Abstract
The use of laser irradiation for heating is characterized by localized heating and high power density heating, which make the method suitable for conducting thermal propagation tests for battery packs for electrified vehicles. This paper demonstrates a thermal propagation test for battery packs for PHEVs using laser irradiation. It describes one example of the practicality of using laser irradiation as an initiation method for thermal propagation tests for large battery packs for electrified vehicles. One of the advantages of laser irradiation, which is that thermal runaway occurs with minimal heating of adjacent cells, was confirmed to be maintained for the pack level test.