New Battery Architecture Could Extend EV Battery Life and Lower Ownership Costs

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a model for batteries featuring a novel architecture that could potentially extend the lifespan of electric vehicle (EV) battery packs and lower overall ownership costs.

Conventional battery packs connect cells in a fixed configuration. Due to manufacturing variations and aging, individual cells can degrade at different rates, leading the weakest cell to limit the performance and longevity of the entire pack. The new architecture allows the battery system to bypass underperforming or faulty cells, continuing to utilize the remaining functional cells.

According to the modeling, this reconfigurable battery architecture could offer a lifespan extension of over 20 percent for certain high-voltage vehicles. The researchers emphasize this is a theoretical upper bound, and practical benefits will depend on implementation complexity and cell management. The study also suggests such a system could defer the need for a battery replacement by approximately 14 months under average usage scenarios.

The advantages of this architecture are particularly pronounced in high-voltage vehicles, such as long-range EVs and trucks, which have a greater number of cells connected in series. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. While reconfigurable battery technology has been explored for years and prototypes exist, there are currently no commercial applications on the market.