PCBs, PCMs & BMS for battery safety

by Vianie Li & Cecile de Veyra

Batteries and packs have a wide range of applications, from portable electronics to electric vehicles. For optimum performance and stability, they need a protection circuit board (PCB) or module (PCM) or a battery management system (BMS), with the choice depending on the conditions under which they will operate.

Typical PCBs and PCMs offer a basic level of protection such as voltage cutoff to prevent overcharging and -discharging. They are often found in small battery-operated devices, such as shavers, and power tools.

A BMS, on the other hand, monitors and regulates more parameters, including temperature, and integrates software and hardware that enable analysis and transmission of collected data. Common applications are drones, robots and electric vehicles.

Due to the diverse types of batteries and packs and their uses, PCBs, PCMs and BMS require a wide range of customization options. In China, a major production base for these subassembly modules, buyer specifications account for more than 90 percent of shipments. Suppliers are boosting R&D efforts to further enhance flexibility to keep up with battery upgrades and meet any order. Their overall goal is to direct initiatives toward high-frequency applications and improved product reliability and stability.

In BMS, they are highlighting integration of cell balance management, state of charge, state of back-up, data storage, voltage and temperature measurement, and communication.

Fast-paced growth

BMS has a robust market, driven primarily by the electrification trend in the automotive industry. Globally, this category, spanning across lead-acid, nickel-based, flow, lithium and other batteries, is forecast to reach $14.422 billion by 2026, according to Report Ocean. In addition to electric vehicles and electronic products, these systems are finding more applications in the aerospace, defense, healthcare, data center and renewable energy industries.

In China, the PCB segment was $37.052 billion worth in 2021, rising by 5.11 percent YoY, according to AskCI. This value is expected to hit $38.936 billion by the end of 2022 and increase by 5 to 10 percent in the coming year.

BMS posted a more significant increase, having reached $10.8 billion in 2021 and exceeding the previous year’s performance by 11.34 percent. In 2022, the estimated total is $12.5 billion, with a 10 to 15 percent uptick projected in 2023.

Growing demand is spurring production expansion, which will likely continue through 2024. Hangzhou Soan has invested in a facility in Anhui, which will specialize in BMS for electric vehicle lithium batteries. Three years after reaching mass production, this project is expected to yield a production value of $14.7 million.

Manufacturing pool

Most suppliers of PCBs, PCMs and BMS is China are homegrown operations led by Ningbo Joyson Electronics, E-Power and Gold Electronic. Many operate on a small or medium scale, offering entry-level and midrange products and exporting between 10 and 60 percent of output to Europe, the US and the Asia-Pacific region. The majority of foreign-invested companies, such as Denso and Bosch, have virtual monopoly of the high-end market.

Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Ningbo, Changzhou, Suzhou and Qingdao are where a number of these manufacturers are based. These cities will continue to attract domestic and overseas players.