A Comprehensive Review of the Art of Cell Balancing Techniques and Trade-Offs in Battery Management Systems

Adnan Ashraf, Basit Ali (), Mothanna S. A. Al Sunjury and Pietro Tricoli
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Adnan Ashraf: Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Campus, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Basit Ali: Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Campus, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Mothanna S. A. Al Sunjury: Technical Engineering College of Mosul, Northern Technical University, Mosul 41002, Iraq
Pietro Tricoli: Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Campus, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-19

Abstract: The battery pack is a critical component of electric vehicles, with lithium-ion cells being a frequently preferred choice. Lithium-ion cells are known for long life, high power and energy density, and are reliable for a broad range of temperatures. However, these batteries have a drawback of over-voltage, under-voltage, thermal runaway, and especially, state of charge or voltage imbalance. Among these, the cell imbalance is particularly important because it causes an uneven power dissipation in each cell, resulting in non-uniform temperature distribution. This uneven temperature distribution negatively affects the lifetime and efficiency of a battery pack. Cell imbalance is mitigated by cell balancing techniques, of which several methods have been presented over the last few years. These methods consider different power electronics circuits and control approaches to optimise cell balancing characteristics. This paper reviews basic to advanced cell balancing techniques and compares their circuit designs, costs, switching stresses, complexity, sizes, and control techniques to highlight the recent trends and future directions. This paper also compares the recent trend of machine learning integration with basic cell balancing topologies and provides a critical analysis of the outcomes.

Keywords: electric vehicles; cell balancing; active/passive cell balancing; battery management systems; state of charge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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