Gauge Newsletter January 2020 | Page 20

804 Horse Power Torque 760Nm The electric power requirement of the two motors is fulfilled by 600 Lithium Ferrous Phosphate cells each of 3.3V. Due to the higher chemical stability of these cells, they are able to power the vehicle for a longer time, more reliably. The 600 batteries are in 12 packs, with 50 batteries in each pack. With the high performance of the vehicle, batteries generate heat which could reduce the efficiency of the vehicle. As a solution, the Vega team has implemented a glycol cooling system to reduce the temperature of the batteries. As the car drives on, the voltage of the cells gradually reduces. If a cell drops below a certain level of voltage, it would be destroyed. Therefore, a digital battery monitoring system is also implemented in the Vega supercar. This system specifically identifies the usage of all 600 cells of the car and alerts the user if any of the batteries have reached the critical level, so that it can be recharged or replaced, accordingly. Vega has an on-board charger. It can be fully recharged using a domestic power supply in less than 4 hours. In addition, the Vega team has also designed a public charging station. The team also plans to implement a supercharging unit, in such a way that 80% of the battery will be charged within 20 minutes. This would result in just less than 30 minutes of charging to drive up to 250km! Isn’t that amazing? “ Design and develop high performance liquid cooled battery packs using pouch and cylindrical cells. Capability to design dual tab cooled, cell fused battery assemblies with integrated state-of-the-art Battery Management Systems (BMS). Providing research, development and testing capability for high performance battery pack designs for customers worldwide. ” Page 18 University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine