A rendering shared by a team of South Korean battery experts is effective in portraying the importance of its safety tech in preventing disastrous fires.
On the left is an electric vehicle in an apparent good state. On the right, the EV is shown engulfed in flames from a battery fire. Impressive safety monitoring developed at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, or KAIST, is the key feature in this example, preventing the right image from becoming a reality.
"This system can be easily integrated into the battery management system of electric vehicles and has demonstrated high measurement accuracy while significantly reducing the cost and complexity compared to traditional high-current … methods," Professor Kyeongha Kwon, the project's co-corresponding author, explained in the KAIST lab summary.
At issue is the problem of battery fires that can result from pack cell failures and associated thermal runaway. While battery fires are less likely than gas vehicle fires, per multiple reports, the blazes can be tough to extinguish. The risk remains a deterrent for some potential EV buyers.
As a result, the KAIST team has developed a low-current device that can monitor the safety and health of the batteries, maximizing their "long-term stability and efficiency," the team reported.
The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, or EIS, unit tracks impedance magnitude. KAIST's experts said that's a "measure of the resistance to current flow within the battery that is used to assess … performance and condition."
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By using a low current, the KAIST invention is less expensive and simpler to install and maintain compared to other versions. There's also no danger of interfering with battery operations as the device gauges cell health. The EIS worked well in a variety of temperatures and conditions during testing, all per the summary.
Additionally, "the tool can be used to identify thermal characteristics, chemical or physical changes, predict battery life, and determine the causes of failures," per a report on the tech from Assembly.
As pack use picks up with global EV growth — full battery and plug-in hybrid sales were up 25% to more than 17 million cars last year, per Reuters — safety is becoming a focus in many labs.
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Good driving range 
Some involve safer components and less flammable chemistry. California's Qnovo is developing advanced software that monitors battery health and quickly mitigates flawed cells before a disaster hits.
The tech can help to provide manufacturers with the confidence to provide longer warranties. It can also help to finally douse fire safety concerns among EV buyers. That's important because each EV that replaces a gas-burning ride can nix thousands of pounds of heat-trapping air pollution each year, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
While every wildfire, drought, and coastal storm can't be linked to our changing climate, NASA experts reported that overheating has increased the risk for more severe weather events.
You can contribute to cooling the planet down even if you aren't in the market for a new ride. Using public transportation can save you serious cash while cutting nearly a pound of pollution per mile traveled on a bus, train, or other shared conveyance. Those rides are becoming cleaner, too. Joby Aviation has electric air taxis that should soon be carrying passengers, for example.
For KAIST's part, the experts there expect their cell-health monitoring system to go beyond travel, improving even the larger packs that are used to store renewable energy that often supports the grid.
"It can contribute to battery diagnosis and performance improvements not only for electric vehicles, but also for energy storage systems," Kwon said in the KAIST summary.
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