WHITE PAPER

NEXT-GENERATION BATTERY MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES

NEXT-GENERATION BATTERY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
ARCHITECTURES
Electric vehicle high-voltage battery management system (BMS) technologies are evolving
rapidly. Designers are experimenting with new architectures to get more range from a
single charge and reduce charging times. This whitepaper assesses the consequences
of using higher voltages in terms of the stricter requirements on several components,
increased system complexity, and impact on functional safety. Because of these
challenges, OEMs are now exploring new switchable 2x400 V/800 V architectures that
give the BMS developer and end-user the best of both worlds by allowing fast charging
and the reuse of existing system solutions like in the traction inverter domain.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Motivation for 800 V Architectures.............................. 2 Switching From 400 V to 800 V for Charging.............. 3

Consequences of Higher Voltages............................... 2 Conclusion................................................................... 5

NEXT-GENERATION BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES
Motivation for 800 V Architectures
THE ROAD TO FASTER CHARGING
Limited range and long recharge times have long been
cited as the two main challenges to the widespread
adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). New battery
chemistries and intelligent battery management systems
have made significant headway in maximizing range.
However, the charging speed remains a concern,
especially on long trips or when you are pressed for time.
DC fast chargers take between 30 to 45 minutes to
charge the battery to 80 percent. Although delivering
higher power charges the vehicle faster, it generates
a significant amount of heat. When electricity flows
from the charging station through cables and into the
vehicle’s battery, the internal resistance to the high
current generates a temperature rise. For a typical 400 V
EV battery, therefore, the charging rate is limited by
several factors, like the cross sectional area of the cable
required to carry the charging current or the battery
cells’ temperature. Some DC fast charger stations liquid-
Consequences of Higher Voltages
MORE CONTACTORS AND HIGHER SPECIFICATIONS
Like the ignition switch function in combustion engine
cars, main contactors electrically isolate the battery and
traction inverter when the vehicle is switched off and
reconnect when switched on. Independent contactors
connect and disconnect the battery to and from the
DC-Link and charger buses, one in the positive rail
and another in the negative rail. Additional DC charge
contactors are used for DC fast charging to establish
the connection between the DC charging station and
the battery. There are also auxiliary contactors for the
electrical heater for the passenger compartment and
the battery heater to optimize efficiency in cold weather
conditions.
One of the concerns of moving to higher voltages is
the greater potential for damaging electrical arcs. At
800 V architectures, stricter requirements for isolation
are required than those traditionally used in 400 V
architectures, which could increase the solution cost.
www.nxp.com/bms
cool the cables to manage their temperature rise caused
by I²R power loss. Therefore, increasing the voltage to
boost the power delivered rather than the current would
seem reasonable.
HIGH POWER OUTPUT
Porche’s Taycan EV is the first production vehicle from a
major carmaker with a system voltage of 800 V instead
of the usual 400 V. At the time of its launch, Porsche said
that doubling the battery voltage enables consistent high
performance, reduces charging time, and decreases the
weight and installation space of the cabling i. A 350 kW
Level 3 ultra-fast charging station could potentially allow
an 80 percent charge in as little as 15 minutes ii. However,
an 800 V EV design requires new considerations for
all electrical systems, putting stricter requirements on
several components explicitly relating to the battery
management system.
CONNECTOR CREEPAGE AND CLEARANCE DISTANCES
All interconnection systems need to be safe, efficient,
and reliable. The battery management system must also
be compact and lightweight. However, at higher voltage
levels, greater creepage and clearance distances between
the connector’s pins are needed to ensure that there is no
risk of failure from short circuits caused by arcing. Various
connector manufacturers have overcome these issues,
though they come at a higher price than the connectors
used in 400 V architectures, which may affect the final
solution cost.
DRIVETRAIN COMPONENTS
The ratings of the components in the traction inverter
module depend on the maximum battery voltage. If
the maximum battery voltage is raised up to 800 V, the
availability of suitably rated components diminishes
greatly, and they might be offered at a premium price.
For 400 V batteries, there is a wide selection of these
components that help keep the traction inverter module
2
 NEXT-GENERATION BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES

competitively priced, taking the cost advantages of
economies of scale.
Different battery architectures come with their inherent
advantages and disadvantages. Vehicle OEMs, therefore,
need to analyze and decide which architecture is a better
fit for their production models while keeping the system
at a competitive price. One of the innovative solutions for
this challenge is to use two independent 400 V batteries.
They can be connected in series when charging (800 V
in total), drastically reducing the charging time, and in
parallel when driving (400 V), keeping the traction inverter
module at a competitive price and reusing it in many
different vehicle models.
devices, or battery cell controllers (BCCs), in the system.
This increment of devices is translated into a functional
safety challenge since the failure-in-time (FIT) probability
is increased. However, the maximum residual FIT for the
BMS solution recommended by the ISO 26262:2018
standard does not change.
The BCCs receive only a certain budget of the total
allowed system FIT, which cannot be drastically increased.
If the FIT budget were increased, it would affect the
budget for the rest of the system, bringing more
challenges in other areas and just shifting the problem
from one place to another.

INCREASED COMPLEXITY AND FUNCTIONAL SAFETY

Increasing the battery voltage from 400 V to 800 V comes
with the unavoidable fact of having more cell sensing

Switching from 400 V to 800 V for charging

An innovative proposal that overcomes most of the
challenges mentioned above is a switchable architecture
that changes the battery from its native 400 V to 800 V
for charging. The battery pack consists of two 400 V
batteries; these are connected in parallel during everyday
usage to allow the use of standard high-volume 400 V
drivetrain components like the inverter and on-board-
HVBMS 800 V SIMPLE BLOCK DIAGRAM
K5
charger, whereby the capacity and thus range remain
unaffected. The BMS switches the two batteries to a series
configuration during charging, bumping up the voltage
to 800 V, lowering the current, and accelerating charging
time. With its devices and solutions, NXP is ready to
support OEMs developing these switchable architectures
today and the new challenges they bring.

DC Link+ K1

BMU Load
Driver Cells
MC40XS6500
AFE 8a
CH+ K2 Contractor MC33775
Drivers
CMU Cluster 2a

MC33XS2410 Pressure
Sensor AFE 7a
NBP8xD MC33775 K7

AFE 6a
MC33775
BMU
RTC Controller AFE 5a
PCA2131 S32K358 MC33775 Cells

F2 AFE 8b
CAN PHY MC33775
VCU CAN
CMU Cluster 4b

TJA1145
AFE 7b
Gateway MC33775
System Basis MC33665 AFE 4a
CMU Cluster 1a

Chip MC33775
FS26
TPL4 AFE 6b
KL30 MC33775
AFE 3a
Crash MC33775
TPL1 TPL2 TPL3
AFE 5b
MC33775
Galvanic isolation AFE 2a
MC33775
F2
AFE 1a
CH- K4 BJB 1 MC33775

AFE 4b
BS 1a BS 1b
CMU Cluster 3b

MC33775
MC33772C MC33772C

AFE 3b
DC Link- MC33775
K3 CS2

AFE 2b

BJB 2
MC33775

AFE 1b
BS 2a BS 2b MC33775
MC33772C MC33772C

K6 CS2

HVBMS 800 V Block Diagram

www.nxp.com/bms 3
NEXT-GENERATION BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES

COMMON HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SUPPORT
SCALABILITY
S32K3 BMS PROCESSORS
The NXP S32K3 series of controllers support both
400 V and 800 V architectures and the new switchable
architecture. These highly-scalable devices are based on
the Arm® Cortex®-M7 core executing at up to 240 MHz,
with a scalable memory footprint of up to 8 MB flash,
ASIL B and D rating, with advanced functional safety
HW and SW IP as well as HW and SW security features
respectively comlinat to ISO 26262 functional safety and
ISO 21434 cyber security.
Devices in this series share common peripherals and
pin-out, allowing developers to migrate easily within a
chip series or among other processors within the S32K3
portfolio to take advantage of more memory or feature
integration, maximizing hardware and software reuse,
and reducing time-to-market. In addition, NXP offers
easy-to-use enablement software, application-specific
software, and various development tools supported
by a broad ecosystem of third parties in different
development phases.
voltage measurements performed in their respective
functional modules, which helps to determine the
impedance of the cells and battery pack. In addition,
having loopback capability improves the robustness of the
communication circuit inside the battery solution.
PROPOSAL: BATTERY ARCHITECTURE
This software-defined solution disconnects the application
layer software from the physical module or cell-to-pack
configuration. Different module cell counts are catered
for with a scalable BCC portfolio from the NXP MC3377x
family, ranging from 6 to 18 cells, with functional safety
and software compatibility. This flexibility caters to diverse
market requirements within the automotive industry.
FUNCTIONAL SAFETY
NXP has developed new devices with a reduced FIT
probability to overcome the functional safety challenge.
The failure modes’ diagnostic coverage increases by
implementing new functional safety concepts, detection
methods, and safety architectures, drastically reducing
the residual FIT to acceptable levels to support higher
voltage solutions.

MC33665 BMS GATEWAY SOLVING EMC CHALLENGES

New communication paths need to be explored to solve
Designers can create more flexible and efficient
the additional EMC challenges in higher voltage systems
architectures using the NXP S32K3 BMS processors
and the premium price for 800 V suitable connectors.
in conjunction with the MC33665 BMS transceiver/
Those new paths need to be software backward
gateway IC. The device also allows standardization of
compatible to ease the switch from today’s state-of-the-
communication within the battery to CAN FD compared
art solutions.
to the proprietary communication solution used today.

By standardizing on CAN FD, OEMs have a single,

generic battery management unit (BMU) instead of
multiple custom BMUs, simplifying assembly, reducing
bill-of-material (BOM) cost, and significantly reducing
time-to-market for new battery models. This battery
platform concept also enables easy over-the-air (OTA)
updates for the battery software through the domain
controller and compatibility with cloud computing and
digital twin models.

The MC33665 fulfills two main functions: a transceiver

and a gateway. Mounted on the BMU, the device bundles
the communication with the battery junction box (BJB)
and cell monitoring units (CMUs). Thanks to the four
ETPL* lines, the device can establish multiple daisy
chains to connect a number of CMU boards and handle
all communication and message routing, reducing the
computing power load on the MCU. This capability eases
the synchronization of the battery pack current and cell

www.nxp.com/bms 4
NEXT-GENERATION BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES

Conclusion
The 2x400 V/800 V switchable battery architecture provides OEMs with the best of both
worlds — long-range and ultra-fast charging — without the additional drivetrain component
costs. It also enables OEMs to add flexibility to their brands by offering models at 400V or
800 V and benefitting from the cost advantages of economies of scale.

As a full system provider to Tier1 suppliers, NXP offers a scalable and complete chipset
solution that supports BMS functions regardless of the chosen architecture.

By offering a comprehensive high-voltage BMS (HVBMS) reference design that follows the
complete V-Model of the ISO 26262:2018 automotive functional safety standard, NXP helps
developers overcome challenges derived from the new architectural proposals.

i
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/products/taycan/battery-18557.html
ii
https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-article/ev-charging-as-quick-as-refuelling-thanks-to-high-power-chargers/25449
*
ETPL is a proprietary daisy chain protocol by NXP that it is used in High Voltage BMS applications for isolated communication

www.nxp.com/bms 5
HOW TO REACH US CONTRIBUTORS
Home Page: www.nxp.com Emiliano Mediavilla Pons
Web Support: www.nxp.com/support System Engineer, NXP Semiconductors

USA/Europe or Locations Not Listed: Konrad Lorentz

NXP Semiconductors USA, Inc. Product Manager Battery Management Systems,
Technical Information Center, EL516 NXP Semiconductors
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Tempe, Arizona 85284
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Document Number: A4: HVBMSWPA4 REV 0