Power control system for an electric vehicle including sacrificial protection device

A power control system for a battery system of a vehicle, comprising;

• a first contactor including a first terminal connected to a first terminal of the battery system;
• a second contactor including a first terminal connected to a second terminal of the battery system;
• N fuses each including a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal of the N fuses is connected to a second terminal of the first contactor, where N is an integer greater than zero;
• N vehicle loads having first terminals connected to second terminals of the N fuses;
• an active sacrificial protection device including a third contactor and a first fuse, where one of;
• a first terminal of the active sacrificial protection device is connected to the first terminal of the battery system and a second terminal is connected to the first terminals of the N fuses and the second terminal of the first contactor;
• or
• a first terminal of the active sacrificial protection device is connected to the second terminal of the battery system and the second terminal of the active sacrificial protection device is connected to second terminals of the N loads and the second terminal of the second contactor;
• a current sensor configured to sense a measured load current flowing through one of the first contactor and the second contactor;
• and
• a battery management module configured to:
• selectively close the third contactor to reduce current flowing through one of the first contactor or the second contactor;
• and
• selectively open the one of the first contactor or the second contactor after closing the third contactor.