Among SmartBatt’s original targets were a 200-400V, 20 kWh battery pack delivering a continuous power rating of 42 kW and a peak performance of 70 kW for up to 30 seconds—along with a reduction of battery pack weight by 15%; reduction of battery pack volume by 20-30%; and a reduction in battery pack cost by 5%-10%. The battery pack delivered by the project exceeds the capacity target by in excess of 10%, providing a total of 22.92 kWh of energy storage.

In addition to its functional requirements and weight reduction target, the team was responsible for the design and assessment of a battery pack offering a range of 120 km (75 miles) based on NEDC operation.

The consortium is led by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology Mobility Department (Business Units Electric Drive Technologies and Light Metals Technologies Ranshofen) and eight other partners: the Fraunhofer Institute Light Metals Division & Joining Technology Division; Impact Design; Ricardo UK Ltd; SP Technical Consulting; Technical University Graz; and Volkswagen.

SmartBatt comprises 8 work packages (WP):

• Project Management
• Specification Analysis / Requirements
• Concept & feasibility Study
• Risk Assessment
• Design & Development
• Hardware Build-Up & final Validation
• Assessment
• Exploitation

The process considered cell selection based on the particular attributes of the target vehicle—assumed to be the size of a VW Golf—and was intended to deliver a solution capable of vehicle integration in a crash-safe manner. The electrical architecture was based on the Ricardo universal battery management system, providing integrated fault detection and charge optimization functionality.