Estimation Procedure for the Degradation of a Lithium-Ion Battery Pack

This paper proposes a test procedure for evaluating the degradation of cells in a battery pack. The test can be performed using only the charger’s converters and the battery management system (BMS) without requiring sophisticated instrumentation. The method circumvents the difficulties related to the evaluation of derivative quantities for estimating the state of health (SOH) using integral quantities in the evaluation. The method introduces a 'degradation function' that is calculated with respect to the reference performance of pristine cells. The procedure was applied to the JuiceRoll Race Edition system, an innovative electric vehicle (EV) DC charger with internal storage, made in ENEL X and used during the MotoE championship races. Using this procedure, the degradation of performance in individual groups of cells composing the battery pack was quantified in comparison to the reference group. The procedure helps identify modules that have aged too early or show reliability issues. The method is mature for field operational applications.