Balancing States of Charge of Battery Modules for an Electric Vehicle

An electric vehicle comprising:

• a plurality of battery modules that are electrically connected in parallel and have a same nominal module voltage;
• a determination device configured to determine at least one battery state parameter that represents a state of charge of the battery modules;
• a switching system configured to switch current paths of the battery modules to be individually conducting or blocking;
• a power management system configured to:
• control the switching system;
• when at least one of the battery modules has a state of charge that is lower than a state of charge of at least one other of the battery modules, switch a current path of the at least one battery module with the lower state of charge to be blocking while the electric vehicle is being driven, until the state of charge of the at least one battery module with a higher state of charge has balanced to the state of charge of the at least one battery module with the lower state of charge;
• and
• then switch the current path of the at least one battery module with the previously lower state of charge to be conducting.

A method for balancing states of charge of a plurality of battery modules of an electric vehicle, which are electrically connected in parallel and have a same nominal module voltage, comprising:

• while the electric vehicle is being driven:
• determining at least one battery state parameter that represents a state of charge of the battery modules;
• in response to at least one of the battery modules having a state of charge that is markedly lower than a state of charge of at least one other of the battery modules, disconnecting at least one battery module with the lower state of charge until the state of charge of the at least one battery module with a higher state of charge has balanced to the state of charge of the at least one battery module with the lower state of charge;
• and
• subsequently connecting the at least one battery module with the lower state of charge.