- Mum or dad firm of Dodge, Ram, Jeep envisions an exhaust system for EVs
- Would establish battery thermal runaway, might assist stop ensuing fireplace by treating gases
- Dodge Charger Daytona EV already makes the sound of an ICE exhaust system
Exhaust methods take away the byproducts of inner combustion, so they could appear superfluous in electrical autos. However Stellantis would possibly disagree with that.
On Jan. 16, the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) revealed a patent submitting from the automaker (initially filed in 2023) for an electrical automobile exhaust system that, Stellantis claims, might assist stop EV battery fires—or management the extent of their harm.
When batteries overheat—or expertise thermal runaway, in engineering parlance—they will launch flammable gases that then ignite within the presence of the excessive temperatures generated by the overheating batteries, Stellantis explains within the doc. These gases can embody hydrogen, in addition to hydrocarbons like methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene, propane, cyclopropane, and butane, in accordance with the automaker.
Stellantis EV exhaust system patent picture
Eradicating these gases might stop thermal runaway from escalating into fires, the automaker causes, in addition to vent stress from the battery pack. With Stellantis’ 4 new modular STLA platforms designed to accommodate combustion engines and their exhaust methods, in addition to all-electric powertrains, there is definitely room for the required plumbing.
Stellantis even designed an exhaust system of kinds for the Dodge Charger Daytona EV, to reproduce the V-8 rumble of previous Chargers—though that system is solely supposed for sound and vibration.
Within the battery exhaust system, gases and they might cross by way of “a plurality of therapy zones for chemically treating the move of gases to get rid of or not less than cut back the variety of varied chemical species from the move,” Stellantis says within the submitting—bringing to thoughts some similarities to the catalytic converters utilized in combustion autos.
Stellantis EV exhaust system patent picture
Trendy batteries in most EVs are rigidly managed through battery administration system parameters. They’re additionally tightly sealed, with liquid cooling methods, and monitored on the module or cell degree in a method that may isolate a faulty portion of the pack. So whereas it is stunning to see an automaker specializing in an final result that its engineers have seemingly gone to nice lengths to keep away from, this is not the one uncommon resolution proposed for lessening the chance of EV battery fires. In 2019 the automotive provider Bosch proposed utilizing pyrotechnics to rapidly sever electrical connections between battery pack and the remainder of the automobile if thermal runaway happens. Both resolution can be extra about containing harm, and probably making autos safer for first responders to method, than stop runaways within the first place.
Hearth threat has led to a number of massive EV recollects, however in 2023 the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS) mentioned that, as a security concern, it is outweighed (no pun supposed) by the bulk of many present EVs and the harm they will inflict on different street customers.
