France), RWTH Aachen (Germany), KEMA (Netherlands), Fraunhofer Institute für Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung (Germany), Danish Technological Institute (Denmark), Technische Universität München (Germany), TÜV Rheinland (Germany), University of Haifa (Israel), Continental Engineering Services GmbH (Germany).

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