The new Mercedes-Benz EQC (combined power consumption: 22.2 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km, provisional figures)[1] is also a genuine Mercedes when it comes to passive safety. In addition to the usual, extensive programme of crash tests, the brand applies stringent safety standards to the battery and all component parts carrying electrical current. In many cases these standards exceed legal requirements.
Mercedes-Benz’s extensive experience of high-voltage drive systems has led to a special safety concept. The EQC’s accident safety was validated at the Mercedes-Benz technology centre for vehicle safety (TFS), the most advanced crash test centre in the world. Here vehicles, including prototypes with large electric batteries, have been tested under harsh crash conditions. The result is a whole array of constructive measures which deliver the EQC’s high level of crash safety:
- A new subframe surrounds the drive components located in the front section, and this unit is supported by the usual mounting points.
- The battery is surrounded by a robust frame with an integral crash structure. Deformation elements are installed between the frame and the battery, and these are able to absorb additional forces in the event of a severe side impact.
- A battery guard in the front area of the battery is able to prevent the energy storage unit from being pierced by foreign objects.
- The high-voltage system can also be shut down automatically in a crash, depending on its severity. A distinction is made between a reversible and an irreversible cut-off. When it is shut down the voltage in the high-voltage system outside of the battery reduces to below the safety-relevant voltage limit in a very short time.
- Another feature of the comprehensive high-voltage safety concept is that the charging process is automatically curtailed if an impact is detected when stationary at a quick-charging station (DC charging). There are also shutdown points where emergency teams can deactivate the high-voltage system manually.
- In addition to assessing the occupant values during a crash, the battery’s accident safety was also tested at the development centre of Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE, a wholly-owned Daimler subsidiary. Test criteria included the battery’s behaviour under impact and when penetrated by foreign bodies, with overheating and overloading also simulated.
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SOURCE: Daimler
