Cross-Level Impact Analysis (CLIA) Approach for Battery Technology Evaluation in Automotive Development - Initial Framework

Traction battery systems of electrified vehicles currently on market employ primarily lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To comply with the increasing demands of electromobility and to meet the requirements for performance and sustainability, more promising future cell chemistries are being researched. However, rapid technological changes and uncertainties pose challenges for the automotive industry in integrating new battery technologies. To develop new methods supporting the product development processes during this technological change, it is important to understand and clarify the future potential of the upcoming battery technologies and their impact on the higher-level system, i.e. battery module, pack and system, at an early stage. In this paper, we clarified the critical research need of holistic methodologies to evaluate cross-level impacts of battery technology changes across cell, module, and pack hierarchies. To address and answer the derived research questions, we proposed the model-based Cross-Level Impact Analysis (CLIA) Approach - an initial methodological framework using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for systematically tracing property changes (e.g., material-level volumetric expansion) to subsystem-level consequences (e.g., pack safety compromises). ... mehrThis paper demonstrated the potential of the CLIA approach to support in understanding the implications and impact of changes in cell-level properties resulting from next-generation battery technology on the battery system.