For ARIES the planning of crash test facilities for electric vehicles and the development of associated emergency measures such as fire, explosion and toxic gas emissions has become a valuable asset for the passive car safety testing design and construction.
According to regulation UN/ECE-100, Annex 8C, the battery and associated systems, or energy storage systems (ESS) installed within battery-powered vehicles must be tested to verify their performance under the inertial loads that may occur during a vehicle crash.
This test can be performed in a crash simulation test facility, more commonly referred to as sled test.
During the deceleration tests of ESS, these systems may break in such a way that the components of the unit would spill out of the cell protection and into the testing container. In addition, there is a risk that the ESS under investigation can catch fire and, therefore, a fire extinguisher shall be used to suffocate the fire. In order to prevent the battery spillage, the fire extinguishing substance, or both, from falling out into the crash simulation test laboratory, the test shall be carried out in a sealed container.
The solution offered by ARIES is a container that is specifically designed to be attached to an ARIES crash simulation system sled. This battery-testing container is characterized by its versatility as it can accommodate different batteries designs, while assuring no spillage of either battery components or fire extinguishing agents. This configuration allows testing the batteries of electric vehicles at any angle desired within the plane of the container floor by the costumer.
The design of the proposed container is assisted by finite element analysis in order to check that the device is robust enough to withstand the loads caused by the deceleration prescribed on the regulation. Loads due to water suddenly getting into the container, in case of fire, are also taken into account.
With the experience gained from several installed crash and sled test facilities, also in the field of electro mobility, ARIES has valuable experience, and offers a comprehensive consulting service right from the project planning phase to a completes, turnkey crash test facility tailor-made for the client specific applications.
Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicles (FMVSS 305)
