New Battery Test Facility Officially Opened at Millbrook

• Millbrook’s Battery Test Laboratory officially opened as the UK’s latest, and biggest, private investment in independent battery testing
• The facility complements Millbrook’s expansion into California, USA, to support electric vehicle development

Millbrook has officially opened its Battery Test Facility, strengthening its position as one of the industry leaders providing independent battery testing to the automotive industry worldwide. The facility is the UK’s latest, and biggest, private investment in independent battery testing. It consists of 12 battery cycling climatic chambers and supporting infrastructure.

Battery development is now firmly established at the forefront of automotive research and development, as it’s a key enabler to meet upcoming CO2 and emissions regulations. Millbrook has outstanding specialist capabilities in the field of battery testing, and it has reacted rapidly to increasing customer demand with the expansion of its facilities.

The battery test chambers can cycle complete automotive battery packs up to 1,100V and up to 750kW in temperatures from -40°C to +90°C, including simulation of rapid temperature changes.

Peter Miller, Chief Engineer – Battery at Millbrook, said: “Battery technology is evolving at a staggering rate, as the industry seeks to make electric vehicles universally accepted as an alternative to the internal combustion engine. We pride ourselves on our in-depth knowledge of battery technology and our ability to provide testing which helps developers better understand, anticipate and ultimately eliminate failure in future models.”

Alex Burns, President of Millbrook, said: “One of our greatest qualities, as a business, is our agility, with an outstanding ability to react, invest and adapt to changing customer demands, very quickly. The introduction of our highly versatile and technologically advanced battery test chambers, is a perfect example of this.”

The new battery test facility complements Millbrook’s existing battery test facilities used to test to a range of 38.3 and all UN ECE Regulation No. 100 (also referred to as R100) requirements.

Millbrook continues to expand its services to support manufacturers and automotive suppliers in developing hybrid and battery systems and already enables customers to: assess the performance of battery cells, modules and packs; determine pack performance during a crash event; and subject batteries to a range of environmental conditions. Millbrook offers 48V hybrid test cell capability, full EV durability testing and electric machine and inverter testing. Its facilities are suitable for a range of tests on the latest generation of vehicle powertrains – including mild hybrids (MHEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV), battery electric (BEV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV).

For further information about Millbrook, visit www.millbrook.co.uk, email info@millbrook.co.uk, or find us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Millbrook will be exhibiting on stand C3-605.