Volvo Trucks Uses Simulation App for Battery Pack Design

Volvo Group Trucks Operations has collaborated with engineering consultancy Resolvent and a broader European consortium to deploy a custom simulation application aimed at improving battery pack manufacturing for heavy-duty electric vehicles. Developed as part of the LaserBATMAN research project, which ran from May 2022 to May 2025, the initiative uses multiscale modeling to optimize laser-welding processes that join battery cells via busbars.

Built on COMSOL Multiphysics software, the system evaluates how laser welding influences cell electrochemistry and long-term degradation. Resolvent initially created electrochemical models of individual battery cells based on chemical reaction kinetics, using the resulting data to train a deep neural network. This reduced-order model allows engineers to rapidly predict behavior across an entire battery pack, evaluating parameters such as pack geometry, ambient temperature, charge-discharge current profiles, and cooling airflow.

The software incorporates a specialized Busbar Weld Design Tool that allows developers to test adjustments in weld shape, busbar thickness, and laser penetration depth. Engineers can use a dedicated execution function to monitor thermal distribution, state of charge, and solid-electrolyte interphase layer thickness across simulated operating cycles. By identifying how manufacturing variances affect battery durability, engineering teams can optimize cooling layouts and adjust pack configurations—potentially eliminating unnecessary cells while retaining required performance levels.

The LaserBATMAN initiative brought together several industry and academic entities, including Aurobay, the Technical University of Denmark, Vinnova, Innovation Fund Denmark, and the European Commission. For battery designers and automotive engineers, replacing manual physical testing with predictive simulation provides clearer technical insight into degradation mechanics, helping ensure long-haul electric commercial vehicles can withstand extended highway driving.