Bird BMS release...good news for the future safety of EUC's too?

[The Brahan Seer]

Here is an interesting announcement from US E-Scooter manufacturer 'Bird' about their new BMS. Hopefully EUC companies will take note...

https://www.bird.co/blog/bird-bms-safe-sustainable-scooter-batteries/

Edited January 25, 2022 by The Brahan Seer

[Tawpie]

"If the motor controller makes a mistake and violates these limits, dead front capability takes over and decouples the battery from the rest of the system."

On an EUC I'd call this a 'cutout'. Nicely descriptive term though.

While it's a marketing piece, at least they're saying something—even if there are no actual details other than the battery might not be totally ruined after it's fished out of the river/lake/ocean... an unfortunately common resting place for rental scooters.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Tawpie

[Boostnsvt]

Why is it people think that the BMS is a problem? A BMS isn't even needed if the pack is built properly, you just need to trickle charge or charge at a lower amperage and the longletivity of the cells should remain.

I do think a better bms should be included on a product that is ~$2k though. 

[The Brahan Seer]

 

What i specifically liked was

 'sensory inputs for battery temperature, voltage and current help us automatically regulate operating conditions to avoid pushing cells beyond their rated specification envelope. This is critical for safety and pack life. '

 

[The Brahan Seer]

1 hour ago, Boostnsvt said:

Why is it people think that the BMS is a problem? A BMS isn't even needed if the pack is built properly, you just need to trickle charge or charge at a lower amperage and the longletivity of the cells should remain..

Cells degrade over time and/or due to wear and tear, eg vibration/ impact/water damage so its useful to know when this occurs so we don't put our selves at risk.

[Freeforester]

Apologies for going off at a tangent, but relating to both delays in supply chain (cell production specifically) and anticipated cost increases:

 

[alcatraz]

That bms is good for two wheeled vehicles. It wouldn't work on an EUC.

I'd like to see this on EUCs.

 

 

It shows you if you have deteriorating cell groups and you can even see the internal impedance, which can tell you if you're likely to have balance issues in the near future. Also this BMS can balance up to 2A. The bms' supplied in out wheels can balance up to 50-100mA. 20-40 times slower. 

With a BMS like this you can easily identify if you've got damaged cells, keep riding them, and deal with it later in the winter. You can ride a bad pack longer because these balance currents will keep deteriorating cells in their sweet spot for much much longer than the factory bms' will.

What's the price of this? You won't believe me. It's merely 40usd. You could arrange so each wheel uses only one of these. You'd need every pack to use balance cables hooked up to this.

To avoid using external balance cables, the wheel manufacturers could try to mass produce these in a simpler form, for less than 40usd and thus they could afford to put one internally into every battery pack.