Penn State Behrend lands $2.5 million in federal funding for battery-testing facility
Penn State Behrend's blueprint for Project Resolve and its vision for the Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness have long included a plan for a battery-testing facility that would support the move to battery-powered trains, ships and mining vehicles.
That facility, which is expected to work with Wabtec and other industrial companies, has moved closer to reality with the announcement Thursday of $2.5 million in federal funding, secured by U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.
The money will be used to develop a freestanding facility, located on a fenced concrete pad at Behrend's Knowledge Park in Harborcreek Township.
According to Behrend, the facility would be used to study a condition known as thermal runaway, a chain-reaction that can occur when the temperature in lithium-ion batteries exceeds the normal operating range. The rig will include a thermal chamber that can simulate a wide range of temperatures, from 80 degrees Celsius to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
In an interview in January 2023, Alan Hamilton, Wabtec's vice president of engineering, said the company is developing new batteries for use in its new FLXDrive battery-electric locomotive through a partnership with General Motors.
The use of battery packs in hybrid locomotives can reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30%.
More: A division of Japan-based Kyocera breaks ground at Penn State Behrend's Knowledge Park
Those batteries have to be safe, he said.
"It has to be safe. It has to perform, and we have to have a facility that is suitable to accommodate testing," Hamilton said in that interview.
Hamilton said a locomotive would have between 40 and 80 battery cells, each the size of a battery on a large truck. Individual cells could be transported to Knowledge Park for testing, he said.
While engineers at Wabtec's locomotive plant in Lawrence Park Township helped select some of the equipment that will be used, the testing facility would be available to other companies, including Komatsu and Caterpillar.
More: Will $5 million for Project Resolve stop brain drain and jump-start Erie's advanced manufacturing?
“Economic development initiatives are most effective when they blend university, government and industry resources,” Amy Bridger, Behrend's assistant dean for innovation and corporate strategy, said in a statement. "This is an example of how that can work, with the benefit extending beyond the original partners.”
According to Behrend, the battery-testing facility will advance Project Resolve, a regional strategy for shifting plastics, metal-casting and transportation industries to address concerns about plastic and waste pollution.
Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Battery-testing site at Knowledge Park expected to partner with Wabtec
