Rethinking the EV Battery Test Lab
NI's Software-Defined Battery Lab is revolutionizing battery testing through its software-connected approach and empowering battery manufacturers and OEMs to unlock the full potential of their battery technologies with efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.
Consumer interest in electric vehicles (EVs) has increased significantly in recent years, and countries worldwide are incentivizing EV adoption. It should come as no surprise that automakers are trying to keep pace with the demand for high-quality EV battery performance. The development and testing of battery cells, modules, and packs are key to propelling the EV future forward, so naturally, automakers are hoping to differentiate themselves by their battery technology to gain market share. To meet accelerated time-to-market expectations, EV manufacturers must reconsider their battery testing approach to maintain their competitive advantage—or risk falling behind.
Challenges with Current Validation Approaches
EV battery manufacturing companies using traditional approaches may turn to rigorous manual testing within labs to ensure optimal battery performance. This method of testing includes individual tasks that are time consuming and isolated in approach. Manufacturers that continue to rely on these traditional testing methods will fail to compete with the quickly scaling EV industry. Within these types of testing methods, development time is often slow due to a lack of data transfer and evaluation between different stages of development, which reduces efficiency across global sites and suppliers. Many equipment providers for testing labs also lack a holistic view of testing and focus on power electronics that naturally silo the development process. Likewise, many current manufacturing labs rely primarily on solutions with limited options for software integration, inflexible and expensive service contracts—or both!
What Is a Modern Battery Test Lab?
NI is helping manufacturers modernize their EV battery labs to meet the demands of tomorrow through an integrated, data-centric, software-defined approach that drives product and business performance. As schedules shrink, using data throughout the entire development cycle is critically important to improving product insights and quality.
A software-defined approach to EV battery validation gives lab engineers visibility into data across all stages of development, increases quality control, lowers costs through efficient and optimized testing procedures, and ensures scalability for the future. NI’s best-in-class, open, software-connected solutions enable flexible, automated, intelligent test strategies on every level of development—from individual battery validation workbenches to global lab deployment. An operationally efficient software-defined battery lab is cloud-based and flexible, driven by an enterprise-grade software system that includes a complete set of services within an intuitive and powerful interface.
Within a software-defined lab, multiple test stations can be set up within multiple labs across sites, and real-time data is monitored and analyzed through easy-to-use and fully integrated software. Data is collected throughout a streamlined testing workflow and shared across both local and global manufacturing teams. With a unified software system capable of bringing together multiple labs for seamless integration and better communication, unnecessary redundancies will be eliminated, and engineers can gain insights into developing products at every stage of testing and development.
In addition to increasing visibility and decreasing (or eliminating) manual methods, a software-defined battery lab will improve quality control and monitoring. For example, the behavior of a single cell can be isolated and recorded without the need for multiple manual retests. This level of monitoring detail provides higher product quality control when every stage of development is tested. By using a software-defined approach that includes consistent methods to provide visibility into all stages of development, manufacturers can develop a higher quality product while also bringing their technology to market faster. Manufacturers can also monitor battery behavior more effectively in the field and feed valuable information to the lab from real-world driving conditions to further develop product performance and future testing procedures.
Costs associated with testing and development will continue to be a key concern for EV battery manufacturers globally. A software-defined approach within a modern lab provides real-time knowledge sharing among labs and decreases manual methodologies that naturally increase costs. By implementing NI’s software-defined approach, manufacturers can work with existing hardware solutions while integrating a full software solution for end-to-end battery testing and validation.
Better Batteries Move Us Closer to the EV Future
EV battery manufacturing still faces a long road ahead as the landscape changes. But software-defined solutions that offer scalability and flexibility for future changes and updates while providing efficient, integrated, and seamless testing workflows can help automakers navigate road bumps. NI is committed to combatting obsolescence and is leading the way in transforming the modern EV battery test lab for EV manufacturers and battery suppliers with scalable, turnkey solutions. NI offers a complete portfolio of battery test solutions, including battery cycler hardware, data analytics workflows, and enterprise lab management software, as well as a network of integration partners. Learn more about how we’re helping auto industry leaders modernize their EV battery labs here.