Battery management system (BMS), often referred to as battery nanny or battery housekeeper, is mainly used for intelligent management and maintenance of individual battery cells, preventing overcharging or over-discharging of batteries, extending the service life of batteries, and monitoring the status of batteries. The development of China’s BMS industry is mainly accompanied by the growth of the new energy vehicle battery market. After years of technical research and product testing, the technical level of the BMS has been significantly improved and is now equipped with a number of functions, such as thermal management, charging and discharging management, safety management, and communication. The domestic battery management system has entered the stage of large-scale promotion and wide application. This blog will discuss the development history of BMS, the development overview of the global and Chinese BMS market, and the forecast of future development.
Battery Management System Overview
Evolution of Battery Management System
The global BMS industry has a relatively short development time. At the end of the 20th century, the development of battery management systems began in the United States, where the research level is relatively leading, in addition, Germany’s developed automotive industry also drove the development of the country’s BMS. Since the 21st century, on the one hand, with the rapid popularization of electric vehicles around the world, automotive companies such as Toyota, Honda, General Motors, and Tesla have included the BMS in the development of the technology, and the electric vehicle battery management system market size has also been expanding; on the other hand, due to the demand for energy storage solutions increase has accelerated the development of BMS; in 2021 and into the future, the adoption rate of BMS in various industrial sectors, such as medical devices, aerospace, marine applications, and other industrial equipment will also increase, promising to develop into another stalwart of the BMS industry.
Why a Battery Management System is So Essential?
The three electrics on electric vehicles: batteries, motors, and electronic control technology are the core technologies of electric motorized vehicles. The impact of the battery and motor on the performance of electric vehicles in the three electric technologies is more obvious, such as the power size of the motor affects the power performance of the vehicle. But the same as the three electric systems in the electronic control technology, why can be compared with the battery and motor in the three electric systems have a place?
The core function of the electronic control is BMS, which can control and manage the battery more efficiently, make each battery work within the operating range, and avoid overcharging, over-discharging, and thermal runaway of the battery. The individual cell’s capacity is relatively limited, necessitating the integration of multiple cells into modules, and a battery system comprises multiple such modules. A battery system usually contains hundreds or even thousands of cells, and the BMS plays an important role in keeping the cells in the proper operating range.
Battery Management System Industry Supply Chain
The BMS serves as a crucial link between batteries, vehicle controllers, and drivers, facilitating communication and control. The BMS controls the charging and discharging of the power battery pack through relays and supplies vital battery system data and fault information to the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU). The components upstream consist of PCB boards, chips, electronic parts, wiring harnesses, LED displays, and more. Software algorithms, relying on data accumulation from various stages, form the critical core of the BMS. The downstream uses of BMS primarily involve consumer batteries (for 3C electronics), power batteries (for electric vehicles), and energy storage batteries (for defense, military, renewable energy, communications, healthcare, etc.).
Thanks to the rapid progress of electrification in both the Chinese and European automotive sectors, there has been a significant surge in global sales of new energy vehicles since 2016, leading to a concurrent rise in power battery installations, and creating many top battery management system companies. As of 2022, the worldwide installed capacity of power batteries reached 518 GWh, showing a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of 72%. China’s installed capacity of power batteries reached 295 GWh, with a growth rate of 91%, surpassing the global average growth rate. During the initial six months of 2023, the worldwide installed capacity of power batteries amounted to 238 GWh, with China alone contributing 119 GWh to the total.
Global Battery Management System Industry Current Status Analysis
Benefiting from the development of electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and other industries, the BMS market space has a promising future. Due to the impact of global health events, the growth rate of the global BMS market size declined in 2020. In the future, as the electric vehicle market size expands and battery efficiency requirements improve, we expect the BMS market size to experience steady growth. According to the estimation of Business Wire and the analysis of Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, The global BMS market size was valued at USD 6.512 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 13.1 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 15%.
The rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry promotes the rapid development of BMS. According to the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, power battery applications accounted for 54% of the global downstream applications of BMS in 2020. In 2020, as the new energy vehicle market regained momentum, the BMS market size also experienced growth. In 2021, the global automotive battery management system BMS market size reached $3.341 billion USD, representing a significant growth of 94.36% compared to the previous year. By 2022, the size of the global market for automotive battery management systems had grown even larger, reaching a substantial value of $4.6 billion USD. Looking ahead to 2023, the market size is expected to reach $5 billion USD for automotive battery management systems.
China’s Battery Management System Industry Current Status Analysis
Benefiting from the development of electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and other industries, China’s BMS market space has a promising future. Due to the impact of global health events, the growth rate of the global BMS market size declined in 2020, but China’s BMS market still occupies an important position. According to Huajing Industry Research Institute, China’s BMS market demand size in 2020 was 9.7 billion yuan.
In the future, as the electric vehicle market expands and battery efficiency requirements improve, we anticipate that the BMS market will steadily grow in size. As per data, in 2021, the size of China’s automotive BMS market reached 10.308 billion yuan, showing a remarkable year-on-year growth of 138.78%. By 2022, the market further escalated to 19.3 billion yuan, experiencing an 87.3% year-on-year surge. Projections indicate that by 2023, the automotive BMS market in China is anticipated to reach a substantial 27.9 billion yuan.
The domestic demand for BMS in the market has risen sharply, with the demand increasing from 81,000 sets in 2014 to 7.0582 million sets in 2022, with a CAGR of 55.8% during this period.
Battery Management System Trends
Currently, the global power battery management system market size has reached $14 billion and is expected to grow to $35 billion by 2026. Among these lithium-ion battery markets, China holds the largest energy management system market share and battery management system market potential, comprising over 33% of the global market, with the United States and European markets following closely behind.
Battery management systems will receive more attention from consumers across the globe in 2023 due to technological advancements and growth. Here are a few directions in which they are likely to evolve:
- Traditional individual energy-saving devices will inevitably be replaced by intelligent battery management systems that improve performance and enable remote control, fault detection, and intelligent networking. In addition, the battery management system market is also expected to grow significantly as consumers are sustainable, and smart battery management and energy storage technologies will receive more attention.
- Due to the high price of energy, technologies utilizing renewable energy will be used more often. In 2023, there will be a gradual integration of renewable energy and battery management systems. Using renewable energy as a backup can result in conserving energy and reducing costs. Additionally, combining with energy storage technologies will allow for better storage efficiencies. By incorporating a battery management system into a renewable energy setup, it will be possible to store excess energy and use it during low production periods. This approach helps to ensure a stable and consistent energy supply, reduce dependence on conventional energy sources, and optimize the use of renewable energy sources.
- Breakthroughs have been made in the application of BMS in the field of consumer electronics, and more efforts have been made in the field of power energy, which has long been monopolized by European and American enterprises. However, with the continuous R&D investment and application practice of domestic enterprises in the field of BMS, the product performance in the field of consumer electronics is no less than that of European and American big manufacturers. In addition, the more technically difficult vehicle-grade BMS technology is also in active layout.
- Distributed management architecture and active balanced management are the future technology trends of BMS. The distributed management architecture’s high replicability allows it to be applied to battery packs of various models, potentially contributing to the sustainable development of new energy vehicles. Domestic and foreign enterprises widely employ passive equalization management due to its low cost, simplicity, and low failure rate. However, active equalization management offers increased efficiency, higher equalization current, and reduced energy dissipation. As thermal risks and circuit complexity are gradually addressed, the BMS is expected to transition towards active equalization management. Furthermore, integration, universality, and intelligence represent the future technological directions for BMS. MOKOEnergy‘s BMS architecture encompasses centralized, distributed, and modular approaches. Distributed BMS is more popular among customers. It is a kind of energy storage system that combines multiple small energy storage units to form a whole. The energy management system market is also a growing area, we have several companies in the energy storage and electric vehicle industries that have adopted and benefited from distributed energy storage system technology. Our products provide them with efficient energy management solutions that help reduce costs, improve energy utilization, and drive sustainable development and the green energy transition.
- With the sharp increase in the market demand for BMS, the number of BMS manufacturers in our country has gradually increased, and the product types have become more diversified. A complete industrial chain has been formed, including vehicle manufacturers, power battery manufacturers, and third-party BMS professional manufacturers, with parallel development of R&D and production of various types of BMS. General power battery enterprises will choose to develop BMS when they have R&D and financial strength, such as CATL and Guoxuan Hi-Tech. First-tier vehicle companies, such as BYD and Geely, generally have large volumes and follow the global trend of new energy vehicles by choosing to develop BMS master control units, which have advantages in cost and efficiency. Third-party BMS enterprises specialize in BMS research, which is oriented to automobile, communication, energy storage, and other industries. Such enterprises have accumulated a large amount of standard and customized cell data. At present, there are many participants in third-party enterprises, but their technical level is different. According to the installed capacity of BMS in China in 2021, the current competition in the domestic BMS market is relatively concentrated, with a large number of professional third-party BMS enterprises, and a small but large number of battery enterprises and vehicle enterprises participating in BMS. In the future, BMS market competition will become increasingly fierce. According to Xingtai Capital, on the one hand, oems and power battery factories may participate in the BMS field through mergers and acquisitions or investment in third-party BMS companies; On the other hand, with the influence of new energy subsidies, oems will transmit the pressure of cost reduction to upstream power battery enterprises and BMS enterprises, and third-party BMS enterprises will usher in a wave of reshuffle, and BMS enterprises without independent core technology will be eliminated. Only third-party BMS enterprises with core technology and R&D strength can maintain their professional advantages and gain recognition from Oems.
- As the cost of the BMIC falls, so will the cost of the BMS. In the past, China’s BMS chips have long relied on imports, especially vehicle-grade AFE, ADC, MCU, and other chips. In recent years, the state has issued many policies to support the development of the automotive electronics and battery management chip industry, and the battery management chip industry is expected to reach a higher level. By purchasing domestic BMIC, the cost of BMS is also expected to be reduced.
Conclusion
The growth of the battery management system market reflects the global shift towards clean energy and sustainability.BMS has become an integral part of modern energy management, optimizing battery performance and extending battery life. With continued technological advancements and growing market demand, the BMS industry is poised for continued growth. The trajectory of China’s BMS market is aligned with the country’s commitment to growth in the electric vehicle, clean energy, and industrial sectors. By utilizing BMS technology and supporting battery sustainability, we can create a greener and more efficient future for energy storage solutions. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact us anytime!
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