LG Chem and General Motors Ultium battery to use wBMS

Ultium Cells, the joint venture between LG Chem and General Motors, is planning adopt wireless battery management system (wBMS).

Battery modules have BMS for cell management and wiring harness and bus bar to connect the control printed circuit board. Use of wBMS will lessen the need for wiring harness and bug bar that will lighten the weight of electric cars and put in more batteries to increase travel distance per charge.

Analog Device said on Thursday that it will supply its wBMS technology to Ultium Cells.

Ultium Cells is planning to begin battery production in 2022. The company will have five commercial production lines for supply to Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC electric SUV and pick-up trucks.

Analog’s wBMS will likely be installed starting in late 2021.

The US semiconductor company said its wBMS technology uses SmartMesh networking technology that secured it 99.999% reliability. Data transfer will be level that of wired BMS. This technology was initially used to monitor chemical production process within semiconductor factories. Semiconductor factories are built to be earthquake proof and are surround by thick concrete, which makes it difficult to install wires into them.

Analog said it was difficult to install wBMS due to cars using multiple metals and having electromagnetic interference shielding installed in them. But its new technology overcomes this and having wBMS may be better than using wireless hardness as cars vibrate a lot, the company said. Use of wBMS will lessen cost of electric cars and make wiring simpler.

The company said its wBMS can monitor battery charging condition as well as voltage, current and temperature data. These data are transferred in real time with delays of 1 microseconds. They also balance the state of charge of cells.

Analog will adopt the wBMS for used batteries as well to convert them for use in energy storage systems. This will allow customers to browse the battery’s history.