64 January/February 2025 | E-Mobility Engineering In optimising modular battery technologies, it’s important to harmonise design and control. By Peter Donaldson Modular magic Modular battery systems remain an essential component of e-mobility, offering unique advantages that complement recent advancements in cell-to-pack (C-t-P) technologies. While C-t-P designs optimise energy density by eliminating modules, modular batteries provide critical flexibility, scalability and serviceability. Engineers navigate complex trade-offs to integrate these features while addressing challenges in cost, weight, thermal management and recyclability. One of the most prominent benefits of modular batteries is their inherent flexibility. Modular systems use preconfigured units as building blocks, enabling manufacturers to adapt battery packs to various sizes, shapes and applications. This adaptability is particularly relevant for lower-volume production or specialised EV sectors, such as off-highway vehicles, marine applications or industrial machinery. By standardising modules, manufacturers can cater to diverse needs efficiently without extensive re-engineering. For example, a modular approach enables rapid scalability of battery packs to meet varying energy and power requirements, often by adding or rearranging modules. This modularity supports design iteration with minimal disruption to manufacturing lines, making it easier to accommodate changing customer specifications and emerging applications. Additionally, these systems simplify the validation and certification process, because once a module has been certified, it can be reused across various configurations, reducing the overall time and expense of bringing products to market. Modularity also has benefits for battery manufacturers if they have sufficiently flexible production systems. Traditional battery pack production lines are often expensive and inflexible, as they are built to cater only for one specific design, while C-t-P architectures tend to drive costs even higher due to their specialised tooling and machinery. However, with a module-based system, a single production facility can cater for several different customers, significantly reducing both time and cost to market. From a sustainability perspective, modular batteries contribute to more efficient end-of-life management. These off-highway batteries are built up from Kreisel’s modules for cylindrical cells with immersion cooling (Image courtesy of Kreisel Electric)
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