ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Inside this modest brick building on the University of Michigan campus, scientists focus on solving some of the biggest problems with electric vehicle batteries — and trying to fix them before they threaten the industry’s rapid growth.
Researchers at the “maker space” for batteries have been inspired by everything from Elon Musk’s tweets to the frustrating problem of lithium-ion batteries catching fire. It’s become a hot spot for scientists from both academia and major automakers like Ford Motor Co. and Mercedes-Benz to use cutting-edge equipment to test experimental and complex battery technologies before pitching them for large-scale production.
The small lab is one of a few centers that allows nearly any battery scientist or engineer to test out the latest technologies, giving it an outsize role in the technology race around advanced batteries…
