Battery Management System (BMS) Industry Trend Analysis

Global Battery Management System Market Trends and Application Outlook 2023-2024

Battery Management System (BMS) Definition and Core Functions

Battery Management System (BMS) is an electronic system used to monitor and manage the performance of batteries, and its core objective is to ensure the safe operation of batteries, extend their service life and improve the efficiency of energy utilization.

Battery status monitoring

Real-time acquisition of battery parameters such as voltage, current, temperature, etc. to assess the state of health (SOC) and remaining life (SOH) of the battery.

Charge and Discharge Control

Accurately control the charging and discharging process according to the battery status and external demand to avoid overcharging or over-discharging and prolong the battery life.

Balanced management

Balance the voltage difference between battery cells in an active or passive manner to prevent overcharging or discharging of individual battery cells.

Thermal management​

Monitors the battery temperature and maintains the appropriate operating temperature through heat dissipation or heating measures to ensure stable battery performance.

Security protection​

Setting multiple protection mechanisms (such as over-current, over-voltage, short-circuit protection) to take timely measures to prevent battery damage under abnormal conditions.

Data logging and communication​

Record historical data of battery operation and exchange data with other systems through communication interface to realize remote monitoring and management.

Battery Management System Industry Trends 2023-2024

Deep Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

• Battery management systems (BMS) are realizing predictive maintenance and adaptive control through AI and machine learning technologies. For example, algorithms based on deep learning can more accurately predict the state of health (SOH) and remaining capacity (SOC) of the battery, and some automakers have launched BMSs with self-learning capabilities that can dynamically adjust management strategies based on driving habits and environmental conditions.
• AI can also optimize charging and discharging strategies to extend battery life by more than 20%. In the future, combined with big data analysis, the BMS will support intelligent diagnosis and decision-making for the entire battery life cycle.

Breakthrough Application of Wireless BMS Technology

• Wireless communication technologies (e.g. Zigbee, Bluetooth) are gradually replacing traditional wiring harnesses, reducing system complexity and enhancing flexibility. For example, the adoption of wireless BMS by Wuling Automobile has reduced the number of monitoring harnesses by 90%, and significantly lowered the failure rate through real-time wireless monitoring of the battery cell status.
• In addition, the wireless BMS supports remote monitoring and OTA upgrades, is suitable for distributed energy storage systems, and can be integrated with the cloud platform to achieve global optimization of battery data.

Multi-dimensional innovations in thermal management technology​

In response to the risk of thermal runaway in high energy density batteries, the thermal management technology of BMS has evolved towards active multi-dimensional heat dissipation. Typical cases include:

• Combination of phase change materials and liquid cooling: e.g., the liquid cooling plate + phase change material heat dissipation program developed by Ningde Times can control the battery temperature difference within ±2°C.
• Bionic structure design: Wuling's honeycomb 3D heat dissipation network enhances the coolant flow rate and supports temperature stabilization under continuous fast charging.
• Heat and Power Separation Technology: Converts charging waste heat into cabin heating energy to optimize winter range degradation.

Popularity of Modular and Distributed Architecture

• Modular topologies, such as NXP's MC33771 chip solution, are the fastest-growing BMS architectures due to their high computational power, safety and lack of complex wiring harnesses. Distributed architectures, on the other hand, improve response speed through localized control units, and are particularly suitable for large-scale energy storage systems and commercial vehicle battery packs.
• For example, Ningde Times uses a distributed BMS for millisecond fault isolation in its energy storage projects.

Cross-system integration and vehicle-to-grid interaction (V2G)

• BMS is being deeply integrated with vehicle powertrain and energy management systems to form a comprehensive energy management platform. For example, Tesla's BMS is linked with the vehicle controller (VCU) to pre-set the battery output power based on navigation data.
• Meanwhile, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology realizes two-way energy exchange on the grid through BMS, such as Azera's power exchange station that feeds redundant power back into the grid to improve grid stability.

The technical challenge

• Solid State Battery Adaptability: Existing BMSs have difficulty adapting to new solid state battery characteristics.
• Multi-chemistry compatibility: Different battery materials require differentiated management strategies.
• Network security: prevent BMS data tampering and malicious attacks