- Mum or dad firm of Dodge, Ram, Jeep envisions an exhaust system for EVs
- Would determine battery thermal runaway, may assist forestall ensuing fireplace by treating gases
- Dodge Charger Daytona EV already makes the sound of an ICE exhaust system
Exhaust programs 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, may assist forestall EV battery fires—or management the extent of their harm.
When batteries overheat—or expertise thermal runaway, in engineering parlance—they’ll 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, based on the automaker.
Stellantis EV exhaust system patent picture
Eradicating these gases may forestall thermal runaway from escalating into fires, the automaker causes, in addition to vent strain from the battery pack. With Stellantis’ 4 new modular STLA platforms designed to accommodate combustion engines and their exhaust programs, in addition to all-electric powertrains, there is definitely room for the required plumbing.
Stellantis even designed an exhaust system of types for the Dodge Charger Daytona EV, to reproduce the V-8 rumble of previous Chargers—though that system is completely 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 circulate of gases to remove or at the very least cut back the variety of varied chemical species from the circulate,” 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 by way of battery administration system parameters. They’re additionally tightly sealed, with liquid cooling programs, and monitored on the module or cell degree in a approach that may isolate a faulty portion of the pack. So whereas it is stunning to see an automaker specializing in an end result that its engineers have seemingly gone to nice lengths to keep away from, this is not the one uncommon answer proposed for lessening the chance of EV battery fires. In 2019 the automotive provider Bosch proposed utilizing pyrotechnics to shortly sever electrical connections between battery pack and the remainder of the automobile if thermal runaway happens. Both answer can be extra about containing harm, and doubtlessly making autos safer for first responders to method, than forestall runaways within the first place.
Fireplace threat has led to a number of giant EV recollects, however in 2023 the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS) stated that, as a security concern, it is outweighed (no pun supposed) by the bulk of many present EVs and the harm they’ll inflict on different highway customers.
