London, UK – To help electric-vehicles batteries last longer, Bosch is developing new cloud services that supplement the individual vehicles’ battery-management systems.
Smart software functions in the cloud continually analyse the battery status and take appropriate action to prevent or slow down cell aging. These measures can reduce the wear and tear on the battery, the most expensive component of an electric vehicle, by as much as 20 percent.
With these services, Bosch is not only offering a window into the battery’s current status at all times, but enabling a reliable forecast of a battery’s remaining service life and performance to be made for the first time. Previously, it was not possible to make any accurate forecast of how quickly an electric-vehicle battery would wear out.
Dr. Steffen Hoffmann, president of Bosch UK and Ireland, says “Bosch is developing new cloud-based intelligence services to help vehicle batteries last longer. By connecting electric-vehicle batteries with cloud data we can, for the first time, predict a battery’s remaining service life and significantly extend its performance by actively protecting it against ageing.”
New UK car registrations for battery electric cars rose by 61.7% to 2,461 in June compared with the same month last year, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Real-time data gathered from the vehicle and its surroundings plays a key role here. The cloud services utilize this data to optimize every single recharging process and to provide drivers with tailored driving tips on how to conserve battery power via the dash display.
Precise real-time analysis
According to experts, the average service life of today’s lithium-ion batteries is 8-10 years or between 500 and 1,000 charge cycles. Battery makers usually guarantee mileage of between 100,000 and 160,000 kilometers. But rapid battery charging, high numbers of charge cycles, an overly sporty driving style, and extremely high or low ambient temperatures are all sources of stress for batteries, which makes them age faster. Bosch’s cloud-based services are designed to recognize – and counter – these stress triggers.
“Extending the service lives of powerful batteries bring us one step closer to accelerating e-mobility in the UK.” said Hoffmann.
Another feature of the smart software functions is their use of the swarm principle: the algorithms used for analysis evaluate data gathered from an entire fleet, not just from individual vehicles. Swarm intelligence is the key to identifying more of the stress factors for vehicle batteries, and to identifying them more quickly.
Protecting cells against aging
Stress makes cells age faster. The older the batteries get, the lower their performance and capacity, and the shorter the range of the vehicle.
Data in the cloud will also help improve battery maintenance and repair. As soon as a battery fault or defect is identified, for example, the driver or fleet operator can be notified. This increases the chances that a battery can be repaired before it becomes irrevocably damaged or stops working altogether.
Finally, the cloud services also optimize the recharging process itself. The recharging process – which, by the way, is one of the biggest obstacles to creating a mass market for electromobility – harbors the danger that the battery cells permanently lose some of their performance and capacity. Smart software in the cloud can calculate an individual charge curve for each recharging process, regardless of whether it takes place at home or elsewhere. This means the battery is recharged to the optimum level, helping conserve the cells.
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