Monitor and Manage Battery Health in EVs

We’ll say it again: the battery is the lifeblood of your EV. If you treat it right, it'll return the favor in spades. It’ll have your EV performing like a dream and lasting longer than you thought possible. But without it, you’re not going anywhere. If you want to make the most of your car, you need to take care of your battery. And in this article, we’re going to teach you how to do exactly that. Let’s dive in.

Understanding Battery Health: Electric Battery Motor

Understand this–your battery’s health determines everything. It can either serve you loyally, or serve you some nasty surprises down the road. Keep an eye on its condition. Invest in a decent battery monitoring system and keep an eye on several factors; including, charging habits, temperature fluctuations, and usage patterns. Monitoring these factors and taking proactive measures can help preserve the battery’s capacity and performance.

Strategies to Monitor Your Battery

1. Regular Battery Monitoring: Like we said earlier, invest in a reliable battery monitoring system. These systems track vital parameters like state of charge (SoC), state of health (SoH), and temperature. Monitoring these metrics helps you identify any irregularities or potential issues before they become major roadblocks.

2. Regular Diagnostic Checks: These aren’t just for the gearheads. Regular diagnostic checks are for anybody who doesn’t want to end up stranded on the side of the road, EV or ICE driver. Make these checks a habit. Look for signs of trouble—capacity drops, weird charging behaviors. Catch them early, and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

3. Use OEM-Approved Battery Car Accessories: For heaven’s sake, only use original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-approved equipment for charging and maintenance. These are the only accessories that should touch your car. Non-approved chargers and equipment may be cheaper, but will cost you in the long run–either in performance or safety.

4. Temperature Management: Heat kills components. Your battery in particular hates extreme temperatures and can be significantly damaged if not cooled properly. Make sure your EV (conversion project or factory model) is equipped with a top-notch cooling system. The last thing you want is to cook your battery because you didn’t do your diligence.

5. Charging Habits: Keep your battery charge sitting in the sweet spot: between 20% and 80%. Avoid charging to 100% all the time or letting it hit zero too often. This approach will reduce stress on your battery and prolong its lifespan.

Two Ways to Manage Battery Health

1. Monitor Battery Balance: In EV conversions especially, ensuring that the battery cells remain balanced is crucial. Imbalance means some cells will degrade faster, and that means a shorter all-round battery life. The reason for this is that the weakest cell will reduce the overall voltage of every other cell in the pack. Same goes for different battery modules. That's why all the used battery modules must come from the same original pack. Regularly check for balance and opt for installing a top-notch battery management system (BMS) that performs balancing functions.

2. Plan for Maintenance: Like any other vehicle component, your battery will require maintenance. Don’t skip it. Schedule checkups with a pro who knows how to perform in-depth diagnostics on your EV’s battery and recalibrate your BMS if need be.

At the end of the day, managing your EV battery is like managing your health. Neglect it, and it’ll cost you. But if you’re smart about it, if you do what needs to be done, your EV will serve you well, with fewer problems and a longer life. Monitor, manage, and maintain. Do that, and your EV will keep running strong, mile after mile. And if you’re using this article as a resource to get a grip on your own EV conversion project, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for a top-to-bottom professional analysis. That’s exactly what we’re here for.