Positive impacts of active balancing on battery life:

• Preventing overcharge and over-discharge of individual cells: By monitoring the voltage and state of charge (SOC) of each cell in real time and actively transferring excess energy from overcharged cells to undercharged cells or loads, active balancing ensures that all cells operate within a reasonable voltage range, avoiding overcharge or over-discharge. This prevents accelerated battery degradation caused by excessive charge or discharge, thereby extending battery life.
• Enhancing battery pack consistency: Active balancing ensures uniform voltage and SOC across all cells, improving the consistency of the battery pack. A more uniform battery pack performs more stably and efficiently during charging and discharging, reducing internal stress and uneven current distribution. This minimizes side reactions within the cells, slowing down capacity degradation and extending battery life. Studies have shown that effective active balancing can increase battery pack lifespan by 30%-40%.
• Optimizing energy utilization of the battery: Active balancing fully leverages the energy of each cell, maximizing the overall capacity of the battery pack. This avoids energy waste caused by cell imbalance and prevents underutilization of battery capacity. As a result, the battery pack operates more effectively, reducing the frequency of charge/discharge cycles under the same energy demand. Since battery capacity degradation is closely related to the number of charge/discharge cycles, this helps prolong battery life.
• Delaying the onset of thermal runaway: Active balancing helps maintain a consistent temperature distribution within the battery pack by equalizing cell voltages and currents, preventing localized overheating. This reduces the likelihood of thermal runaway, enhances battery safety, and extends battery life.

Potential negative impacts of active balancing on battery life:

• Increased system complexity and potential failure points: The circuitry and control strategy of active balancing are relatively complex, requiring additional components such as converters, transformers, and inductors. These components may introduce new failure points, potentially affecting the reliability of the BMS and the battery pack. If the BMS fails, it could disrupt the battery's normal operation and even shorten its lifespan.
• Energy loss during energy transfer: Although active balancing transfers energy between cells to achieve balancing, the energy transfer process may incur some losses (e.g., conversion losses in electronic components). These losses can lead to slight energy waste and may generate heat, which could affect battery performance and lifespan if not properly managed.
• Higher cost and technical requirements: The implementation of active balancing requires more expensive hardware components and sophisticated control algorithms, increasing the cost of the BMS. Additionally, it places higher demands on the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of the BMS. If the technology is not properly applied or the system is poorly designed, it may fail to achieve the expected balancing effects and could even negatively impact battery life.