As electrification reshapes industrial machinery, attention often centers on two critical components: the battery and the charger. Yet between them lies a third system—one responsible for safe, efficient charging.
That is the battery management system (BMS).
In the recent webinar, “Charging Ahead: Adapting to Emerging Battery Chemistries,” Matthew Moore, Application Engineer at ZIVAN, explored the evolving role of BMS technology. For OEMs, understanding this role is a prerequisite for building safe, scalable, and future-ready electric platforms.
When paired with the right battery and charging solution, the BMS enables electric vehicles (EVs) and electrified industrial machinery to work safely, reliably, and for as long as possible.
What is a Battery Management System?
The BMS can be likened to the “brain” of a battery. This component manages the internal conditions of each battery cell, coordinating operations to deliver maximum efficiency without compromising safety.
Some responsibilities of the BMS include:
- Cell balancing – Actively equalizes charge and discharge cycles across individual battery cells, mitigating risks of overcharging or deep discharging in weaker cells. This extends overall battery longevity.
- Temperature monitoring – Continuously monitors temperature across the battery pack, ensuring stable operation during high-load scenarios and preventing the onset of thermal runaway.
- State of Charge (SoC) estimation – Calculates real-time energy reserves for precise control over charging schedules and operational range.
- State of Health (SoH) tracking – Assesses long-term condition and degradation of the battery, providing early indicators for maintenance or replacement.
- Fault detection – Identifies anomalies such as voltage spikes, current surges, or short circuits, activating protective measures to safeguard both the battery and surrounding systems.
Much more than a simple monitoring tool, the BMS plays an active role in safe, intelligent vehicle operation.
Three Key Functions of BMS
Considering that EVs and non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) operate across a variety of battery chemistries, the dynamic capabilities of a BMS are especially impressive. However, the above functions are just the beginning.
Note three additional roles the BMS plays in an electric drivetrain ecosystem.
#1. Balancing Chemistry and Control: The Role of BMS in Recharging
For legacy chemistries such as lead-acid, recharging is relatively straightforward. Chargers are pre-programmed with fixed voltage-current curves, matched to the battery’s type to ensure a safe charge from beginning to end.
While effective, this approach lacks versatility—the battery must complete its charge from near empty to full, or else risk capacity losses due to sulfation and memory effect.
With the adoption of lithium-ion chemistries, charger-managed curves are only one part of the equation. No longer limited by lead-acid’s constraints, and now capable of much faster charging, lithium-based systems require far more nuanced control. That is where the BMS comes in.
Acting as a real-time decision-maker, the BMS supplements the charger by continuously adjusting charge parameters based on live data from the battery. This includes:
- Current modulation based on internal resistance, temperature, and load demands.
- Overcharge prevention at the cell level, maintaining strict voltage thresholds.
- Customization to accommodate diverse pack configurations and chemistry-specific behaviors.
Variations between cells, overheating risks, and potential for thermal runaway are all eliminated with an effective BMS. This is especially critical in high-power or fast-charging environments, where even small miscalculations can result in damage.
#2. Establishing EVSE Communication
Safely managing energy flow between battery, vehicle, and charger requires standardized protocols and physical interfacing. This is especially true when utilizing electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), also known as public EV charging stations.
Charging EVs through this infrastructure isn’t as simple as “plug and play.” It depends first on hardware compatibility, established through standardized connectors, including:
- J1772 (US)
- EN 61851 (Europe)
- GB/T 18487 (China)
Once connected, underlying communication protocols support a real-time data exchange between the EV and charging infrastructure, defining parameters such as voltage, current, and safety thresholds.
In this context, the BMS plays a supervisory role, actively monitoring and regulating power transfer based on battery condition and charge capacity. The above connectors work in tandem with internal systems—communication protocols and BMS—to oversee the charging process.
#3. Future-Proofing Machinery to Emerging Chemistries
While lithium-ion remains the gold standard for most EVs, emerging chemistries may require BMS functionality to evolve in parallel. These chemistries offer promising alternatives to lithium, which requires rare metals and raises environmental concerns.
Consider a few of these emerging chemistries:
- Calcium ion – With an energy density comparable to li-ion yet much more abundant material makeup, this chemistry is limited only by its “temperamental” nature. It demands an exact charging cycle, or else it suffers performance and longevity issues.
- Sodium ion – Lithium and sodium have similar structures, meaning a transition would only require minor production line changes. While sodium is far more plentiful and less combustible than lithium, it also delivers less energy density, a shorter lifecycle, and lower voltage.
- Zinc air – Leveraging atmospheric oxygen as a cathode input, zinc-air batteries present a low-cost, environmentally friendly option. However, it lacks the raw power output and reliability of li-ion, potentially limiting applications in NRMM.
- Solid state – Replacing the liquid electrolyte with a solid one, this chemistry solves the combustibility and safety issues inherent to standard lithium. The downside is that it requires more lithium to produce, raising price and reintroducing supply chain concerns.
Each chemistry delivers advantages and challenges, along with its own set of variables. Managing factors such as thermal management, overcharge protection, and optimized charging schedules—all relevant to the battery’s chemistry—ultimately circles back to the BMS.
ZIVAN: Managing the Full Electrification Ecosystem
As new technologies emerge and electrification expands into increasingly complex applications, BMS will only grow in necessity. Such components prove essential in ensuring safety, efficiency, and interoperability in next-generation EVs.
However, this integration is only as effective as the charging system it rests on.
ZIVAN’s charging solutions, tailored to a broad range of OEM verticals, deliver the right platform to maximize the value of your battery and BMS system. More than just a hardware provider, ZIVAN applies decades of electrification expertise to help OEMs optimize their entire charging infrastructure—the foundation of battery and BMS performance.
To explore how ZIVAN can support your electrification strategy, watch the full webinar, or get directly in touch with us for a consultation.
Media Contact
Violetta Fulchiati | Marketing & Communication Specialist
Phone: +39 0522 960593
E-mail: marketing@zivan.it