A Contributed Post: Battery Testing Equipment Is Increasingly Being Used in Motorcycle EV Development
The Motorcycle Battery Monitoring System
The desire for electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing rapidly. Demand for EV motorcycles is following the same pattern, meaning the industry needs to act fast. The industry recognises that this means the battery management system (BMS) needs to be more efficient. The BMS controls the performance of the bike’s battery. It manages energy recovered from kinetic energy as well as any regenerative braking.
Currently, cells are not retaining as much energy as manufacturers would like. As a result, energy conversion is essential if EV motorcycles will ever be practical or economically viable. A green power monitor will help manufacturers develop this as well as identify solutions. The BMS would provide much of the data.
Why the Urgency for Improved Battery Performance?
With increasing gasoline costs and social awareness of green issues, motorcycle manufacturers recognise that they must act to find suitable alternatives. In the past, precision battery tester equipment has not been a priority of manufacturers. As a result, battery performance fell behind other areas in an industry that is developing at a rapid rate. Battery automotive test equipment is now at the forefront of many motorcycle manufacturers’ minds.
The Role of Battery Testing Equipment
Battery tester equipment is now vital within the EV industry. One of the most significant issues with these types of vehicles is that their cells’ suffer from a rapid loss of storage capacity. A battery discharge tester will help establish the root cause of these losses. The information needs to be accurate to the smallest fraction. Battery Testing Equipment, therefore, needs to highly sophisticated and be able to recognise a series of variables. With the lifespan of batteries in the automobile industry being several years, artificial conditions need to be created.
Why is Creating Artificial Conditions Important?
Cells in the automotive industry are often required to retain at least 80% of their capacity for a decade. Conditions need to be replicated that will artificially create an environment that will cause comparable usage for the cell. Although the information collated will only be a sample, assuming that the data is accurate, experts with be able to predict battery performance over a period of 10 years. This is vital in a field as new as EVs, as few commercial examples are of this age.
If accurate predictions can be made at the R&D stage, the battery can be altered and improved accordingly, making them practical and a genuine alternative to more conventional motorbikes that run on gasoline.
Does Battery Tester Equipment Need to Be 100% Accurate?
No form of battery testing equipment is 100% accurate. However, there is a reliance on this information to be within one-thousandth of a unit which Arbin’s battery testing equipment is capable of. When it comes to measuring the coulombic efficiency of lithium-ion batteries, even the smallest of inaccuracies can hamper progress. Manufacturers in the motorcycle industry need to be confident that the information that they are gathering is accurate.
Confidence is Essential
When it comes to battery testing equipment, especially a battery discharge tester, belief in the equipment is vital if a company is looking to make even the smallest advances in order to gain a competitive edge over its rivals. Gaining this advantage will determine whether more EVs will been seen on roads in the near future.
The recording of parasitic reactions is crucial to improving the efficiency of these types of cells. Precision battery testing equipment will be able to establish this, recording the amount of heat generated and if noise is created during use and charging. Both of these elements can have a detrimental effect on the lifespan of the battery.
What Needs To Be Achieved?
The automotive industry requires cells to retain 80% of its capacity for around ten years. Cells also need to become more efficient to ensure that EVs are a genuine alternative to conventional motorcycles. This can only be achieved by accurate battery testing equipment, meaning that improvements need to be ongoing and that the data can be gathered and used at the R&D stage.
Realistically, this is genuinely possible in the future.
