Vitesco Technologies recently received several orders for its cutting-edge Battery Management Systems totaling more than 2 billion euros (BMS). The largest and most expensive component of an electric car is safeguarded by the BMS. The battery is protected from overheating by intelligent BMS solutions made up of control devices, sensors, and application software. They also guarantee a balanced charging condition.
“With our modular software and hardware for battery management we can offer our customers tailor made solutions. In addition, innovations such as wireless communication with the battery modules enable advanced battery design, leading to reduced system costs for our customers.” Thomas Stierle, Member of the Executive Board and head of the Electrification Technology and the Electronic Controls business units of Vitesco Technologies Battery management: a “hidden champion” in the electric car. The core functions of BMS are divided between two types of control units in the Vitesco Technologies portfolio. The first is the battery management controller permanently monitoring the state of cells and modules. It can trigger a corrective action within the battery when an undesirable operating condition is detected in order to deliver the maximum range and achieve its maximum service life. This is accomplished through the use of a high voltage sensor to monitor and control the high current flows toward the battery. In the case of a crash, the BMS also triggers the electrical isolation of the battery from the rest of the car. Cell supervising circuits are a second type of controller monitoring and balancing the charging levels of individual battery cells (something which can always occur in Li-Ion cells due to manufacturing tolerances). “For this purpose, Vitesco Technologies is currently developing a new procedure for actively balancing cells (hence: active cell balancing), which can bring another efficiency gain in the order of several percent,” according to Rodrigo Peres, Head of Product Line Battery at Vitesco Technologies. “The number of BMS orders that we received over the past weeks and months reflects the relevance of our solutions. We have signed contracts with global high-volume manufacturers, with premium car makers and with start-up companies – in all relevant markets.” Thomas Stierle, Member of the Executive Board and head of the Electrification Technology and the Electronic Controls business units of Vitesco Technologies As a generic development, Vitesco Technologies’ modular BMS portfolio is already prepared to facilitate an integration of its functional parts into other control units. Through this, Vitesco Technologies anticipates a trend in the electric and electronic vehicle architecture: reducing the number of devices by using fewer control units with much higher computing power and with complex software systems.
