Use of Cork in EV Batteries
Cork is a revolutionary material for EV batteries, delivering excellent thermal protection to keep your battery safe and efficient under the most demanding conditions. Its natural insulating properties make it the perfect solution for battery casings, housings, cell spacers, and seals, ensuring optimal performance and durability. In addition to being lightweight and fire resistant, cork is also impermeable to liquids and gases making it the smart, sustainable choice for cutting-edge EV battery design.
Battery Casing:
Cork, particularly when combined with carbon fibre, is an outstanding material for EV battery casings, offering a perfect balance of performance, safety, and cost-effectiveness. This combination of materials significantly reduces weight, contributing to improved energy efficiency. Cork’s natural structural resistance and excellent dampening properties enhance the overall stability of the housing, effectively absorbing vibrations and reducing noise. Its fire-resistant qualities also provide an added layer of safety, ensuring protection in high-temperature scenarios.
FiberCork is the material that is made for EV batteries. It is heat resistant (tested to 1200°C for over 15 minutes), resistant against high gas flow rates, mechanically stable with no electrical conductivity.
Cell Spacer:
The cell space range creates a multi-layer system which act as a thermal barrier between cells. Typically, ETP021 or ETP058 would be the best options for this application as they provide high compressibility with high thermal insulation, but FiberCork can also be used.
Battery Pack Seals:
Amorim’s cork-based solutions provide an exceptional sealing material for batteries ensuring optimal performance, safety and longevity for electric vehicles. With excellent resistance to UV and ozone, and impermeability to liquids and gases, these seals maintain integrity even in harsh environmental conditions. Cork’s resilience to mechanical fatigue ensures durability over time, while its superior compression and creep resistance contribute to reliable, long-lasting sealing performance. Additionally, the inclusion of cork effectively reduces vibrations and improves the overall stability of the battery.
ETP700 is a cork-silicone based material designed for thermal management of battery components. It has a UL94-V0 flame resistance and low compression coefficient, making it ideal for sealing batteries.
Housing:
Thermal pads are used to minimise the risk of battery cells overheating. This can delay thermal runaway propagation, helping to ensure the safety of passengers and vehicles.
FiberCork or ETP058 are suitable options for housing/ housing lining.