DFN

Most battery models fail not because the equations are wrong - but because the assumptions smuggled in with them are wrong. Fifteen years working with battery models across the stack: from ECM spreadsheets that needed to survive a BMS real-time loop, to full electrochemical models trying to capture what actually happens inside the cell during a fast charge. The gap between “runs on paper” and “works in a vehicle” is where most of the interesting problems live. ...

After spending years working in battery simulation across Mercedes-Benz, Caterpillar, Volvo Trucks and later A123 Systems, I slowly realised something that was not obvious to me in the beginning. Most battery engineers think they are building battery models. In reality, they are usually building battery infrastructure. The distinction sounds subtle. It isn’t. A battery model answers a question. A battery simulation framework enables an organisation to ask thousands of questions. Those are completely different engineering problems. ...

After spending years working in battery simulation across Mercedes-Benz, Caterpillar, Volvo Trucks and later A123 Systems, I slowly realised something that was not obvious to me in the beginning. Most battery engineers think they are building battery models. In reality, they are usually building battery infrastructure. The distinction sounds subtle. It isn’t. A battery model answers a question. A battery simulation framework enables an organisation to ask thousands of questions. Those are completely different engineering problems. ...