Battery Workforce Challenge
Colorado School of Mines
The Battery Workforce Challenge (BWC) is a three-year competition beginning in Fall 2023. Colorado School of Mines has been selected to compete against 12 world-class universities across North America to design, build, test, and integrate an advanced Electric Vehicle battery pack into a production Stellantis vehicle. Each participating school will receive an electric vehicle without a battery pack and will be tasked with developing and integrating a state-of-the-art energy storage system.
What is BattChallenge?
The competition will provide an immersive hands-on learning experience for all students to gain valuable engineering skills that transcend the classroom environment. Teams will follow industry design and development processes focused on battery design, simulation, controls development, testing, vehicle integration and demonstration throughout the three-year competition!
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Stellantis launched the Battery Workforce Challenge Competition (BattChallenge). This public-private partnership will build the next generation of engineers, technicians, and workers to address the unprecedented demand for a domestic EV/Battery workforce. BattChallenge is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and Stellantis, and is managed by Argonne National Laboratory. Additional sponsors for BattChallenge will include industry partners participating in the electric vehicle and battery industries.
INTERESTED?
We are actively recruiting and would love to have you join us. Contact bwc@mines.edu for more information regarding upcoming events or ways that you can get involved.
What is Mines doing for BattChallenge?
We are tasked with designing a custom battery pack utilizing production battery cells and complete a professional battery design review with the competition’s subject matter experts. Once we meet the rigorous automotive safety and design requirements, teams will build, test and integrate their advanced battery packs into a production Stellantis vehicle. This hands-on experience will include functions such as wiring, battery management (monitoring voltage, current, temperature, safety and controlling power interface and cell balancing), structural integrity, thermal management, power interfacing, SOC/SOH/cell balancing algorithms, fusing, power bussing, and enclosure that will all be integrated into a Stellantis vehicle.
We are building a team comprised of mechanical and electrical engineers and computer science and business majors. The mechanical engineers will be needed to work with the thermal and mechanical analysis of the battery pack. They will also work on the integration of the enclosure with the Stellantis vehicle. The electrical engineers will be needed for hardware selections for the internals of the battery. They will also be needed for the design of the power systems and manufacturing of mattery pack. The computer science majors will be key in developing the battery management system and software as well as integrating the software of our BMS and the cars existing software. The business majors will be key in project planning as well as communication within and outside the team.
We will be collaborating with Arapahoe Community College as our vocational partner to assist with the workforce development side of the battery workforce challenge. ACC has developed the electric vehicle service guidelines for Colorado, which will be very helpful when we are working to develop the battery pack. The focus of the project is not just on developing a state-of-the-art battery pack, but also considering the entire lifecycle. So, ACC will be very beneficial for thinking about the service side of the design.
If you are interested in joining the team and would like more information, please send an email to bwc@mines.edu. We look forward having you on our team to compete against other schools to develop the future of electric vehicle technology.
LOOKING AHEAD TO MINES@150
As Colorado School of Mines prepares for our 150th anniversary in 2024, dynamic and disruptive change is all around us. MINES@150 is our plan to position Mines for future success.
It calls for change, but also to stay true to our timeless mission, pillars and core values. MINES@150 leverages our size, location, and history, ensuring that our graduates will continue to be distinctive and highly valued, placing Mines at the frontiers of STEM education, research and innovation, and elevating our status among the world’s top universities.