In the automobile world, there is a relentless struggle to increase the range of all-electric vehicles. Today, we brought the news about the heated seat belt that will contribute to the range of our agenda. This time we will talk about a more advanced solution.
Texas Instruments introduced two new generation tracking chips for battery packs and cells. These chips, which the BMS will utilize (Battery Management System), which is responsible for the management of electric vehicle batteries, manage to reduce the voltage accuracy level from 3.5 mV in the previous generation to 1 mV.
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There are thousands of cells in a car battery pack. It is of great importance that charge/discharge cycles are carried out by determining values such as voltage, current, temperature, charge level, and cell health level of each cell. Manufacturers designing increasingly advanced BMS solutions can provide significant efficiency. It enables increasing vehicle range if they can determine the state of the battery with the highest accuracy.
In this regard, USA-based Texas Instruments, one of the largest semiconductor chip suppliers in the industry, can reduce voltage accuracy up to 0.05% with its newly developed battery pack and battery cell monitoring chips. Thus, the battery’s cell state of charge will be identified 3.5 times more precisely than it is now.
Greater Range Advantage for LFP Batteries
Products with high sensitivity to voltage will provide a serious advantage, especially in batteries equipped with LFP cathode cells. Because LFP batteries’ voltage level is almost constant during the discharge cycle of 70% to 30% due to their chemical structure. For example, LFP batteries are the cell type that puts the BMS’s hardest in determining the charge level.
Texas Instruments will enable high-accuracy monitoring of LFP batteries with its new chip. These chips work 3.5 times more accurately in voltage monitoring. The company’s new chips will be able to increase the range by up to 20 % with the existing battery. A highly accurate battery management system will also help to make more accurate range estimations of electric cars.
It is certain that we will see much longer-range values in the coming years in electric cars.
