The concept of an “exhaust system” for electrical autos (EVs) is not totally new. Historically, including an exhaust to an electrical automobile has concerned putting in a speaker that emits sounds just like these of a gas-powered automobile, as seen in fashions just like the Dodge Charger Daytona. Nevertheless, one automotive firm has found an modern and sensible software for this idea.
Stellantis has developed a singular use for an EV exhaust that emphasizes security reasonably than model or sound. You may surprise how an exhaust system might contribute to security. A current patent from america Patent and Trademark Workplace, highlighted by Inexperienced Automobile Stories, reveals Stellantis’s technique to mitigate the danger of battery fires in electrical autos.
Understanding how an exhaust can play a job in stopping battery fires may be complicated. When an EV battery encounters a extreme failure—akin to quick circuits, mechanical harm, exterior fires, or overcharging—it may well set off a response often known as thermal runaway. This phenomenon shouldn’t be benign; the battery cells can launch a spread of hazardous flammable gases, together with hydrogen, methane, acetylene, and propane. These unstable substances can create harmful circumstances when mixed with excessive temperatures.
Stellantis’s modern strategy includes a system designed to vent these gases outdoors the battery pack. By doing so, they intention to forestall the catastrophic scenario the place a battery hearth might trigger an electrical automobile to burst into flames, which the corporate refers to as an electrical automobile exhaust system.
Furthermore, the patent outlines a multi-zone strategy to handle these gases successfully. This method consists of “remedy zones” that chemically neutralize the launched gases earlier than they enter the ambiance, functioning equally to a catalytic converter, however for managing gases from malfunctioning battery cells as a substitute of typical automobile exhaust.
Fashionable electrical autos already incorporate quite a few security options to attenuate hearth dangers, akin to superior sensor programs and complex cooling mechanisms. Nevertheless, Stellantis’s patent acknowledges that failures can nonetheless happen, as evidenced by incidents in South Korea involving EV fires. Constructing security redundancies is important, and this new patent goals to boost that facet.
Stellantis shouldn’t be alone in exploring modern strategies to forestall battery fires. Firms like Bosch have proposed utilizing managed explosions to disconnect EV batteries throughout accidents, with present know-how like pyrofuses serving this goal.
Finally, the concept of an EV “exhaust” could appear uncommon at first look. Nevertheless, if Stellantis’s patent results in sensible purposes, it might notably enhance hearth security in electrical autos. Whereas fires in EVs are uncommon, it is all the time prudent to arrange for potential dangers.
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