MAHLE using charging plugs for battery diagnostics of electric vehicles

MAHLE Aftermarket has announced that it is currently field-testing a new solution that makes electric vehicle battery conditions more transparent and repair requirements predictable. The company will use the charging plug-in in addition to the existing OBD port for battery diagnostics of electric vehicles in the future.

To this end, the service and spare parts division of the Stuttgart-based automotive supplier is collaborating with volytica diagnostics, a software developer based in Dresden. It evaluates the measured data in the cloud and provides valuable information about the state of the electric vehicle battery. In this way, projections can be made of, for example, necessary repairs.

Since early this year, the new diagnostics solution for passenger cars has been tested in practice together with TÜV NORD Mobilität and a well-known European fleet operator. It is expected to be available by the end of 2022. In the next phase, both partners want to offer battery diagnostics for battery-electric trucks and buses.

"In terms of workshop equipment, we have massively accelerated our innovation rate. Now we are making the battery a fully predictable variable and thus creating future security for independent workshops in the mobility transition," said Olaf Henning, member of the MAHLE Management Committee and head of the Aftermarket business unit.

"Inspection agencies, owners, fleet operators, and workshop networks have to date been subjected to a massive lack of transparency when it comes to battery quality and therefore vehicle value. Until now, it has hardly been possible to reliably evaluate battery data and communicate the status quo of their batteries to owners of electric vehicles", said Claudius Jehle, CEO of volytica.

"This paralyzes the further market ramp-up of e-mobility as well as the decarbonization of the transportation sector. At the same time, such a test must not take long and must be affordable. This is exactly where we come in with our technology", added Jehle.

A special combination of charger and diagnostic tool is used for diagnostics. In this way, MAHLE can get initial diagnostics on the condition of the vehicle battery via the vehicle's charging socket within ten minutes. This measurement is carried out independently of the data provided by the vehicle manufacturer via the OBD diagnostics port and is therefore particularly neutral and independent.

Afterward, the battery data is comprehensively evaluated and interpreted in the volytica cloud and the result is provided to the user. With this new development, MAHLE claims to be opening up new, future-proof business areas beyond the combustion engine for independent workshops.

With the help of battery diagnostics, up to two million tons of batteries with a value of more than EUR 50 billion can be saved annually from premature discarding and thus, for example, be given a second life. By giving a battery a second life, the battery life can be extended by an average of five years, says the company.