Smart Battery Management: A Brief Intro For Those in Hybrid and Electrical Mechanic Training
Electric Vehicles (EVs) rely on batteries or battery packs as their only power source. These battery packs (typically lithium-ion) are efficient under the best circumstances. However, they do pose a fire and safety hazard in extreme circumstances.
The Smart Battery Management system eliminates this risk by ensuring the cells are running within their safe operating limits, thus protecting the user and the battery. It also tracks the state of health of the battery, gathers data about the cells, manages external elements that affect them, and balances them so that all cells maintain the same voltage level.
If you’re considering hybrid and electrical mechanic training and are wondering how this system works, here’s a brief guide.
What is Smart Battery Management?
As a hybrid and electric vehicle mechanic trainee, the first thing to know about the battery management system is that it is a battery management infrastructure designed to keep EV batteries operating safely and efficiently. Beyond this, smart battery management makes it possible for EV technicians to find new uses for retired EV batteries through energy management and optimized charging.
A Battery Management System (BMS) manages and monitors an EV battery’s power status, helping to keep the battery’s chemical core stable and preventing undercharging or overcharging. When introduced to a battery pack, the system monitors the voltage, temperature, and current of the battery cells in the pack. With this information, the BMS can manage its charging and provide feedback about the battery’s state.
What are the Functions of Smart Battery Management?
A BMS performs several other functions in an EV. It monitors and regulates the thermal management systems of EV batteries. This is an especially crucial function, as the temperature is one of the key elements that affect EV battery performance and safety. Active or passive cooling systems can use liquids, air, or phase changes as cooling media. A battery’s temperature can be regulated most easily with air as a coolant.
The BMS monitors battery performance by accurately reading battery cell parameters such as temperature and voltage. By reading battery cell parameters, the system can gauge other details like the cell’s state of power, the cell’s state of health, and, most importantly, the cell’s state of safety.
Finally, the maximum charge and discharge currents, among other factors, are used by a BMS to calculate various battery values and establish the maximum charge and discharge current limits for each cell.
How Hybrid and Electrical Mechanic Training Prepares You To Leverage This System
The popularity of EVs and hybrids continues to grow, signaling the world’s determined march towards smarter, more sustainable, and less expensive mobility. Hybrid and electrical mechanic training prepares you to thrive in this changing ecosystem. This type of training familiarizes you with the correct application of this and other systems that may be innovated as EV technology advances. Beyond this, since EV technology still poses certain risks to users and technicians, this training’s emphasis on recognizing the importance of safety can help you understand and successfully navigate these risks in your future career.
Interested in undergoing automotive training?
Contact ATC Montreal to learn more about our programs.
