Predictive Maintenance: A New Way Ahead for Battery Management
Why predictive maintenance is the key to better battery protection and proficiency.
It can be tricky to identify when a battery failure might occur. But how about if I tell you that you can precisely know when your battery is about to give up or needs servicing with the help of predictive maintenance systems? Arjun Sinha Roy, co-founder of iRasus Technologies Pvt Ltd, shares this guide to learn how to track battery life prediction and implement predictive maintenance for battery protection and efficiency.
Have you ever wondered how embarrassing it would be if your vehicles were recalled due to poor battery management systems (BMS)? Besides severely denting your brand reputation and credibility, you must bear a significant financial loss. To avoid this, it is a wise idea to integrate a predictive maintenance solution into your electric-vehicle batteries.
Below, we will explore in-depth the role of predictive maintenance systems for battery management and how they can assist electric vehicles and manufacturers in their battery’s health and ensure safety.
Implications of Battery Management System Failure
The world has seen countless instances of poorly managed batteries in electric vehicles that have led to vehicle recalls and, in some cases, significant accidents.
For example, in 2022, there were multiple instances of Faulty Cells or Improper handling of Thermal Management by the battery management system, which resulted in fatalities.
A prominent European Auto Major has seen failure and severe backlash from customers complaining about vehicle battery failure. A customer criticized the automobile manufacturer for the inconvenience he had to bear due to premature battery depletion after a day or two of parking his car and keeping it in a non-functioning state. Situations like these could be mitigated if the vehicles were secured with a monitoring system to predict the battery life and overall health.
Importance of Predictive Maintenance Systems for Battery Management
Essentially, predictive maintenance includes tracking tools and data analytics to indicate the accurate time when equipment is likely to fail. This industry practice has prevailed since the 1990s. However, in recent years, the application has gained widespread attention due to developments in the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), and Cloud Computing.
The core idea of predictive maintenance is to evaluate the battery’s condition and precisely suggest the right time to conduct battery maintenance based on condition-monitoring data. It gathers different data point inputs from the battery management system (BMS) to construe accurate battery life prediction status. Interestingly, studies indicate that an efficiently functioning predictive maintenance system can offer savings of up to 30 to 40 percent compared to reactive maintenance and 8 to 10 percent over preventative maintenance.
By employing advanced predictive maintenance systems for battery management, you will know exactly when a battery unit is nearing its end of life and needs a replacement. This ensures the battery is used optimally without compromising output. There are several other reasons for switching to battery management systems. Let us find out what those are!
See More: Self-Driving Cars: Why the Driverless Revolution Is Still a Moonshot
Advantages of Integrating Predictive Maintenance Into Battery Protection
Here’s how preventive maintenance can be advantageous for battery protection:
- Reduces unplanned downtime in equipment maintenance: As battery constitutes a major part of electric vehicles, its inadequacy influences everything, from the vehicle’s security and performance to finances. This has posed a great challenge for EV manufacturers since considerable time is invested in fixing faulty batteries. One of the ways to eliminate this hurdle is by integrating predictive maintenance solutions into your vehicles. The early warning notifications issued months in advance give vehicle owners and battery manufacturers sufficient time to analyze and fix problems. This, in turn, lowers the downtime that may have arisen due to unforeseen battery repairs. Thanks to IoT-based battery health monitoring, downtime will never be the same.
- Improves battery life: What is better than knowing your battery progress and using it until the end of life? Here is where using intelligent battery management systems comes into play and helps you determine if and when your battery needs to be repaired or replaced. EV manufacturers already contribute to a significantly smaller carbon footprint in their battery production, and thus, introducing a robust battery management system will act as an added advantage. Besides, the EV telematics systems enable users to monitor real-time data on battery usage, improve operational efficiency, reduce compressed air consumption, and detect system glitches like wasteful leaks.
- Causes minimal loss in productive hours: It has been reported that predictive maintenance produces a tenfold return on investment. A Deloitte study indicated that predictive maintenance increases productivity by 25 percent. How? Unplanned maintenance of EV batteries can lead to considerable downtimes and hamper productivity. By regularly monitoring and assessing the health of batteries, issues of any sort can be fixed ahead of time, thereby minimizing productive hours lost to maintenance.
- Lowers miscellaneous costs for spare parts and maintenance procedures: The ultimate aim of a predictive maintenance system is to save money! Besides controlling breakdowns and improving productivity, predictive maintenance has been shown to boost battery uptime, thereby lowering average maintenance costs by 25 percent, states the Deloitte report. When potential battery glitches in EVs go unpredicted, they are most likely to add to the expenses of both car manufacturers and end users. By integrating an IoT-powered battery management system, users will get notified occasionally to repair or replace their batteries. This is a far less expense and risk than one due to battery failure, accident, or other sudden mishaps.
- Enhances customer satisfaction: Predictive maintenance is a win-win for all, whether a product manufacturer, service supplier, or end consumer. By using it as a strategic and safety tool, the former two, in particular, can gain a competitive edge over other players in the industry. Vehicle OEMs significantly benefit from their positive responsiveness and a trusted brand image that most strive to achieve! Thanks to its ability to capture real-time data through sensors, managing the lifecycle of batteries is now possible, eliminating the need to replace them when they are non-functional entirely. This saves customers’ time, protects them from a mishap, and improves their satisfaction.
Towards Better Battery Life
Imagine what a great experience it would be to predict when your battery is about to give up, fix it before it actually happens, and escape the need to deal with a surprise breakdown.
Of course, adopting predictive maintenance for battery protection and management comes with many other perks (battery longevity, reduced downtime, lower maintenance costs, and better productivity) and perils (high initial investment and personnel training). Still, the value it brings to the table is unrivaled and beats the reasons not to go for it!
Are you using predictive maintenance to improve battery proficiency? Tell us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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