The safety of new energy vehicles is a commonplace issue, among which battery safety is the top priority.
In June last year, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the State Council announced the data on new energy vehicle fires in the first quarter of 2022, totaling 640, up 32% year-on-year, higher than the average increase of 8.8% in vehicle fires, with an average of more than 7 fires per day. From the causes of the fire, they mainly include aging of battery components, external collisions, high temperature weather, battery thermal runaway, and high load.

In terms of battery safety, the use of new materials for heat and flame retardancy is a major focus. Therefore, aerogels have been targeted by major battery companies such as CATL and BYD, and have been applied to their battery products.

Application of aerogel in the field of power batteries
The current main application areas of aerogels are oil and gas and industrial insulation. In 2021, oil and gas projects accounted for about 56% of the application of aerogels, mainly used for insulation of the inner wall of oil and gas pipelines, such as Sinopec, PetroChina and other petrochemical companies.

In the field of transportation, including power batteries, the application ratio of aerogels is 8%.
Generally speaking, one of the main reasons behind the spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles is the insufficient thermal insulation level inside the battery. When a short circuit occurs inside or outside the power battery, the battery releases a large amount of heat in a short period of time, and the temperature rises sharply. A single thermal runaway battery causes thermal runaway of the adjacent battery through heat conduction and flames, resulting in thermal runaway of the entire battery module/battery pack, thereby causing safety incidents such as fire and explosion of new energy vehicles.

Among the current materials, only aerogel can meet the thermal insulation requirements after the thermal runaway of the battery cell. As an inorganic material, aerogel has Class A fireproof capability. It is processed and packaged into aerogel pads and used between battery cells, between battery modules and shells, and between the outside of the battery pack and the car body. To a certain extent, it prevents the battery from spontaneously igniting, or prevents the spread of combustion, and provides safety and stability for new energy vehicles.

In addition to effective heat resistance, aerogel also has a good thermal insulation effect, ensuring that the battery will not have excessive performance degradation when used in a low temperature environment.
Therefore, the world's leading power battery manufacturers have purchased aerogels to apply them to batteries.