Crash Behavior of Energy Storage Systems and Materials

The Battery Safety Centre Graz (BSCG), as part of the Institute for Vehicle Safety, was opened in 2020, is part of the Campus Inffeldgasse of the TU Graz and was specifically designed for electrical, thermal and mechanical testing of electrical energy storage systems, such as Li-ion battery cells. On a total of 550 square meters of laboratory space with a technical environment, the Battery Safety Center Graz provides a new type of test environment. With the new research laboratory, Graz University of Technology now has access to state-of-the-art test bench technology for demanding research projects and future-oriented teaching in the field of battery safety.

The BSCG results from a long-standing cooperation between the Institute for Vehicle Safety at Graz University of Technology and AVL List GmbH in battery safety. The majority of the test infrastructure and the building infrastructure come from Graz University of Technology, AVL List GmbH contributes to the cooperation with three climate chambers for electro-thermal tests. In total, both cooperation partners have invested almost 9 million euros, of which 5 million were purely used for the construction and basic infrastructure. About half of the capacity of the climate chambers is earmarked for joint projects of TU Graz and AVL. The other half is available to TU Graz for in-house research purposes, teaching and research projects with other cooperation partners.

In addition, the research laboratory is complemented by test benches designed, constructed and built by the Institute of Vehicle Safety itself, which focus in particular on the core area of mechanical analyses of uncharged and charged batteries in order to be able to research constantly emerging problems in the battery sector.

Vehicle Safety Institute: https://www.tugraz.at/institute/vsi/home/

Battery Safety Center Graz: https://www.tugraz.at/sites/bscg/home/