Electric car battery technology has improved rapidly and packs are getting cheaper every year. But getting the most out of an EV’s energy storage isn’t just about the underlying chemistry. According to “battery intelligence” company Elysia, there is a lot of untapped potential in cells that could be unleashed with more sophisticated software control.
JLR will apply the Elysia battery intelligence to future electric cars such as the Range Rover Electric.
Elysia may not be a name you are familiar with. However, it used to be Williams Advanced Engineering and changed its name after it was bought by mining giant Fortescue. This may seem like an odd acquisition choice, but on closer inspection, it fits with the Australian iron ore giant’s overall business strategy.
Elysia: Decarbonizing the Mining Industry
“We have a very ambitious mission to decarbonize,” says James Wallace, Chief Product Officer at Elysia. “Fortescue is traditionally a mining company based in Western Australia. Our founder, Dr. Andrew Forrest, realized that the mining industry was wreaking havoc on the environment and we needed to do something about it. He set an ambitious mission for us to decarbonize and then help the rest of the industry decarbonize after that.”
“It started with the massive 264-tonne transport trucks used in the mines,” continues Wallace. These vehicles consume large volumes of diesel fuel. Fortescue looked for decarbonized alternatives and found there were none on the market. “We had to do it ourselves and build the batteries for the trucks as well.” This was how Fortescue managed to acquire Williams Advanced Engineering, which was building battery packs for high-performance applications such as Formula E and Extreme E, along with electric hypercars.
Elysia is helping Liebherr electrify giant 264-tonne mining trucks.
“Williams Advanced Engineering has since continued to develop solutions for motorsports and high performance, but also now builds battery packs for ultra-intensive mining truck applications, where the battery can be quickly charged 6 or 7 times a day,” says Wallace. “The charging speed can be up to 6MW in mining sites. Run time is critical in these applications and the ambient temperature can be 40C. Conditions are harsh and dusty.” Fortescue recently announced an all-electric T264 truck developed in collaboration with Liebherr, which includes a remarkable 1.8 MWh battery – 18 times larger than that in a current Tesla Model S.
“We will design and build battery packs for Liebherr trucks that will then be sold around the world to decarbonize mining,” says Wallace. “We’re not just building the truck. We have to build everything upstream of the truck and change the operation of the mine, which is incredibly complex, including carbon-free electricity generation and mine site electricity management as well.” The work Elysia has done on Formula E fast charging that has yet to be implemented in competition will contribute to the 6MW speed that is planned for the T264 truck.
Elysia: From mining to battery intelligence for consumer electric vehicles
That’s where Elysia’s software work comes in, which will be applicable to more consumer-oriented vehicles than the T264. “Part of the challenge with fast charging is not just delivering power, but delivering that power in a way that doesn’t damage the battery pack,” says Wallace. “You are not just giving a flat profile against this charge. Often, you’ll see manufacturers use a stepped profile so the pack doesn’t reach a high temperature during that load. We’re trying to do smarter things by looking at the package temperature to protect against flattening during fast charging, because that’s the main security risk. Lithium charging is when you charge very quickly. Lithium ions accumulate on the negative electrode of the battery and begin to stack on top of each other. It’s especially a risk when you’re trying to charge quickly in very cold temperatures.”
Elysia has been central to the development of high performance battery technology for Extreme E and Formula … [+]
“Over the past 15 years of developing high-performance applications, we’ve gotten very good at modeling and monitoring batteries, using software to make more intelligent use of that battery,” says Wallace. This includes both algorithms that operate locally on the battery and remote monitoring in the cloud, which Elysia offers to customers. The goal is to prioritize safety, but also make the most efficient use of batteries, including longevity. “With the intelligence we have with Elysia, we know we can safely extend batteries beyond their typical end of life. We can also make them charge faster, or slower to rebalance the elements within the system.”
Elysia’s battery intelligence includes in-battery “condition assessment” algorithms. This provides “understanding of what energy is available with that battery at any given time,” according to Wallace, including current health status. The actual value for this may vary greatly from what the system reports to the vehicle. “We’ve seen mass market vehicles where the true state of battery health is 10% worse than what the system is reporting. The battery is telling you that it is at 95% health, but the real health of the battery is 85%.
Applying Elysia physics models to the cloud
Cars are now streaming a huge amount of data to the cloud. In lieu of this meeting with the manufacturer, Elysia is combining it with battery models to provide further insight. “That’s exactly what we’re doing with Jaguar Land Rover, providing deeper insights into situations where degradation varies,” says Wallace. This could be because a taxi driver is doing a lot of kilometers every day, or they often use fast charging, or it could be because they are in a hotter climate. “JLR receives over 50 billion diagnostic data points from its existing fleet of vehicles per month. We apply a battery model to this data, which we call “physics-informed”. This goes beyond machine learning, which detects patterns but does not explain the cause of the behavior it detects.
Elysia hopes to apply its expertise to improve the way automakers fit batteries into their electric vehicles. “One of the problems we have now is that batteries are big,” says Wallace. “Because we can’t observe what the current condition of a specific battery is and reliably predict how that battery will age, the approach OEMs are taking is to oversize that battery pack, adding some Extra kWh to give yourself some wiggle room. Larger batteries mean heavier systems that are more expensive. Elysia is giving engineers transparency not only about the life stage, but also when they come to design the next battery, so that they are able to predict how this degradation might occur. This means they can reduce the excessive size of the battery, which will help with the cost.”
The JLR fleet, including the Jaguar I-Pace EV, delivers 50 billion diagnostic data points per day.
“Our goal is to connect those systems and give you a battery that’s uniquely suited to your use case,” Wallace continues. “For example, if we notice that your battery is degrading at a slower rate, we can unlock more functionality without changing any of the hardware in that system. We can unlock faster charging or more usable power so you get more range. Battery degradation depends on the road.” Two batteries with the same state of health can now degrade at different rates after this, depending on usage patterns. “You need the full history of the battery.”
Better knowledge in this area could lead to improved extended warranties even for used electric vehicle batteries. “OEMs have been overly conservative about battery degradation expectations,” says Wallace. They can give better warranties on those batteries than they currently do. But manufacturers who have invested in gathering the necessary historical information will be better off than those who haven’t.
Launching new battery performance with Elysia Smart Software
Elysia’s key role in enabling this will be based largely on its experience in the electrification of mining trucks. “Mining is an incredible sandbox for us to innovate in electrification,” says Wallace. “These systems are cycling intensively, so we see accelerated degradation profiles. But also, there’s a lot of leverage for us to optimize that battery because it’s the Fortescue sandbox and we’re able to align those applications directly with our business outcomes. This allows us to optimize not only the software, but also the battery design, its servicing, its charging and the surrounding operations. Our history in motorsport provides another incredible playground to innovate, drive technologies and use data.”
“Elysia’s battery intelligence is all about using software to unlock new battery life, safety and performance,” concludes Wallace. “We’re using this incredible test bed we have within Fortescue and our batteries to drive our understanding. We are already operating at scale with JLR, helping their field engineers to identify quality issues before they affect customer usage, but also looking for opportunities on how they can unlock performance in existing vehicles. The results can be longer battery life, faster charging and longer warranties that provide security as a vehicle goes through multiple owners – all stemming from more sophisticated software.