High-Fidelity Prototype Enables Lightweight EV Battery Enclosures

Rapid Prototyping Accelerates Innovation in New Energy Vehicle Battery Structure——BYD Battery Enclosure Lightweighting Project

With the explosive growth of global demand for new energy vehicles (NEVs), battery performance has become a core competitive factor in the industry. BYD battery maker planned to develop a next-generation lightweight battery enclosure, requiring a 20% weight reduction while maintaining structural strength, with design validation to be completed within 6 weeks. Traditional mold development involves long lead times and high costs, so the client opted for rapid prototyping through machining. As a leading domestic rapid prototyping supplier, Brightstar undertook this critical project.

• Tight Timeline: Full-cycle validation from design to testing had to be completed within 6 weeks (vs. 12+ weeks for traditional tooling), with only 2 weeks allocated to Brightstar for producing 5 prototype units.
• Precision Requirements: Seal surface tolerance of ≤±0.01mm to prevent battery leakage
• Material Performance: Prototypes had to mimic mass-production aluminum alloy (6061-T6) mechanical properties (tensile strength ≥310MPa).

Brightstar deployed 5-axis precision machining (DMG MORI NX Series) with high dynamic accuracy (±0.01mm), directly processing aluminum workpiece to deliver the first prototype within 5 days, passing FAI inspection. Through simulation-driven design (e.g., ANSYS stress analysis), the internal rib structure was iteratively optimized, achieving a 23% weight reduction (from 8.5kg to 6.5kg). Post-machining, prototypes underwent anodizing to simulate mass-production anti-corrosion performance, passing 500-hour salt spray testing (GB/T 10125-2021) without failure.

With Brightstar’s rapid prototyping, the project was delivered in 4 weeks (33% ahead of the client’s 6-week target and 66% faster than traditional tooling methods). Prototype unit cost was $1,200 compared to $50k for tooling, achieving an 88% upfront cost reduction while eliminating mold modification risks.

According to the customer's actual test data, the enclosure weight reduction (2kg) contributed to a 15kg total battery system lightweighting, improving vehicle range by 1.2%.Combined with battery energy density optimization and thermal management upgrades, total range increased by 8%.

Rapid prototyping enables efficient, cost-effective transformation of automotive innovation into reality, compressing development cycles and de-risking mass production.