THE MELODIES OF MATERIALS

5/27/2025 ⋅ By Rishi Pai ⋅ 5 min read

Blending Electric Vehicle Innovation with Materials Analysis

This spring, I had the opportunity to help launch a startup focused on solving a critical challenge in electric vehicle (EV) technology: battery overheating in tropical climates. Working alongside a team of driven peers, we set out to design an innovative, cost-effective cooling solution that could make EVs more practical in countries like India and Australia. What began as a brainstorming session quickly evolved into a deeply technical project that allowed me to combine my background in robotics and electrical systems with my growing passion for materials science. Leading the ideation phase, I helped envision a prototype that reflected both creative thinking and engineering precision. After thoroughly evaluating each other’s ideas, requirements, and capabilities, we landed on a business to make electric vehicles more accessible in tropical countries. 

We wanted to target countries such as India and Australia because these were locations where the population’s EV count is low due to the vulnerability of EV batteries to overheat due to their year-round high temperatures. Thus, we aimed to prototype an autonomous device that would hold an efficient and reusable, cost-effective EV battery wrap that would deploy when battery temperatures exceeded regular levels. Working directly with my robotics team’s electrical subteam allowed me to easily see this problem in the current market due to my experience working with electrical systems and large batteries. 

I was fortunate to be working on an idea that blends my knack for engineering with my interest in materials science, as formulating the prototype of both the device and the wrap required intense research and networking in order to find the correct materials that could give us the best possible outcome. Namely, we needed these materials to create a device that followed the “Four C’s” of our corporation, which were convenience, cost, customizability, and most importantly, capability.

Being limited in our knowledge on effective materials, we began by contacting professionals in the field. We spoke to several EV companies, such as Rivian, Lucid, and BYD, as well as professional mechanical engineers and environmental scientists. Each one of them provided us with valuable insight we may not have found otherwise, and during our research phase we had a long list of possible materials to use in the wrap, along with pros and cons for each. Then, as a team, we were able to calculate costs to find the three materials that would best suit our three-layered wrap and that would best suit our company overall.

Eventually, the three materials we settled on were graphite sheets, PCM (Phase Change Materials), and silicon-based wraps. These three materials played key roles in the practice of EV battery cooling. For example, the silicon wraps allowed for flexibility of our device as well as effective heat ventilation. PCM materials allowed us to absorb heat and release heat through phase changes from liquid to solid. Finally, graphite sheets allowed for proper dissipation of heat throughout the battery to prevent heat concentration in certain areas. Finally, for structure and rigidity of our reusable autonomous device, we landed on using a polybenzimidazole frame with steel components.

This in depth analysis, research, and networking with professionals allowed us to develop a patent-pending prototype that was recognized by peers and judges at a pitching competition we participated in. While our work is currently at a break now, I am proud of what my group and I achieved over this spring, especially the fact that we were able to create a project that culminated my core interests of robotics, engineering, and materials science. 

This post was just a brief on the entire process, and I hope to put out a full length podcast series on our process throughout this whole project. I’m excited to soon share more about the obstacles and achievements we faced throughout the spring, so until dhin . . . stay upbeat and stay tuned.a

The 2025 FIRST World Championships