By Em Jankauski
All roads lead to Indy — at least for our BattChallengers who will head to Indianapolis May 4-9 for the Battery Workforce Challenge Year Two Competition. All 12 BattChallenge teams, which are scattered across North America, will leave it all on the line during the jam-packed, week-long competition. Let’s break down what we’ll anticipate crews to put on display.
Kicking things off
It all begins on Sunday, with a kickoff, where organizers will hand out deliverable awards for tasks these teams completed prior to competition, and a list of current team standings will also be shared. Later that night, crews will head to Speedway Indoor Kating for an evening of go-karting, food, fun and team bonding before the week’s competition gets underway.
Things will heat up Monday as the day starts with a plenary session featuring keynote speaker Jon Darrow, Stellantis’ vice president of propulsion systems. More pre-competition deliverable awards will also be handed out during this time. Afterwards, teams will spend the rest of the day presenting their Design for Recycling and Engineering Year Two in Review presentations to competition organizers and sponsors alike.
Dividing and conquering BIC testing and Battery Expo
Tuesday and Wednesday, each crew will divide and conquer with some of its team members going to BIC for Battery Design Unit performance testing and inspection as well as module electrical testing and inspection while other students help prep their Battery Expo booths at Ivy Tech Community College’s Conference Center and Culinary Institute.
The Battery Expo officially opens Wednesday, May 7, with students showcasing their Hardware-in-the-Loop benches, which essentially have the guts of the battery’s electrical system out on display to show how it functions.
Crews will also showcase their working battery modules and highlight their Obeya displays, a Japanese word meaning large room. In essence, Obeya displays provide a visual representation of the teams’ collaboration and transparency of information sharing to help move their project along.
Driving youth engagement
Also happening Wednesday is the STEM Event, which invites approximately a dozen Walker Career Center high schoolers to explore the Battery Expo with the help and guidance from Argonne National Laboratory organizers and Stellantis sponsors.
Here the high schoolers will learn more about the four areas of engineering and battery systems development including the importance of model-based design, sensors, diagnostics and Obeya. Attendees’ understanding of each of these topics will be enhanced through real-life tangle examples and hands-on activities like building a battery and seeing how much voltage their own bodies generate naturally by measuring their electrolytes.
High schoolers will also have the opportunity to interact with professionals from Argonne National Laboratory and Stellantis, including its car parts, service and customer care division Mopar to discuss different career tracks within the battery field — from academia, research, industry and vocational paths.
Navigating sponsor connections
Speaking of career paths, our BattChallengers will have the opportunity to network with 10 of the competition’s sponsors later that evening during the Sponsor Social and Networking Event, where a handful of awards will also be given out to students. Attending sponsors include:
In addition to gaining prime time spent with industry experts, we’ve put a fun twist on the evening with a couple of fun activities including navigating each sponsor’s roadway sign that has three to four categories to show what they’re offering students. Students will browse through the social and connect with the sponsors who are offering opportunities of personal interest of them, linking the sponsors’ offerings with the students’ needs.
Teams will also play sponsor bingo where they’ll compete to earn team and individual sponsor-donated raffle prizes. This year’s offerings include mock interviews and resume reviews from co-headline sponsor Stellantis, which intends to offer two slots for each of these offerings.
ABTC has also offered three one-hour-long virtual calls with its CEO/CTO Ryan Melsert and/or a board member. BattChallengers must complete and submit their bingo cards to be entered in the raffle.
For the team prize, BIC’s offering a half day of in-person, hands-on training from its reps traveling to the winning team’s school. To qualify for the raffle, your team must have at least four of its team members complete and turn in their bingo cards.
Battery Expos will be judged by industry experts on Thursday. Judges represent the following companies:
Celebrating milestones and looking ahead
Teams will get a chance to explore Indy Friday during the day before returning to the Hilton Indianapolis for a reception and awards ceremony celebrating all they’ve accomplished in year two of the competition. Paul Kearns, Argonne National Laboratory’s director, will be the evening’s keynote speaker.
Top-performing teams can expect to receive competition awards as well as recognition for the first- through fourth-place overall winners.
“This year, teams have made extraordinary technical strides — including designing and testing their Battery Disconnect Units, Battery Management System and modules,” said Ajay Gnanasekaran, BattChallenge director. “I can’t wait to see them power up their EV battery packs with their own designs this time next year. This skill level of this competition is truly heating up.”
