Overview
Applications of IoT, blockchain, and big data in the power battery industry
A recent post by Li Xiang sparked discussion among automotive professionals. Why has Tesla outperformed many traditional automakers? At the current stage, electric vehicles (EVs) need to get two things right:
- Eliminate customer range anxiety (or make the battery effectively invisible to the user).
- Provide EVs with new user-facing attributes, such as autonomous driving and intelligent cabins.
Given that battery systems account for 40%–60% of vehicle cost and 20%–40% of vehicle weight, the industry has long struggled with battery-related challenges. How to remove the anxiety batteries create for manufacturers and customers is a key problem. At a recent industry forum in Wuhan, several executives pointed out that purchase and operating economics superior to internal combustion vehicles are crucial for rapid EV adoption. The main factors currently limiting EV industry development related to power batteries are described below.
1. Current issues with power battery systems
1.1 Safety
Since 2018, as EV ownership has increased, incidents of spontaneous fires and explosions related to battery systems have occurred repeatedly. From 2020 to July 30, media reports recorded 17 such incidents. Regulators have issued standards requiring manufacturers to trigger an alarm signal after battery thermal runaway to warn occupants and to ensure no visible open flame outside the system within 5 minutes. However, this standard addresses post-event mitigation rather than prevention. From an electrochemical perspective, repeated cycling degrades battery health and increases thermal runaway risk. The real goal should be continuous monitoring of battery usage and real-time health analysis to predict risks in advance.
1.2 High initial purchase price
High battery system cost (industry typical cost around RMB 1–1.2 per Wh; battery system cost approximately RMB 50,000 to 100,000) makes EVs significantly more expensive than comparable internal combustion vehicles. Customer demand for longer driving range further raises vehicle cost, suppressing sales.
1.3 Low residual value for used EVs
Because batteries account for 40%–60% of vehicle cost, battery residual value largely determines secondhand EV value. At present, the health state of a battery at a given point in its lifecycle is difficult to estimate. As a result, customers and used-car dealers are reluctant to accept used EVs, depressing resale values; in some models, two-year depreciation approaches 50% of the purchase price.
1.4 Difficulty implementing second-life reuse
Lack of reliable battery health assessment makes it hard to evaluate safety and remaining life of retired EV battery systems, preventing them from being traded and hindering second-life reuse. Consequently, battery system residual value cannot be effectively realized.
Essence of the problem
The current issues can be summarized as two core problems:
- Inability to monitor battery state continuously (temperature, voltage, current, timestamps, etc.).
- Collected data cannot be accurately acquired, transmitted, and analyzed.
2. Current industry efforts and limitations
Regulators, OEMs, and battery manufacturers have tried multiple approaches to address these problems, but practical limitations remain.
Data acquisition
With in-vehicle connected systems, most passenger vehicles include a T-BOX (4G) module for network interaction. Some OEMs use the vehicle T-BOX to transmit battery data to back-end systems. However, this approach cannot send data while the vehicle is parked and powered off, so battery state cannot be updated continuously.
Battery data monitoring platform
In 2016, a national testing and management platform for new energy vehicles was established to collect battery data transmitted via T-BOX from various OEMs. Due to T-BOX limitations, the collected data are discontinuous and have poor stability. Concerns about data security also lead OEMs to provide only limited data to the platform, reducing its usefulness.
3. Proposed solution
An operational platform for power batteries based on IoT, blockchain, and big data analytics may address these issues.
IoT modules can monitor battery state even when the vehicle is powered off. These modules are relatively low cost, provide stable transmission, and can be powered directly from the battery. Combined with the T-BOX, they can enable full lifecycle state monitoring and data upload. Blockchain can provide a trusted shared data monitoring platform for regulators, OEMs, and other stakeholders because of its immutability, sharing, and encryption features. A private blockchain can store sensitive data securely. Using these data, regulators and companies can build an operational platform that integrates grid operators, users, OEMs, and other stakeholders to create value and unlock market potential.
4. Application scenarios
- Provide battery safety warnings and let in-vehicle systems plan charging and driving schedules intelligently.
- Use CRM and mobile apps to analyze customer behavior, guide correct battery usage, and send early warnings before hazardous conditions occur. Apps can also integrate utility bill payments, charging-station maintenance requests, and related services.
- Support insurance companies with more accurate EV insurance pricing. With a battery big-data system, operators can assess system health and failure probability to inform premium calculations. Lower or risk-reflective premiums can support vehicle sales.
- Enable vehicle-battery separation models where users buy the vehicle and lease the battery, reducing purchase cost and potentially increasing sales.
- Improve vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration and overall grid efficiency. Through enterprise systems, remaining battery energy can be managed relative to grid peak and valley periods to optimize charging and discharging.
5. Potential obstacles
- Commercial and regulatory conflicts. OEMs, battery producers, and regulators may struggle to cooperate because battery data have significant commercial value and each party may seek control. This competition can impede collaboration, although it also highlights the value of coordinated solutions.
- Rapid technological evolution. Fast advances in battery technology change computational models and algorithms, which can limit a system's long-term effectiveness unless models are continuously updated.
Conclusion
Battery big-data systems built on IoT and blockchain have broad potential to address current EV industry challenges. Practical deployment will require coordination among multiple stakeholders, but such systems are likely to be an important direction for the power battery sector. Beyond passenger EVs, shared electric bicycles may provide a more tractable early application: swap-based charging is becoming dominant, battery capacity is small, swap frequency is high, and fewer stakeholders are involved, making unified management easier and creating a suitable testbed for battery big-data systems.
