Powering E-Bikes and Battery Energy Storage Systems with Cell-Formation Solution

Organization

• Leading e-bike and cell and battery manufacturer

Challenges

• Reliable cell formation solution to handle production ramp-up

• Ability to reuse existing pouch cell formation fixtures

Solutions

• BT2202A Charge-Discharge Chassis 400 VAC 3-Phase

• BT2204B Charge-Discharge Modules

Results

• Reduction in manufacturing footprint by 60 percent; creating space availability for manufacturing line expansion

• Reduction of net energy consumption by 30 percent

• Regeneration of energy onto the grid during cell discharge

The industry news around e-mobility is fueling not just the electric car market, but the electric bike

(e-bike) market as well. E-bikes encompass mobility vehicles like the bicycle, scooter, or motorcycle

with an integrated electric motor for propulsion.

According to Allied Market Research, the global e-bike market size was valued at $16.34 billion in

2017 and is expected to reach $23.83 billion by 2025. This increase represents a compound annual

growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9 percent from 2018 to 2025.

A leading cell and battery contract manufacturer specializing in e-bike manufacturing was getting

ready to expand its production capacity as orders started to increase with the market momentum.

It soon ran into some challenges, and a quick and dependable solution was necessary to keep

production and delivery schedules on track.

The Key Issues

The manufacturer had been using their cell formation systems for over a decade, making mostly 6

Ah and 25 Ah lithium-ion (Li-Ion) cells for e-bikes and energy storage systems (ESS). With the rapid

growth in the e-bike market, the solution had to meet pressing production schedules, and more

importantly, ensure conformance to new safety and performance standards. The solution had to

address three key areas:

1. Onsite support - the manufacturer’s original supplier for cell and battery charge-discharge

electronics could not provide adequate on-site support. To complicate matters, it went out

of business recently.

2. Configurability - the manufacturer was struggling to use its old solution, which was difficult

to configure and adapt for new higher-density cells and batteries. It also had to comply

with new and more stringent safety specifications.

3. Scalability - the manufacturer had to contain the unit cost of the cells while upgrading and

retrofitting its existing production lines with better cell-formation equipment. The company

wanted to reuse its existing fixtures as this would help to reduce expenses.

The Solution

The manufacturer evaluated four cell formation solutions, including three from other providers.

The Keysight BT2200 charge-discharge platform with the BT2202A chassis and BT2204B chargedischarge

modules was a natural choice for these reasons:

• Compatible connectivity with the manufacturer’s existing pouch cell fixtures

• Ability to reuse its existing fixtures, saving substantial capital costs

• Compact form factor; two chassis per system

• Support for up to 8 charge-discharge modules, each with 32 physical channels capable of ± 6.25 A charge-discharge and 6 V cell formation

• Easily configurable to support up to 200 A in anticipation of producing much higher-capacity cells

• Flexibility to define and monitor various parameters during the individual sequence