A new white paper from the Global Electronics Association’s e-Mobility Quality & Reliability Council examines why “always-on” battery-management system (BMS) electronics requires a more application-representative approach to reliability validation.

Unlike many automotive electronic components, BMS assemblies may remain electrically powered for extended periods while facing combined stresses from voltage, temperature extremes, humidity, contamination, and vibration. Over a vehicle’s service life, these conditions can contribute to issues such as moisture-related leakage, insulation degradation, sensor instability, and connector or contactor problems (Fig. 1).

The paper doesn’t argue that existing standards are inadequate. Instead, it makes the case that qualification methods must continue to evolve alongside high-voltage EV architectures and increasingly complex battery systems (Fig. 2).

Reasons why current testing may not be enough:

• Many standards establish useful baseline requirements, but they often evaluate individual components or single stresses over limited timeframes.
• Vehicle operating environments expose BMS assemblies to combined stresses — voltage, heat, moisture, contamination, and vibration over extended operating periods.
• The white paper points to field issues such as moisture-related leakage, insulation, degradation, sensor instability, and connector or contactor problems as evidence that some failures develop slowly in service.

Key recommendations include:

• Testing complete BMS assemblies, rather than only isolated components.
• Evaluating combined electrical, thermal, environmental, and mechanical stresses.
• Validating performance over long-duration, always-on, high-voltage operation.
• More closely connecting qualification methods to expected vehicle service life.

You can download the full report here.