Keeping Heavy Electric Vehicles Cool Under Pressure

How do we make heavy electric vehicles charge faster and run harder without heat becoming the limiting factor?

Charging and discharging at higher rates improves efficiency and uptime, but it also generates heat. That heat affects driver comfort, puts stress on surrounding components and, in extreme cases, creates a risk of fire. Meanwhile, weight and cost stay tight. Solving it takes the whole value chain, not one company at a time.

This Tech Forward Circle is facilitated by Electrification Hub. It brings together OEMs, subcontractors and startups who work hands-on with batteries and heavy electric vehicles and are ready to take the next step: tackling the thermal challenge together, from cell chemistry to charging infrastructure.

We'll focus on four key areas:

• Prevent: How do we generate less heat in the first place? This covers cell chemistry and design, lower internal resistance, higher-voltage architectures, more efficient power electronics, and smart charging that adapts to temperature and route.
• Manage: How do we move, store and reuse heat efficiently, through Nordic winters and peak loads alike? This covers air, liquid, refrigerant and immersion cooling. It also covers new materials such as graphene, nanomaterials and phase-change materials, along with heat pumps, reuse of waste heat, and whole-vehicle thermal management, including heating in cold climates.
• Protect: How do we keep drivers, components and surroundings safe when things go wrong? This covers early detection of thermal runaway, cell-level sensing, stopping fire from spreading between cells, fire barriers and venting, cab placement and insulation, and working with rescue services and regulators.
• Scale: How do we turn promising solutions into industrial reality? This covers integration within weight, cost and space limits, megawatt charging (MCS) and depot infrastructure, lifecycle effects and regulation such as PFAS restrictions, shared test methods, and new routes for startups into OEM supply chains.

Who should join? People working on battery systems, power electronics, thermal management and vehicle platforms at OEMs, suppliers and startups. This is a curated group. Anyone is welcome to apply, and we will hand-pick the final participants for their expertise, their relevance to the topic and the value they bring to the group. Each organisation can send a team of 1–2 people.

Electrification Gamechangers: Selected participants will also be invited to Electrification Gamechangers, an invite-only evening of networking over food and drinks.

Dates

• Digital information meeting: Thursday 29 October, 16:00–17:00 CET, online. Find out more about the Circle and whether it fits your organisation.
• Tech Forward Circle: Thursday 26 November, 12:00–15:00 CET, at Hotell C, Vasaplan 4, 111 20 Stockholm