UK engineering company WAE Technologies launched its first battery management and information system. It said it increases battery performance and addresses the lack of clarity around battery health.
The “battery intelligence software” system, called Elysia, has combined embedded and cloud-based products which provide customers with battery performance insight and the ability to manage, optimise and enhance performance.
The system is aimed at these battery sectors:
- Automotive
- Commercial vehicles like mining trucks
- e-mobility
- Stationary energy storage.
The Oxford-based company told a media briefing on Tuesday that the system can offer significant improvements in the range, life, safety, power and rapid charging times of any electric vehicle (EV) battery.
Timothy Engstrom, Technical Lead on Elysia, said: “The Lithium-ion battery has come a long way. Now, it’s time for the battery management system to do the same.”
The system has two aspects:
- Elysia Embedded
- Elysia Cloud Platform.
The software in Elysia Embedded is added to vehicle or energy storage system batteries. Its battery management algorithms, which run locally on the battery management system, are designed to help OEMs increase vehicle range, enable faster charging, and maximise battery power.
The algorithms have been designed to run on standard low-cost chips typically found in mass-market battery management systems. In applications to date, this has shown the ability to bring up to a 30% increase in battery life and 10% potential increase in battery range, according to WAE. They also enable dramatically reduced fast charge times and higher peak power output when compared to traditional battery management algorithms.
By optimising battery performance, OEMs can reduce battery over-sizing and over-engineering. End users over-engineer batteries to cover unknowns, the presenters said, adding that better insight to actual performance can reduce the need for that. In the process, costs and size will come down, they said.
The Elysia Cloud Platform software gathers data so users such as fleet managers and finance companies can use it to forecast and extend battery life, ensure safety, and protect warranty and residual values.
The system is based on artificial intelligence and data science, plus electrochemical modelling. It produces accurate verification of things like cell degradation and fault-finding, they said.
“This is what we see the future of battery management systems looking like,” said Engstrom, pointing out performance will draw on the company’s experience and understanding of battery performance, lifetime and safety.
Joe Jones, Commercial Lead on Elysia, said the system can regulate and optimise fast charging to avoid lithium plating.
He said although the WAE system accesses battery data and stores it in data lakes, each battery’s infrastructure is completely separate. It cannot share one OEM’s data with another OEM, he said.
Costs are a closely guarded secret, though Jones said the company charges a small fee per battery fitted with the software, and a monthly fee for the cloud software.
WAE Technologies has long been involved in the design, development and manufacture of advanced EV batteries. It has been sole supplier to major electrified motor sport series, including Formula E, Extreme E, ETCR and LMDh.
CEO Craig Wilson said the company is now transferring new technology from motor sport to other sectors.
Photo: Timothy Engstrom, Technical Lead on Elysia: “The Lithium-ion battery has come a long way. Now, it’s time for the battery management system to do the same.”
