BattVolt - Battery control with dynamic reconfiguration and controllable voltage
Research Project, 2020 – 2023

The life of a battery pack in a vehicle is normally reached when the capacity of the worst cell has dropped to about 70-80% of its original capacity. However, variations between cells can be significant, which is why the majority of cells in the battery pack can still have a very large remaining capacity. As the project intends to develop a technology that relieves the worst cells and uses the better cells more, we can expect a significant increase in battery life.

The purpose of the project is to incorporate power electronics and implement optimal control strategies for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, optimized for use in larger electric vehicles such as trucks and buses. The electronics and control strategies must make it possible to dynamically configure the battery cells that the batteries are made up of in an optimal way, with the aim of achieving increased capacity and life of the battery at the same time as the battery has a controllable output voltage. Preliminary calculations indicate that the customer value of the new technology significantly exceeds the cost, which indicates that this new technology can both have a large commercial value and lead to a significantly more resource-efficient product from a life cycle perspective.

Participants

Torsten Wik (contact)

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Systems and control

Albert Skegro

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Systems and control

Changfu Zou

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Systems and control

Collaborations

Linköping University

Linköping, Sweden

SEM AB

Åmål, Sweden

Scania CV AB

Södertälje, Sweden

Funding

Chalmers

Funding Chalmers participation during 2020–2023

Mistra Innovation

Project ID: MI2319.03
Funding Chalmers participation during 2020–2023

Related Areas of Advance and Infrastructure

Sustainable development

Driving Forces

Transport

Areas of Advance

Energy

Areas of Advance

Publications

More information

Latest update

5/17/2021