Startup claims to find solution to India’s EV fire issue
Premium- Their solution comprises a patent-pending fluid that absorbs and distributes heat across the battery pack
NEW DELHI : A startup founded by two former executives of Ola Electric is claiming to have found a solution to arrest the rising tally of electric vehicle (EV) fires across the country.
Bengaluru-based EMO said it has been testing its battery pack in adverse conditions for the last three months, and is now able to offer a full fire safety assurance to customers, while also increasing a battery’s lifecycle, which increases the overall life of an EV. The company was founded by Rahul Patel and Sheetanshu Tyagi, who earlier worked in the battery department at Ola Electric. Patel also led thermal engineering at Sun Mobility while Tyagi worked on design and manufacturing aspects at EV-startup Ather Energy.
Their solution, according to Tyagi, comprises a patent-pending special fluid that absorbs and distributes heat across the battery pack, along with a machine learning (ML)-driven battery management system (BMS), which keeps tabs on the different cells in the battery, their temperatures, status, etc.
“The whole battery is engulfed in a special non-conductive and energy absorbing semi-solid fluid. We’ve patented that and developed it with some chemical labs in India. Then we’ve developed our own electronic system within it, which circulates the heat across the pack. So, if one of the cells inside the pack starts heating up, this whole system will go into overdrive, take the heat out from there and distribute it everywhere else," said Tyagi.
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This, according to him, is one of the primary problems with affordable EVs in India. Manufacturers source cheaper cells to build their battery packs, and errors in design, lack of quality etc. leads the EVs to catch fire as soon as a single cell malfunctions. “The global situation is at a point that you wouldn’t even feel it if a cell inside the pack is catching fire. You wouldn’t even know if a Tesla cell within their pack is catching fire, they’ve designed their entire system around it," noted Tyagi. EMO is awaiting a patent each for the fluid and pumping system, the overall battery design and the BMS.
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