Electric vehicle battery management

Nuvation Engineering has developed a custom battery management system, fuel gauge and driver interface for electric vehicles. The system is currently featured on the OptaMotive ‘E Rex’.

Through a close partnership with Maxim, Nuvation engineers designed the management system around the MAX11068 to provide voltage monitoring, temperature monitoring and balancing for the hig-capacity and high-density battery pack in the E Rex.

Fuel gauging was implemented through engineering methodology, using the ModelGauge, which combines voltage measurement with coulomb counting to achieve continuous automatic calibration.

Featuring a battery pack that uses 106 lithium iron phosphate cells, the E Rex’s 35 kilowatt-hour pack has a driving range of 320 km and a recharge time of four hours at 220 V/40 A. The E Rex is capable of a top speed of well over 160 km/h.

The management system monitors each cell’s voltage and temperature to ensure safety, balanced cells for long range and long battery life, and to optimise vehicle performance.

It is claimed the three-wheeled electric car has six times the efficiency of a Prius, yet more torque than a Porsche 911 Turbo.