Start-up develops shift-based battery management system

The software and hardware solution can work on any battery type, according to CHEEVC of Aberdour, which will nevertheless initially focus on small lithium-ion batteries for e-bikes and scooters.

The rate at which a battery or cell can be charged or discharged is limited by the rate at which the active chemicals in the cells can be transformed. Forcing high currents through the battery results in incomplete transformation of the active chemicals, reducing the battery’s effective charge capacity. It also causes unwanted, irreversible chemical reactions to occur because the transformations cannot keep up with the current demands.

The unwanted chemical transformations consume some of the active chemicals, causing the battery to lose capacity and thus age prematurely.

The introduction of ‘rest periods’ during charging and discharging allows more time for the chemical transformations to take place and for the reaction to stabilise.

‘It has been known for some time that you could rest the whole battery, but you get intermittent power,’ Barrie Lawson, chairman of CHEEVC, told The Engineer. ‘What nobody had thought of doing before was having access [to] individual cells in the battery — that’s what enabled us to do that [rest the battery] without losing any power.’