Porsche ensures EV safety with strict battery testing at Weissach research center

A Porsche vehicle is crash tested at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach, Germany, in this file photo. Courtesy of Porsche

WEISSACH, Germany — Porsche is dedicated to ensuring the safety of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, exposing them to various harsh climate conditions and use cases to develop the safest-ever luxury EVs.

The Porsche Development Centre in Weissach is home to the carmaker’s innovation. For now, Porsche’s primary focus is on developing EVs with highly durable batteries under any conditions.

The durability of Porsche’s EV batteries is designed for at least 15 years of life even in harsh climate conditions, which is the highest level in the industry. The figure differs from each carmaker, but a number of them go for 10 years, according to the German firm.

“We plan that our batteries last for 15 years under all conditions that our customers put them into,” an engineer from the firm’s research center told reporters during a guided tour of the test facility.

“It’s very important for us to give a high quality promise to our customers — that this is really high quality here, and it can be used in all use cases.”

Porsche engineers expose the batteries to a number of extreme conditions. For instance, they are placed in a one-meter-deep flooded tub to check no water penetrates the battery body.

The same test is also applied to the insulated high-voltage cables and all other connections of the power storage system.

The carmaker also carries out a corrosion test for its battery packs by showering them with various substances, such as brine, and checking whether they cause any substantial damage to their service life.

Porsche also simulates changing ambient temperatures to ensure the life expectancy of its EV batteries. This includes extreme conditions, such as long-term storage at around 60 degrees Celsius, to guarantee its batteries remain intact even under such conditions.

The carmaker’s battery management system activates active heating or cooling in line with any changes in the external environment.

Porsche also tests key EV components, such as battery modules, by exposing them to “significantly higher” loads than is typical in a vehicle crash.

The crash behavior of every Porsche EV is tested with the same load case portfolio as typical sports cars powered by internal combustion engines.

“We start from really small parts, such as a cell or electronics, and then we group them together to bigger and bigger systems, until we have them as a whole battery, and the whole is being tested,” another engineer at the facility said.