Rimac Technology and ECOBLOX are developing a modular data centre platform for AI and high performance computing that combines automotive battery modules and power electronics with power conversion, cooling, computing infrastructure and central management systems.
A completed unit is scheduled for installation at the Rimac Campus near Zagreb during November 2026, where the integrated system will operate under live load and provide a demonstration platform for customers and partners.
Rimac is contributing UNI battery modules, a battery management system and high voltage power electronics, while ECOBLOX is providing the modular data centre architecture, system integration, power conversion, uninterruptible power supply equipment, precision cooling and IT infrastructure. The resulting design brings energy storage, electrical conversion, cooling and computing into one engineered platform rather than treating them as separate packages introduced at different stages of construction.
Rimac’s battery technology originates in electric vehicle applications where high power density, thermal management, electrical protection and continuous monitoring are already central requirements. A stationary data centre operates with a different load profile, often maintaining high utilisation for much longer periods, so the battery and power systems have to be adapted around continuous infrastructure duty rather than vehicle acceleration and regenerative cycles.
The companies are developing the architecture as dense computing moves towards 400VDC and 800VDC electrical systems. Raising distribution voltage reduces the current required to transfer a given amount of power, which can lower resistive losses and reduce conductor size at high power levels. Insulation, protection, switching equipment and safe maintenance procedures have to be designed for the higher voltage at the same time.
UNI battery modules will provide stored energy within that electrical architecture, with Rimac’s battery management system monitoring module condition and feeding core telemetry into ECOBLOX’s Data Center Infrastructure Management platform. Battery status can therefore be viewed alongside alarms and operating information from cooling, power conversion and other facility systems.
Combining those data streams gives operators a clearer view of how electrical demand, stored energy and infrastructure condition interact during normal operation and supply disturbances. A reduction in available battery capacity can then be assessed alongside current computing load and cooling demand rather than being treated as an isolated equipment alarm.
The duration of battery support will vary with the power drawn by the computing equipment. AI clusters can place very high continuous loads on the electrical system, so a given quantity of stored energy will sustain dense GPU infrastructure for less time than a lower power conventional IT installation.
Battery storage is therefore used to maintain continuity through interruptions and transitions in supply while primary power comes from the grid, local generation or another continuous source. Once discharged, the storage system has to be replenished, making energy capacity, charging rate and expected computing demand part of the same electrical design.
Cooling has to scale with that power because most of the electricity consumed by processors and supporting electronics is ultimately released as heat. Higher rack density concentrates more thermal energy into a smaller area, increasing demand on fluid distribution, pumps, heat exchangers and external heat rejection systems.
ECOBLOX supports both air and liquid cooled configurations within its modular architecture. Lower density hardware can continue using air where operating conditions permit, while higher density GPU systems increasingly move heat through liquid closer to the processors before transferring it to the wider cooling plant.
Power conversion, cooling, IT equipment and controls are assembled within a prefabricated system before deployment, reducing the amount of integration required at the final site and allowing repeated modules to be produced against a common design. Each location still requires suitable foundations, communications, external power and heat rejection capacity, so factory integration reduces site work without removing the infrastructure required around the module.
Rimac’s UNI platform is already intended for applications across automotive, energy storage, marine, off highway, commercial and industrial markets, giving the data centre project a battery module designed for repeated manufacture. ECOBLOX applies the same production logic to racks, cooling, electrical equipment and controls, with the company targeting complete deployments within six to eight months where site conditions permit.
Repeated modules still have to accommodate differences in ambient temperature, grid characteristics and computing load between locations. Electrical and thermal margins become tighter as rack density increases, requiring enough variation within the common architecture to suit local conditions without turning every installation into a completely bespoke design.
The November installation at Rimac Campus will provide operating data across battery behaviour, power conversion, cooling and computing under the same load profile. Those measurements can be used to refine the integrated architecture before wider deployment, particularly where 400VDC or 800VDC distribution and liquid cooling are being combined with high density AI equipment.
