Background of VDA 355

VDA 355 became the standard the honest way: the European automotive industry needed battery modules it could build tooling, trays and assembly lines around, agreed on one envelope of roughly 355 x 151 x 108 mm, and then built vehicles on it. That history is the reason the format is worth choosing today.

Automotive pedigree

The Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) is the German automotive industry association, and the body through which much of the technical groundwork for European vehicle production is agreed. A module format shaped in that process arrives with volume behind it: mature tooling, experienced suppliers and a cell supply chain already geared to it.

What the format gives you, fixed

• The envelope — roughly 355 x 151 x 108 mm. The 355 mm length is the defining dimension and the source of the name.
• The mounting interface — bolt pattern and reference surfaces, so the module sits in the tray the way the tray expects.
• Terminal and busbar positions — modules connect to each other without a custom interconnect for every build.
• A defined cooling face — heat leaves the module where the cooling plate is, every time.

And a catalogue behind it

Within that envelope the format carries a wide span of configurations, from 1P4S up to 1P12S, in LFP or NMC. The same mechanical design covers a module built for cycle life and one built for energy density, so the pack around it never has to change. The larger MEB 590 format, roughly 590 x 225 x 108 mm, extends the same idea for packs that want more energy per unit.

Avantis Energy supplies both formats, along with the prismatic LFP and NMC cells that go into them. See the module range.