Stefan Kunze

Protection for HV battery systems – humidity control

Climate change is one of the major threats to mankind. Acknowledging this, the recent COP21 Conference in Paris has set a target of maximum 1,5°C temperature rise compared to the pre-industrial levels to limit the negative effects of global climate change. CO2 emissions from transport globally account for 23% of the total CO2 emissions. As the COP21 agreement has been ratified by 114 countries (status November 2016), the targets will be transferred into local legislation on CO2 emissions which are expected to become more stringent compared to existing scenarios. The COP21 action paper shows targets for all means of transport globally. Some countries are already planning to ban vehicles powered by Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) completely to achieve the targets (e.g. India, Norway, Netherlands). Consequently, market forecasts show that the production of locally zero-emission vehicles, namely Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) will strongly increase. In addition, the rising concern on air pollution caused by ICE (PM2.5, NOx) enforces the use of Real- Driving-Emission measurements of NOx which will lead to the use of more expensive Exhaust Aftertreatment Devices. As the decrease of battery pack cost is faster than expected, OEMs expect a break-even between xEV and ICE which meet the more stringent NOx and PM2.5 emission targets can already be reached in the 2021 – 2023 time frame. As a first step, 48V Hybrids will enable “Electrification for the Masses”.