Vehicle battery with cell balancing current paths and method of charging the same

A vehicle battery, comprising:

• a plurality of battery cells;
• and
• a plurality of cell-balancing current paths, each of the cell-balancing current paths is connected in parallel with a corresponding battery cell and includes an electronic switch and a zener diode connected to one another in series;
• wherein each of the cell-balancing current paths is arranged to bypass the corresponding battery cell when the electronic switch is closed and a voltage on the corresponding battery cell exceeds a breakdown voltage of the zener diode.

A vehicle battery, comprising:

• a battery cell having a first and second cell node;
• a cell-balancing current path having a first path node, an electronic switch, a zener diode and a second path node connected in series, wherein the first path node of the cell-balancing current path is connected to the first cell node of the battery cell and the second path node of the cell-balancing current path is connected to the second cell node of the battery cell so that the cell-balancing current path is connected in parallel with the battery cell;
• and
• a battery control module having an output coupled to the electronic switch of the cell-balancing current path, wherein the cell-balancing current path shunts the battery cell when the battery control module has closed the electronic switch and the voltage of the battery cell exceeds a breakdown voltage of the zener diode.