Disclosed herein are a vehicle or other system battery with a self-contained backup capability and a method for providing power to a vehicle using the vehicle or other system battery with a self-contained backup capability. In one aspect, the vehicle battery comprises, a main battery portion, a backup battery portion, and a control device for selectively communicating a transfer of energy from the backup battery portion to the main battery portion when a voltage level or other health indicator of the main battery portion is determined to be below a reference voltage threshold, wherein the main battery portion and backup battery portion are each re-chargeable via an alternator of the vehicle when the control device communicates the transfer of energy between the main battery portion and the backup battery portion.

Technology for charging at least one battery is described. An aspect of the technology involves charging a battery using alternating current (AC) power by periodically stopping (602) charging of a battery of a mobile energy storage and power consumption device (16A) with AC power, and when charging of the battery with AC power is stopped, initiating (604) a direct current (DC) power charging communications cycle for the battery, in which the initiating the DC power charging communications cycle includes obtaining (606) state of battery related information for the battery by transmitting, over a communication link or interface, a request signal to a charging control device at the mobile energy storage and power consumption device indicating DC power charging mode of operation.

Provided are a substation system including an energy storage device, a method of calculating capacity of the energy storage device, and a control apparatus for the same. The control apparatus may include a charge and discharge determination unit configured to determine a charge or discharge operation of an energy storage device based on whether a measured output value is within an output operation range; a forecast error determination unit configured to determine a ratio of a period in which the measured output value is out of the output operation range with respect to a total period; and a capacity determination unit configured to determine capacity of the energy storage device based on the ratio.

A battery monitoring system continuously calculates the estimated runtime of a bank of batteries in a battery backup system during both a period of operation when the load current is supplied by a commercial source of AC power and during a period of operation when the commercial source of AC power is not present and the load current is supplied by the bank. The estimated runtime may be displayed to an operator and used to alert the operator if the cutoff voltage of a battery in the bank is at or near its cutoff voltage. The system may open a circuit breaker to avoid catastrophic damage before the cutoff voltage is reached.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for powering an electronic device with a battery or other backup power supply when an external power source is removed from the electronic device. The method determines if the ambient temperature of an electronic device is below a threshold and if the ambient temperature is below the threshold adjusting a minimum state of charge of the battery to prolong the life of the battery.

A battery unit may comprise a first cell type and a second cell type electrically connected at least in series, wherein the first cell type may include N first cells, the second cell type may include M second cells, and N and M are positive integers; the first cell may have a discharge cell balance rate of CB1, the second cell may have a discharge cell balance rate of CB2, with 0.5≤CB1≤CB2≤1.4, and when the battery unit is charged to 95%-100% of the state of charge, the first cell may have a corresponding open-circuit voltage change rate of not greater than 0.005 V/% SOC, and the second cell type may have a corresponding open-circuit voltage change rate greater than that of the first cell.

A battery system includes: at least two battery modules, where each of the at least two battery modules includes three strings of battery cells; and a switch control module configured to: determine state of charges (SOCs) of the strings of battery cells, respectively; determine, using model predictive control based on the SOCs, periods of phases, respectively; determine, using model predictive control based on the SOCs, periods for the strings, respectively, to be connected to a second positive terminal and a negative terminal during the phases, the determination of the periods for the strings including: setting the period for one of the strings of one of the battery modules to end before the end of a phase; and setting the periods for the other two strings of the one of the battery modules to end at the end of the phase.

A controller initiates discharging of at least some cells of a traction battery based on data indicative of cell state of charge and cell capacity such that, upon completion of the discharging, states of charge of at least some of the cells are different, and after charging the cells with a same current for a same period of time, the states of charge fall with a predefined range of values.

Systems, apparatus, and methods for managing power in a hybrid battery cartridge. The hybrid battery cartridge may output single-use battery power, rechargeable battery power, or both. Thus, a single battery cartridge may store multiple types of batteries and allow the batteries to be used separately or concurrently. In one example usage, the battery cartridge may be inserted into other devices to provide power. Additionally, the intelligent hybrid battery cartridge may be used as a stand-alone charger to charge other devices. The intelligent hybrid battery cartridge is designed to allow for retrofitting into existing single-use battery powered devices such as flashlights and lanterns to make them hybrid power enabled. The hybrid battery cartridge may select a power source based the type of load and/or on a reserve power threshold.

Techniques are provided for dividing control of energy flow at multiple Electric Vehicle (EV) stations using the combination of a centralized controller and a plurality of decentralized controllers. The centralized controller is configured to perform: executing algorithms to generate centralized predictions for a first period of time, wherein the centralized predictions relate to energy usage at a plurality of stations, and generating one or more centralized baseline signals based on the centralized predictions. Each decentralized controller is configured to perform: receiving the one or more centralized baseline signals, monitoring interactions at a subset of the plurality of stations during the first period of time, and updating the one or more centralized baseline signals in real-time based on the interactions to produce one or more locally-updated baseline signal. The one or more locally-updated baseline signals are communicated to the subset of the plurality of stations, and energy flow is controlled at the subset of the plurality of stations based on the one or more locally-updated baseline signals.