DONG Energy Invests in Li-ion Battery Management Systems Company

22 January 2009

DONG Energy is taking an undisclosed stake in Denmark-based LiTHIUM BALANCE A/S, a developer of lithium-ion battery management systems (BMS) for applications including electric and hybrid cars. DONG Energy is a Northern European energy company based in Denmark, and is primarily owned by the Danish government.

The LiTHIUM BALANCE BMS system is a multi-voltage power management system that can accommodate all electric applications working between 12 and 400 volts while delivering a continued current of up to 500 amps.

The BMS provides charge and discharge protection, protects against short circuits, over current, over voltage and temperature extremes. It also provides cell balancing to improve lifetime when batteries are in series. Each cell in the battery pack has its own string-processor in the BMS and is controlled independently.

Interfaces include:

• High/low pin for low-level battery.
• Analog output for remaining capacity (fuel gauge).
• Single wire interface with capacity (fuel gauge), cell voltages, voltage, currents, cell temperature and some system status indicators.
• Extended single wire interface with error counters, cycle counters and Ah counters.

Special functions/data also can be defined and logged in the BMS.

The BMS products can manage Li-ion battery packs from 4 to 120 cells. The BMS system is delivered with intelligent recharging units of 1 kW and 2 kW. LiTHIUM BALANCE can also deliver larger charging units of between 6 kW and 12 kW for special purposes.

We see a great deal of potential for the use of new battery technologies in many different areas of the transport and energy sectors. LiTHIUM BALANCE is an exciting high-tech company with a high degree of competence in battery control systems. DONG Energy is interested in LiTHIUM BALANCE, because the control system can ensure optimum interplay between the electrical system and groups of batteries, which can be used in electric cars and many other applications in the transport sector.

—Knud Pedersen, Vice President Research & Development DONG Energy

DONG is also interested in using large-scale Li-ion systems in conjunction with wind power production in Denmark. DONG Energy is also partnering with Better Place to introduce electric cars to Denmark. (Earlier post.)

LiTHIUM BALANCE says that the investment by DONG enables it to begin implementing implement its commercial expansion strategy. The plans include, among other things, the hiring of salesmen and application engineers in Denmark and in the key export markets. Furthermore, product development activities will be expanded for which several development engineers will be hired.

LiTHIUM BALANCE was established in 2006, and began production of its first product in 2008. The company is currently developing new BMS sets for an automaker and a series of producers of electrical devices and small vehicles.