Grant: Collaborative Research and Training Experience

Canada's automotive industry is undergoing its most significant transformation in history as manufacturers, consumers and policies are shifting to zero-emission vehicles, with projections of hundreds of thousands of high-quality, sustainable new jobs over the next two decades. Canada is well-positioned to accelerate the mass production and adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary battery energy storage systems in urban and northern/remote Indigenous community settings. However, these thermally-dependent core electrification technologies still require transformative developments in battery packs, chargers, electric motors, and thermal management strategies to improve their reliability, performance and safety. The NSERC CREATE in Thermal Management of Electrification Technologies (TherMET) aims to meet these challenges by establishing a pioneering and sustainable training program in advanced thermal management of core electrification technologies within a holistic component-to-system training scope. TherMET offers 12 integrated training components that augment trainees' interdisciplinary technical and professional skills, enhancing their opportunities for academia-industry collaborations, mobility and their job readiness. TherMET's multi-disciplinary/multi-institutional/multi-sectoral team includes ten professors and 21 collaborators from industry, academia, Canada/USA national labs, transportation and utility consortia, territorial and municipal governments, and Indigenous communities. We will train and mentor Canada's future leaders on core electrification technologies leading to thermally-safer, lighter, more durable and environmentally-friendly batteries and EVs. Leveraging Canada's strong policies, the automotive industry's firm plans to transition to electrification, and our younger generations' embrace of an electric future, TherMET will nurture the next generation of professionals and leaders to instill the talent and skills to advance thermal management innovations suitable for extreme cold/hot climates and to act on the environmental and social issues affecting these core electrification technologies.