NXP Collaborates with Elektrobit to Develop Software for Next-Generation Automotive Battery Management Systems

­The software jointly developed with Elektrobit aims to reduce the entry-level cost of battery management system (BMS) development and enhance ease-of-use of NXP’s high-voltage BMS reference design (HVBMS RD).

What’s new: NXP Semiconductors has joined forces with Elektrobit to co-develop the software platform that supports NXP’s newly introduced high-voltage battery management system (HVBMS) reference design. Using Elektrobit’s Classic AUTOSAR tooling and software, the new software platform of the HVBMS reference design eases the development of HVBMS architectures for electric vehicles (EVs) by abstracting the communication and controlling interactions between the BMS microcontroller and the battery cell controllers.

Why it matters: As demand for battery-powered cars (EVs) continues to increase, so does the demand for improved performance, faster charging time, increased range and battery life, and improved safety. These demands drive rapid technological advancements in EV battery designs, especially for high voltages like 400V or 800V. As these batteries become more powerful and complex, more sophisticated BMS architectures are needed to ensure the safety and reliability of EVs. NXP’s HVBMS RD is a scalable ASIL D architecture composed of three modules: battery management unit (BMU), cell monitoring unit (CMU) and battery junction box (BJB). NXP’s wide portfolio of battery cell controllers, battery junction box devices, and devices for its electrical transport protocol link (ETPL), along with production grade software drivers for these silicon devices, makes it easier for OEMs and Tier 1 customers to enter the growing market of HVBMS and enables them to focus effort on their unique application features.

More details: Elektrobit, a leader in embedded and connected software products and services for the automotive industry, has been collaborating with NXP for more than ten years. Utilizing Elektrobit’s EB tresos (AutoCore, AutoCore OS, and RTE), NXP’s reference application software and Complex Device Drivers (CDDs) are designed and integrated into NXP’s HVBMS RD. 

“Our EB tresos AutoCore is the implementation of the Classic AUTOSAR® standard and our tooling environment, called EB tresos Studio, is used to configure these basic software modules with NXP’s software modules,” said Michael Robertson, Vice President, Head of Strategy & Product Management, Elektrobit. “Elektrobit will additionally offer support to customers that use NXPs HVBMS platform when configuring and integrating EB tresos AutoCore into their environment, and will continue working with NXP in the second development phase of the HVBMS reference design software.”

“NXP and Elektrobit have complementary competencies,” explained Dr. Andreas Schlapka, Director & Segment Manager Battery Management Systems, NXP. “NXP has extensive knowledge in BMS, with a scalable portfolio of analog and digital silicon devices to support the full variety of BMS architectures. Elektrobit, on the other hand, has in-depth knowledge of the software architectures that are used in the automotive domain and AUTOSAR expertise. Bringing these two competencies together is key, which is why NXP selected Elektrobit to join forces to co-develop the software platform for the HVBMS reference design.”

For more information about NXP’s HVBMS reference design, including application software and CCDs in production quality, please go here.