A Product Manager’s Guide to Lithium Battery Integration

Unless you’re the Apple, Samsung, or Tesla of the world and have unlimited resources to throw at developing custom lithium battery solutions, you probably need to purchase a battery pack and figure out how to integrate it into your design.

So, what do we mere mortals need to consider when selecting a battery pack during product design and development?

A lot. 

Integrating a battery pack into a product isn’t just about engineering — especially for small to mid-size enterprises where most product managers and engineers must wear many hats and juggle different aspects of the product development process.

Let’s explore the challenges manufacturers and designers must address when incorporating a lithium battery pack into a product and what you should consider to get on the right track.

Lithium battery integration challenges

Safety concerns are at the top of the list when you're dealing with anything involving lithium batteries. You must consider temperature fluctuations since overcharging, over-discharging, or exposure to high temperatures can lead to thermal runaway events. Also, proper insulation and circuitry design are crucial for protecting against short circuits.

Space constraint is another typical hurdle. Finding a compact battery pack that works with a specific form factor while meeting power requirements is challenging. Moreover, lithium batteries are heavy, so designers must balance capacity with weight (i.e., energy density), especially for portable or mobile equipment.

Other challenges include understanding the impact of charging time and charge-discharge cycles on overall battery health and longevity. Also, you must provide a user-friendly interface for monitoring battery status and charging levels to support predictive maintenance, ensure a positive user experience, and enable efficient handling of upgrades or replacements.

Regulatory compliance plays a critical role throughout a product’s lifecycle. For example, transportation regulations can increase logistic complexity. Moreover, you must evaluate sourcing and supply chain management factors when making decisions. For instance, environmental laws or geopolitical events could throw a monkey wrench into an otherwise well-designed production process.

Top considerations for selecting the right lithium battery solution for your products

What should product managers consider when selecting a battery solution for their projects? Here’s what you need to know:

Understand user needs

Like all product development projects, you must address customer needs and market demand. It’s particularly critical when you need to balance power requirements with cost, size, and weight. For example, if you dimension a battery to support features users don’t need, you risk driving up costs and increasing technical challenges without the expected payoff. 

Research your options

Your engineering team may default to a battery pack they have worked with and know best. Don’t settle on a solution without proper research — battery technology is fast-evolving, and what was cutting-edge last year may not be the best option today. Consider getting vendor-agnostic, unbiased recommendations from a third-party consultant to guide your decision.

Agree on assumptions

Battery life and performance may vary widely depending on the use case, manufacturing variations, storage time and conditions, charging and discharging profiles, operating conditions, etc. Your decision will be affected by your assumptions on these factors. Involve project stakeholders from various functional groups to verify these assumptions before selecting a solution.

Validate specifications

Some manufacturers publish inflated battery life estimates based on unrealistically benign operating conditions and limited product functionalities. Before settling on a solution, test the candidates based on the agreed-upon assumptions to verify their capabilities and ensure they can perform as expected to avoid costly reworks and delayed timelines.

Consider battery characteristics

Evaluate energy density, discharge rate, cycle life, and longevity to select a solution with the appropriate voltage and capacity for your product. Also, consider rechargeability, power density, shelf life, safety, form factor, cost, and flexibility. Variables like depth of discharge, charging rate, temperature, and the cells’ material qualities can all affect cycle life.

Choose the right battery chemistry

Different lithium battery chemistries cater to specific applications and performance requirements. For example, Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) provides high energy density and long cycle life but has a limited lifespan in high-discharge applications. Meanwhile, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) offers excellent thermal stability but has lower energy density.

Battery chemistry comparison

Evaluate safety features

Battery packs offer cell-, module-, and pack-level safety mechanisms. Most solutions include a battery management system (BMS) to monitor parameters like input/output current, voltage, and temperature to ensure safe operations. Some may provide current and voltage control, thermal management, and overcharging prevention capabilities.

Identify analytics requirements

Battery analytics software collects, processes, and analyzes data from lithium-ion batteries to help you understand battery behaviors, predict performance, identify potential issues, enable proactive maintenance, and support continuous improvements. Identify the metrics you need to inform decision-making and select a solution that can provide the required telemetry.

Address inventory management

The complex lithium battery supply chain depends on many factors outside our control. Find reliable suppliers, and don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Meanwhile, the cost of inventory management will skyrocket if you have many products, each using a different battery pack or cell type. You should establish a big-picture strategy to streamline these processes.

Weigh retrofitting options

Retrofitting can be a good idea if you have existing equipment with an internal combustion engine (ICE) and want to make an electrified version. However, various practical hurdles could impact the costs and feasibility of these efforts. An in-depth understanding of the technical details will help you make informed decisions.

Consider your product roadmap

Does your battery solution leave room for future improvement? Can you upgrade your product or create different versions using the same battery solution? Will the manufacturer provide the support you need for ongoing refinement? Integrating a battery pack is no small feat, so you should ensure the effort will pay off in the long run.

And the list goes on…

Your choice of battery solution has a profound and long-term impact on a product’s usability, longevity, and profitability. The considerations discussed here are just the usual suspects. Plus, you must address the interactions among these factors to optimize your outcomes.

Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. We can help you make meaningful progress in selecting your battery solution and designing an integration strategy in a day in our new Battery Strategy Workshop. Learn more to see how we can help you build electrified products cost-effectively with cutting-edge insights and deep industry knowledge.