MAN Truck & Bus
16 Apr 2025
MAN batteries undergo extensive testing to prove their ability to withstand the tough everyday life of a commercial vehicle – including fires and collisions with bollards.
A fire is burning. Blazing flames are rising upwards and the black smoke above the fire can be seen from miles around. Right in the middle of it all: the battery of a MAN eTruck. Can it withstand the flames? Or will it too begin to burn? Thankfully, this dramatic situation is not taking place in real road traffic, but on a test site, where a team of MAN engineers are performing a “Fuel Fire Test”. The scenario: a MAN eTruck has collided with another vehicle, some leaking fuel caught fire and now the battery is right in the middle of the flames.
On fire: In the ‘Fuel Fire Test’, the battery is placed on a kind of grill and has to withstand temperatures of 800 degrees.
Survived: Neither the direct flames nor the heat of the fire could set the battery on fire.
“Even under such extreme conditions, the battery should not pose any risk,” explained Christian Pastötter, Battery Validation Team Leader at MAN. “The design must ensure that the battery itself does not begin to burn.” To check this, the team places the battery on a kind of grill and lights a fire beneath it. After one and a half minutes, at temperatures of 800 degrees Celsius, the battery is moved a little to the side and, due to the proximity to the flames, remains exposed to significant heat. In the end, it passes the test: neither the direct flames nor the heat of the fire were able to set it alight.
The Fuel Fire Test is one of a whole range of stress tests in which MAN batteries must prove that they are able to withstand the tough conditions of daily commercial vehicle use. Between 2023 and 2024, MAN put countless prototypes and series models of its batteries through their paces – partly because the tests were relevant for approval, and partly to ensure maximum safety and quality. “Our tests are precisely planned and follow a detailed storybook,” said Pastötter. “All parameters are accurately defined.”
Take the submersion test, for example: during this test, the battery is submerged in a basin full of water for 30 minutes – for an exactly specified submersion time and at a specific ambient and water temperature. “This is intended to show whether the housing is completely watertight even under extreme conditions,” explained Pastötter. “To check this, we prepare the inside with indicator paper that changes colour from white to red on contact with water.” The battery passed this test too, there wasn’t a single red mark on the indicator paper. The same result is achieved in the steam jet test, which replicates the jet washing of a truck.
The bollard test simulates an impact on the battery housing from below, as could occur when driving over a bollard at a speed of 35 kilometres per hour. “Here, the underbody protection must demonstrate that the battery remains intact – i.e., that despite external damage, for example, no electrical faults occur,” said Pastötter. The battery passed this test successfully too.
Impact from below: The ‘bollard crossing’ is a stress test for the underbody.
Hard impact: In the ‘Flying Part Test’, the battery has to prove that it can withstand even whirled-up metal parts.
Not to mention the “Flying Part Test”. In this test, a metal object is catapulted against the battery at 89 kilometres per hour, and the battery must remain in working order afterwards. In reality, a large piece of metal could be kicked up from a vehicle ahead, for example, and hurled against the MAN eTruck.
In addition to road traffic, the batteries also face some challenges through logistics. For example, they could fall from a forklift truck – a scenario tested in the “Drop Test”. From a height of one metre, the testers let the battery fall onto a concrete floor from a slight incline. It handled this situation brilliantly too. “All of the stress tests have shown that our batteries are very robust,” said Pastötter in summary. “Many customers are still a bit intimidated by the new technology. But nobody needs to worry: MAN batteries are safe.”
Deep drop: The battery hits the concrete floor from a height of one metre - a scenario that can occur at any time in logistics.
Text: Christian Buck
Photos: MAN
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