Lotus Engineering launching new battery test facilities

Companies developing new batteries will be able to make use of a pilot project of containerised battery test facilities.

Lotus Engineering, UK, is launching a containerised battery testing facility to assess energy storage solutions for the electric vehicle (EV) sector. The facility will enable various battery cell, module and pack characterisation tests, performance evaluations, component and lifetime testing under controlled conditions.

The project has been named BattCon, an abbreviation of Battery Containerised Test Facility. The ‘containers’ are individual walk-in laboratories and will be in operation at Lotus HQ in Hethel, Norfolk, as well as the new Lotus Advanced Technology Centre in Wellesbourne, West Midlands. Each is the size of a standard 40ft shipping container and can easily be packed up and transported as a mobile testing unit, the pilot has three operational units.

For Lotus itself, the new technology will support plans to launch a new range of performance vehicles.

The pilot project will conclude in spring 2021 and is co-funded by the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), part of the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC); Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation; the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for International Trade (DIT). Upon completion, the project will be evaluated and a decision taken about its future.