Battery TestingHigh-precision battery tester system

What are the challenges in battery testing?

Battery testing presents several challenges as OEMs, battery manufacturers, and cell suppliers strive to develop high-performance, reliable, and safe battery systems for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage applications. With increasing demands for higher energy density, longer range, and faster charging, testing solutions must be precise, scalable, and adaptable to new technologies.

One of the primary challenges is ensuring accurate and reliable measurement of voltage, current, and capacity across various battery cells and packs. Since battery behavior varies under different operating conditions, test systems must capture real-time data under dynamic load scenarios while maintaining high accuracy. Additionally, high-voltage and high-current measurement requires safe and isolated data acquisition to prevent electrical hazards and ensure compliance with industry safety standards.

Another major challenge is integrating multiple testing disciplines—batteries must be evaluated not only for electrical performance but also for mechanical durability, vibration resistance, and thermal stability. This requires synchronized testing across power analysis, thermal imaging, strain measurement, and environmental simulation to detect potential failures before deployment. Furthermore, as battery technologies evolve, testing solutions must be scalable and future-proof, supporting next-generation battery chemistries, solid-state batteries, and new energy storage architectures.

Dewesoft addresses these challenges by offering high-precision, modular, and integrated battery testing solutions, ensuring comprehensive validation for the next generation of battery-powered systems.

Multi-physics testing

Dewesoft’s integrated testing solutions allow for simultaneous monitoring of multi-physics quantities:

• Mechanical (structural, vibration, etc.)

• Electrical (power, energy, harmonics, efficiency)

• Thermal

This holistic approach enables a comprehensive understanding of your test specimens under various conditions. Our user-friendly software DAQ systems makes it extremely easy to configure different inputs and facilitate real-time data visualization and analysis. This streamlines the entire testing process and observe conditions from all angles. 

By choosing Dewesoft, you ensure that your products are rigorously tested to withstand the conditions they need to operate in.

Battery performance and efficiency testing

Accurate efficiency and loss analysis is crucial in battery testing, ensuring optimal performance and reliability. Dewesoft power analyzers and data acquisition systems provide high-precision DC and AC measurements to evaluate battery efficiency, charge/discharge cycles, power losses, and overall energy conversion.

Battery performance and power efficiency testing involves a range of important key attributes:

• Capacity: The amount of charge a battery can store and deliver, typically measured in milliampere-hours (mAh) or ampere-hours (Ah).

• Voltage: The electrical potential difference between two points in a battery. Voltage is critical in determining whether a battery is fully charged, discharged, or malfunctioning.

• Current: The flow of electrical charge, usually measured in amperes (A). Battery testing often includes current measurement during charge and discharge cycles.

• Cycle Life: The number of charge and discharge cycles a battery can undergo before its capacity degrades to a certain level, often 80% of its original capacity.

• State of Charge (SOC): A measure of the current charge in a battery relative to its total capacity, typically represented as a percentage.

• State of Health (SOH): A measure of the overall condition of a battery, including its ability to hold charge and deliver power relative to its original specifications.

• Internal Resistance: The resistance within a battery that impedes the flow of current. Higher internal resistance can indicate aging or poor performance.

• Charge/Discharge Rate: The speed at which a battery is charged or discharged, often expressed as C-rate (e.g., 1C, 0.5C).

• Coulombic Efficiency: The ratio of the amount of charge a battery can deliver during discharge to the amount it received during charging. It measures the efficiency of the charge/discharge process.

• Temperature / thermal integrity: Temperature can affect battery performance, efficiency, safety, and life. High temperatures can accelerate degradation, while low temperatures can reduce capacity. Worst case scenario is a so called “thermal runaway”

• Power Density: The amount of power a battery can deliver per unit of mass or volume, usually measured in W/kg or W/L.

• Energy Density: The amount of energy stored per unit mass or volume, typically measured in Wh/kg or Wh/L.

• Voltage Drop: A decrease in battery voltage under load. This can indicate a problem like excessive resistance or over-discharge.

• Charge/Discharge Efficiency: How efficiently a battery converts input energy during charging and how much usable energy it delivers during discharge.

• Overcharge/Overdischarge: Charging or discharging a battery beyond its safe limits can damage it, leading to reduced lifespan or safety risks.

• Impedance Spectroscopy: A method for measuring and analyzing the impedance of a battery across a range of frequencies. It helps in understanding the battery's internal properties and health.

• Safety Compliance Testing: Tests conducted to check for issues like short-circuiting, thermal runaway, leakage, and overvoltage that could cause hazards during battery use.

Knowing these terms provide a comprehensive understanding of a battery's performance, longevity, and safety.

Battery charging testing and analysis

Battery charging plays a crucial role in the performance, efficiency, and longevity of any battery-powered device. Dewesoft power analyzers and data acquisition systems provide a comprehensive solution for testing and analyzing both AC and DC charging processes, ensuring precise efficiency evaluation, power quality assessment, and charging time optimization.

Dewesoft systems enable detailed monitoring and analysis of:

• AC & DC charging performance

• Charging energy consumption and efficiency

• Charge/discharge cycle analysis

• Charging process timing and optimization

• Power quality and harmonics analysis

Inductive charging (Inductive Power Transfer - IPT)

Wireless charging technology requires precise high-frequency analysis for optimal power transfer. Dewesoft solutions support:

• High switching frequency measurements (up to 150 kHz)

• Efficiency analysis for power transfer up to 6 kW (60-80%)

Advanced Software and Hardware Features

Dewesoft power analyzers are powered by award-winning datya acquisition software that provides a wide range of analytical tools for deep insights into the charging process:

• Real-time charging process visualization

• Scope, FFT, 3D FFT, Reference FFT

• Harmonic analysis and FFT (2 kHz – 150 kHz) for power quality assessment

• Harmonic table for detailed frequency domain analysis

• Voltage commutation, unbalance, and in-rush current detection

• Accurate charging power calculation and display widgets

Dewesoft's high-resolution data acquisition, real-time analysis, and intuitive visualization, enables comprehensive testing of both conventional and inductive EV battery charging. Our solutions help engineers optimize energy transfer, reduce losses, and improve charging efficiency.

Environmental testing

Batteries must perform reliably under extreme temperatures, humidity, and pressure conditions to ensure safety and efficiency in real-world applications. Dewesoft DAQ systems provide precise monitoring and analysis during environmental chamber testing, enabling engineers to evaluate battery behavior in controlled test environments.

For battery environmental testing, Dewesoft systems support:

• Multi-point temperature, humidity, and pressure measurements using high-precision sensors

• High-isolated thermocouple amplifiers, designed for high-voltage (HV) environments, ensuring accurate thermal monitoring in harsh conditions

• Real-time performance tracking under varying environmental stresses

• Synchronized electrical, thermal, and mechanical analysis to assess performance degradation

• Advanced, yet easy-to-use data analysis and reporting tools

Dewesoft’s data acquisition ensures comprehensive monitoring of battery durability, efficiency, and safety across a wide range of environmental conditions. With high-resolution measurements and advanced analysis tools, our solution provides deep insights into battery performance during temperature cycling, humidity exposure, and extreme environmental stress testing.

Mechanical and structural durability testing

Batteries in electric and hybrid vehicles must withstand mechanical stress, vibrations, and impacts to ensure safety, reliability, and longevity. Dewesoft data acquisition systems provide high-precision testing solutions for evaluating mechanical and structural durability in both real-world and laboratory conditions.

For battery mechanical testing, Dewesoft systems support:

• Road-to-rig testing – Capturing real-world vibration, shock, and impact data from vehicles and replicating it in lab conditions

• Shaker and 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) testing – Simulating operational vibrations and multi-axis load conditions

• Accelerometer and strain gauge measurements – Monitoring structural integrity and fatigue under mechanical stress

• Synchronized electrical and mechanical analysis – Correlating vibration effects with battery performance and efficiency

• Fatigue and failure analysis – Identifying weak points to improve battery enclosure design

With high-speed, multi-physics data acquisition, Dewesoft solutions enable engineers to evaluate battery robustness, optimize structural design, and ensure compliance with safety standards in automotive, aerospace, and industrial applications.

Battery Management System (BMS) Testing

A Battery Management System (BMS) is critical for monitoring, protecting, and optimizing battery performance. Ensuring accuracy and reliability of the BMS requires comprehensive testing of its voltage, current, temperature, communication, and balancing functions. Dewesoft data acquisition systems provide a complete solution for testing BMS functionality in real-world conditions.

For BMS testing, Dewesoft systems support:

• High-precision voltage and current monitoring across individual cells and modules

• Temperature measurement with high-isolated thermocouple amplifiers, ensuring safe operation in high-voltage (HV) environments

• Cell balancing analysis to verify BMS efficiency in charge equalization

• Real-time CAN, CAN FD, XCP, and other protocol decoding for communication testing

• State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH) evaluation for battery condition monitoring

• Fault detection and logging to analyze BMS response under stress conditions

With synchronized electrical, thermal, and communication data acquisition, Dewesoft enables engineers to validate BMS algorithms, detect inefficiencies, and ensure optimal battery operation. The system’s scalability and high-speed data acquisition make it ideal for research, development, and validation of BMS in electric and hybrid vehicle applications.

Real-World Battery Testing in EVs

Laboratory tests alone are not enough to fully understand battery performance under real-world conditions. Dewesoft portable power analyzers and DAQ systems provide high-precision data acquisition for on-road EV battery testing, ensuring accurate assessment of true driving range, efficiency, and energy consumption in dynamic environments.

Key features for real-world battery testing:

• Portable and rugged design of DAQ hardware for in-vehicle testing in any conditions

• Wide operating temperature range (-40°C to +85°C) for extreme conditions

• Real-time measurement of power, energy consumption, and efficiency

• True range assessment under actual driving conditions (WLTP, NEDC, etc.)

• High-accuracy voltage and current monitoring for charge/discharge cycles

• Integrated GPS and vehicle data logging for complete test analysis

Dewesoft systems allow engineers to capture precise powertrain performance data while vehicles operate under various driving scenarios, terrains, and climate conditions. With synchronized data acquisition and real-time analysis, our solution ensures a comprehensive understanding of EV battery performance, helping optimize efficiency and extend driving range.