Battery management systems (BMS), sometimes called battery monitoring systems, play a critical role in monitoring and controlling the performance of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles (EV).
Within BMS systems are packs and cells. Total cost for most finished goods inventory of lithium ion battery packs is driven by cell cost and pack cost with the vast majority (~75%) of battery cell cost coming from materials.
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Development of mobile power battery packs need more ruggedized, structural integrity which also drives up costs. Additionally, advance manufacturing technologies are not typically required for battery packs (v cells). Battery packs also use relatively non-complex materials whereas costly materials contribute to higher cell manufacturing costs.
Basic components of lithium-ion batteries
| Battery | A battery is a device consisting of electrochemical cells which supply power to an electrical device. |
| Battery pack | A set of batteries or individual battery cells that have been configured to deliver a specific voltage, capacity, or power density. |
| Battery cells | A cell refers to energy producing units within a battery, that can be connected to create larger, higher energy storage capacity batteries. |
| Lithium-ion | Compound, metallic material commonly used in batteries. |
| Cathode | The electrode or terminal by which current leaves an electrolytic cell, voltaic cell, battery … |
| Electrodes | A conductor through which a current enters or leaves a nonmetallic medium, as an electrolytic cell, arc generator, vacuum tube, or gaseous discharge tube. |
| Anode | The electrode or terminal by which the current enters an electrolytic cell, voltaic cell, battery … |
| Separator | Permeable membrane between a battery anode and cathode with primary function to keep battery electrodes apart to prevent electrical short circuits while allowing ion transport between the cathode and the anode, simultaneously, which is required to enable closing the battery’s circuit, thus allowing for current. |
| Electrolyte | Provides the ion transport medium between the cell cathode and anode. |
Various lithium-ion battery supply chain component suppliers
The global, lithium-ion battery market has many different vendors and suppliers producing components for creating batteries and BMS systems.
Trends in battery management systems
Electrified transportation adoption and the lithium-based battery industry remain focused on cost reduction and improvements in power density. Improvements in both chemistry and manufacturing optimization are directly related to growth.
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Battery OEMs are trying to lengthen battery cycle life to 15-20 years, up from the typical 10 years the battery industry is seeing today. Meanwhile, new battery technologies need to evolve that increase the amount of energy batteries can store, plus the speed with which batteries can discharge it.
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Essentially, increasing mass-production and adoption of EVs is directly related to bringing scale to batteries and BMS that will improve the cost profile of the energy storage industry.
Some general trends in the battery industry include:
- Battery product scale and volume production factories will continue as automakers like Tesla, Volkswagen, and others refine their electrification plans and cost reductions.
- Large battery production factories will further drive larger battery packs that can be made more efficiently, spreading fixed costs across a greater level of capacity.
- Integration with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and energy storage systems as BMS solutions are designed to support bidirectional energy flow, enabling electric vehicles and energy storage systems to participate in V2G services and grid stabilization.
- Improving energy density as new technologies advance lithium ion battery energy improvements into existing active materials, largely in the cathode to increase density further.
Cost composition of lithium-ion batteries
Developing and commercializing battery management systems
Manufacturing cost reductions and more affordable electric vehicles will continue to drive costs down for BMS systems, sub-systems and components, including sensors, control units, and software as lithium-ion battery functions in EV mobility market verticals execute on a broad array of industry-specific features, functions and related activities. Some of these are covered below.
For example, state of charge (SoC) is the measure of a battery’s current capacity relative to its maximum capacity.
SoC management can monitor and output display the battery’s remaining capacity much like the fuel gauge in an internal combustion engine vehicle.
Similar to SoC is battery state of health (SoH) which is an indicator of a battery’s overall health and its impact on the battery’s longevity or lifecycle.
Additionally, battery cell balancing is also an important aspect of a thoughtful battery management system enabling balancing in equalizing the charge/discharge levels of individual battery cells to optimize performance and longevity.
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Incorporating balancing technologies into battery management systems design and development cannot be overlooked.
Current monitoring, voltage protection, over/undervoltage and other safeguards must also be considered, as well as thermal management and protection to prevent overheating which can lead to battery damage and other problems.
How BMS systems interact with other vehicle systems is another important consideration. Controller area network (CAN) communications provide for fully-networked and mobile systems where real-time fault protection and diagnosis can also exist to allow battery troubleshooting.
Today’s automotive electronics control units (ECU)
As an example of a mobility network, today’s automotive electronics control units (ECU) need to support new technologies and capabilities in communications, infotainment, and increased safety features, including battery management systems, to drive electrification of automobiles.
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While the features and functions above are just a few of the many considerations for effective battery management systems design and development, others that EV charging station and technology manufacturers will incorporate into their BMS product include protocols implemented for battery safety and operations to prevent thermal runaway, design for manufacturing (DfM) for regulatory compliance to meet BMS industry standards, and energy management protocols for electric vehicle range optimization.
Annual battery demand by sector
Sourcing contract electronics services for EV mobility and BMS equipment
Understanding nuances in contract manufacturing and various market verticals is important to good decision-making when outsourcing product design and manufacturing supply chain services. Venture Outsource is seeing remarkable growth in all energy grid segments, particularly EV charging and utility smart meters.
In addition to battery management systems trends mentioned already, other E-mobility and transportation trends include increasingly placing more electronics components, systems and sub-systems into all modes transportation, more options for sensors, and related data gathering, and, ultimately, new revenue opportunities for batter and power system OEMs, combined with new ways of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) with AI-driven BMS and other advanced monitoring techniques into the automotive electronics industry.
Whether its identifying providers of contract electronics services, sourcing best practices (vs practices common in industry), or cost modeling for outsourcing program margin protection read more about Venture Outsource consulting services and view some client project results.
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