The Jackson State University & Hinds Community College Battery Workforce Challenge team has endured various challenges in the beginning of the first year of the Battery Workforce Challenge. Some of the challenges include, but are not limited to, team development and skill acquisitions; however, the team continues to recruit new members and has increased the students’ interest in the EV workforce.
The Jackson State University & Hinds Community College BattChallenge team is striving to improve consistency on the team and anticipate continued growth in efficiency after establishing reliable project and engineering managers.
Earlier in March, the team successfully presented its cuenginrrent progress to BattChallenge organizers at the winter workshop in Detroit, Mich. Here the team also gained a lot of valuable information to aid its crew in the challenge.
The team found reassurance in learning that some of the initial challenges it faced were not unique to the Jackson State University & Hinds Community College team. Some of those challenges included cell characterization and parts acquisitions technicalities.
Also, the unveiling of Stellantis’ Ram ProMaster EV as the BattChallenge vehicle provided great insight for the team. The crew’s initial design of the project battery, the Jackson State University & Hinds Community College team developed a concept for a vehicle with a different profile. The team will now assess the profile of this vehicle and redesign its concept battery to better fit the profile of the Ram ProMaster EV. Knowing that this type of vehicle is made for deliveries and making frequent stops and heavy acceleration, it expends more power. We also know that this vehicle will likely haul loads for long hours.
With the recent findings about the profile of the vehicle, the Jackson State University & Hinds Community College team will move forward with redesigning its concept battery. The team will also revisit its proposed battery cell configuration and thermal design.
The crew’s vision for this challenge is to deliver a battery that suits this sector of EVs. The team has issued a call to action within our team to gather our strengths and put thoughts to practice and complete the task at hand.
