Review on Battery Management System for Electric Vehicle Application

Among various energy sources for an electric vehicle, battery occupies its prominent place for its high energy density and high power density. Among various battery chemistries, a Li-ion battery has become the strong contender in electric vehicle industry. The battery cells are either connected in series or parallel for a battery pack to achieve higher voltage and current for electric vehicle application.The battery management system act as a brain of the battery operated electric vehicle. The modeling of the battery pack system is the necessary phenomena for any proposed battery management system. The series connected cells in the battery pack should maintain the same potential of individual cell at ideal, charging and discharging conditions. If the potential of the series connected cells are mismatched then the charging and discharging of the battery pack is affected. This invokes the problem of cell unbalancing due to both extrinsic and intrinsic parameters. The problem could be overcome by using cell to cell balancing, cell – module balancing with the board classification of active and passive balancing. By implementing the proper cell balancing methodology the equalization time of the battery pack is lowered and the aging of the battery pack is improved. The survey explains the battery parameters, role of battery management system and various methods of cell balancing for an electric vehicle application.