Marelli,
a leading global automotive supplier, has expanded its range of battery
management technologies for electric vehicles with a new state-of-the-art
Wireless Distributed Battery Management System (wBMS).
This
technology eliminates the wired physical connections typically needed in other
Battery Management System (BMS) architectures, allowing for greater
flexibility, increased efficiency, improved reliability and reduced costs, all
crucial aspects in electric vehicles. Marelli is making available the solution
starting from the second quarter of 2022, to support customer launches in 2024.
The
solution eliminates the need of daisy-chain communication and wiring by using
wireless technology to enable the communication between batteries and control
unit. Compared to previous wired distributed solutions, the new wBMS developed
by the company reduces the wiring harness by 90% and simplifies the battery
cell construction and installation. In particular, the wBMS reduces complexity
in the assembly and grants more flexibility for battery modules placement.
The
reduced weight due to connectors removal allows for more energy efficiency,
thus increasing the driving range of the vehicle with the same charge. The
solution also opens up room in the battery pack to allow larger batteries to
fit, guaranteeing versatility, scalability, optimization; ultimately, under the
right circumstances, larger batteries also translate to enhanced power
performance and again extended vehicle range.
“Wireless
BMS is a real game-changer for the automotive industry, eliminating the need
for the battery harness, wires and connectors associated with the standard
wired BMS systems” – said Dr. Razvan Panati, Head of Power Electronics
Technology of Marelli’s Vehicle Electrification Division – “Marelli designed
both the wBMS and the Wired BMS with identical base architectures, supported by
two different ways of communication and interfaces. In that way our technology
can be applied across multiple vehicle platforms with minimal change. This
flexibility of the solution guarantees significant reduction in engineering
costs and allows Marelli to make this high-end technology affordable for the
mass market.”
The
Marelli wBMS can be delivered with a highly sophisticated software application
layer that uses advanced algorithms based on a proprietary technique so-called
“Sensor Fusion”. The algorithms estimate several crucial parameters of each
battery cell – including State of Charge, State of Health, State of Power – to
ensure a more accurate calculation of the battery overall status, and informs
the other components of the powertrain accordingly.
Developing
an advanced Battery Management System is a fundamental task for the Electric
Vehicles design, since it is a core and smart component in the complex
architecture of the EV energy management. The BMS represents the “brain” of the
battery, manages the stored power and the capacity of the battery to deliver
energy to the rest of the vehicle, checks and delivers information of the
battery operating conditions and status, ultimately monitors, optimise and
protects the battery.
In
addition to this new wireless solution, Marelli already has a consolidated
experience in the development of integrated and distributed BMS architectures
over the years. These solutions are part of Marelli’s complete portfolio of
modular technologies for vehicle energy management, that include a full selection
of single components, as well as subsystems, up to solutions for the complete
integrated vehicle energy management system. Complemented by proven
e-powertrain and thermal design competencies, the battery management
capabilities contribute to Marelli’s integrated approach, aimed to assure
flexible and customizable solutions to control, manage and optimise the energy
balance in electric vehicles.