Wired vs. Wireless Communications in EV Battery Management

With electric vehicles (EVs) in high-demand, manufacturers are looking for ways to improve their performance in safe and cost-effective ways.

One particular area of interest is improving battery management systems, which work in real time to monitor the performance of individual battery cells within the EV. By effectively monitoring each battery cell, an EV’s microcontroller (MCU) can ensure the proper operation of all battery cells and balance load sharing. This white paper examines the differences between wired and wireless BMS solutions to help you choose the best option for your EV design.

Taylor Vogt,

Applications Engineer,

Battery Management Systems,

Texas Instruments

At a glance

This white paper examines design considerations for wired and wireless battery management systems in electric vehicles (EVs).

Distributed battery management systems in EVs1 Distributed battery management systems in EVs	Distributed battery management systems in EVs High-voltage EV battery packs require complex communication systems to relay cell voltages, temperature and other diagnostics.
TI’s wired vs. wireless BMS protocol2 TI’s wired vs. wireless BMS protocol	Evaluating wired vs. wireless solutions High-accuracy battery monitors can communicate via wired or wireless methods back to the host to deliver pertinent cell pack data. There are several design considerations and trade-offs for distributed battery systems.
Distributed battery management systems in EVs3 Distributed battery management systems in EVs	Working with TI battery monitors in wired or wireless environments TI’s proprietary battery management system (BMS) protocols provide a reliable, high-throughput and low-latency communication method for both wired and wireless BMS configurations.