Battery Testing & Data Analysis
Battery testing can quickly become complex, expensive, and time-consuming, with large volumes of data generated across cells, modules, packs, cyclers, thermal chambers, and BMS systems. Good engineering decisions depend on asking the right test questions, selecting the right conditions, optimising the test matrix around the application, and extracting the right metrics.
UnityVolt Solutions can help define how cell-level data should feed into module and pack testing, model development, BMS calibration, and validation testing, while advising on best practices for test setup, instrumentation, lab control and data traceability.
Designing your own novel cells?
UnityVolt Solutions designs specialised test programs to characterise novel cell technology, Li-ion and other chemistries, and generate clear, decision-ready performance, ageing and safety data. Our Python-based data analysis scripts help translate raw test outputs into clean tables and charts, reports, and investor-ready evidence packs that demonstrate your cell’s capability and the key barriers to scale-up.
We support teams moving through the “valley of death” from lab-scale prototypes to pilot production and commercialisation, where robust data is needed to guide formulation improvements, validate performance and lifetime claims, support funding discussions, and de-risk the next stage of development.
Sourcing cells or packs from suppliers?
We support Design of Experiments (DoE) for performance, ageing, safety, and legislative testing, balancing technical objectives with practical constraints such as available cycler channels, thermal chamber capacity, sample quantities, test duration, and budget.
From supplier due diligence, benchmarking, and RFI/RFQ screening through to large-scale DVT and PVT programs, we translate battery test data into practical inputs for electro-thermal and ageing models, BMS calibration, warranty assessment, and pack-level control strategy. This helps verify supplier claims, compare technologies on a like-for-like basis, and ensure selected cells or packs are suitable for the intended application.
Our secure, cloud-based data analysis platform, UnityVolt Stream, turns raw cycler outputs into clear, structured reports with actionable insights. Instead of spending hours manually sorting Excel files, cleaning datasets, calculating KPIs, and generating plots, your team can upload test data and focus instead on reviewing the key results.
Bespoke Test Plans Across the Battery Development Life Cycle
Battery test plans should evolve with the maturity of the program. Early-stage testing may focus on supplier comparison and technology screening, while later stages require deeper validation of performance, lifetime, safety, environmental robustness, and production repeatability.
Independent testing is particularly important when selecting or validating a battery supplier’s claims. Supplier data is useful, but it should not be the only basis for engineering or procurement decisions. A well-designed test plan helps verify supplier claims, identify risks early, and ensure the battery is suitable for your application, operating conditions, and commercial requirements.
At UnityVolt Solutions, we design bespoke test plans around your technical objectives, project stage, available budget, timelines, and testing resources - helping you generate the right evidence without unnecessary testing cost or complexity.
(RFI / RFQ Phase)
Compare supplier technologies, R&D roadmaps, and key KPI trade-offs across energy, power, lifetime, safety, cost, and manufacturability.
Assess early or pre-final battery designs to understand performance direction, technical risks, and gaps before final design commitment.
(DVT)
Validate the intended final battery design against performance, lifetime, safety, and other customer requirements.
(PVT)
Confirm the final battery can be produced repeatably at scale, across lines or sites, with consistent quality and clear release criteria.
01
Performance Tests
Background
We design performance test plans for cells, modules, and packs to verify that the selected technology meets supplier-stated specifications (including nominal capacity, usable energy, power capability, and energy density) and can satisfy the customer’s required performance targets across the intended SoC operating window.
This includes capacity and energy measurement, OCV–SoC mapping, hybrid pulse power characterisation (HPPC), rate capability and drive/duty cycle testing, thermal performance assessment (e.g. the cell’s heat capacity, entropic coefficient), and benchmarking across chemistries, cell formats, and suppliers.
Testing Aims
Can the cell, module, or pack deliver the stated capacity and usable energy under relevant operating conditions?
How do DCIR, voltage response, and available peak charge/discharge power change with SoC, temperature, pulse duration, and ageing?
Does heat generation remain manageable under realistic duty cycles, and what does this imply for pack sizing, cooling strategy, BMS limits, and thermal model development?
The resulting data is used to develop equivalent circuit models (ECMs) for electro-thermal simulations. This provides the foundation for the BMS’s SoC and power-limit estimation, as well as pack design, and system-level thermal control logic and performance prediction.
UnityVolt Solutions can support this workflow from test planning and data processing through to model development and validation.
02
Ageing Tests
Background
Ageing tests are used to measure how performance degrades over time and to determine whether the selected technology can meet the customer’s required lifetime, warranty, safety, and performance-retention targets under realistic operating conditions.
This includes ageing as a result of storage, constant-current charge/discharge cycling, fast-charge and use-case cycling, and assessing self-discharge, each of which requires a specialised Reference Performance Tests (RPT) to track capacity fade and internal resistance growth.
Testing Aims
How quickly do capacity, usable energy, and peak power capability degrade under different combinations of temperature and SoC (storage ageing), and charge/discharge current or C-rate, mean SoC, C-rates, DoD ranges, rest periods, and duty cycles?
Which damage factors, or combination of damage factors, are the dominant drivers of degradation, and how should these limits be reflected in thermal control strategies?
Can the battery meet the required performance metrics under realistic customer usage profiles throughout its lifetime?
The resulting data is used to build an ageing model that can simulate degradation under different usage scenarios under various operational behaviours and environmental conditions, critical in understanding warranty risk.
UnityVolt Solutions can support this workflow from test planning and data analysis through to model development and validation.
03
Safety, Abuse & Legislative Tests
Background
These tests determine whether a cell, module, or pack can meet the required safety, robustness, transport, regulatory, and customer requirements under normal operation, environmental stress, foreseeable misuse, and fault conditions.
Test plans should be aligned to the intended application and battery system level. For Li-ion battery transport, this includes UN 38.3. For e-mobility and EV traction batteries, relevant standards may include IEC 62660, UL 2580, SAE J2464, ISO 12405, UNECE R100, GB 38031, EN 50604, and UL 2271, depending on vehicle class and market. For stationary energy storage and BESS, relevant standards may include IEC 62619 and UL 9540A. For portable electronics and consumer battery packs, relevant standards may include IEC 62133, UL 1642, UL 2054, and UL 62133, depending on whether the scope is cell or pack-level safety. Other marine, aerospace, industrial, or customer-specific programs may require additional application-specific validation.
Testing Aims
Can the cell, module, or pack remain safe under expected operating conditions, transport conditions, environmental stress, and foreseeable misuse?
How does the system respond to mechanical issues (vibration, shock, crush, drop), electrical faults (external short-circuit, overcharge, over-discharge), thermal abuse (external heating, thermal runaway initiation and propagation), and environmental exposure (temperature, humidity, and altitude)?
Can thermal runaway propagation be prevented, delayed, or contained at module and pack level through appropriate spacing, barriers, venting, cooling, sensing, and control strategies?
Does the battery system generate the evidence required for customer validation, regulatory compliance, and release into the intended market or application?
The resulting data can inform battery safety strategy, including sensor placement, venting design, fault-detection thresholds, BMS protection limits, abuse response, thermal runaway propagation mitigation, pack architecture, hazard analysis, DFMEA/PFMEA, and design improvements for customer approval and certification.
UnityVolt Solutions supports this through test strategy, standards alignment, safety test planning, data analysis, and results interpretation. Where specialist abuse, fire, or certification testing is required, we can help define the scope and coordinate with accredited test houses to generate meaningful engineering evidence.
04
Specialised Testing & Diagnostic Support
Root-Cause Failure Analysis
During testing, unexpected issues may arise, such as sudden capacity loss and resistance growth, voltage drift, swelling, leakage, gas generation, thermal anomalies, cell-to-cell variation, or other safety-related events.
We support root-cause investigations by reviewing available cycler and sensor data, helping identify whether the issue is linked to cell design, supplier quality, manufacturing variation, test setup, operating conditions, instrumentation, or data processing.
Where required, we can also help define follow-up diagnostic work such as visual inspection, X-ray/CT scanning, and cell teardown & autopsy involving electrode inspection, separator damage assessment, lithium plating checks, contamination analysis, or further materials characterisation. Read more on this here.
Anything missing? Talk to us today to discuss your testing needs.
Manufacturing Process Capability & Quality Control
During manufacturing, issues often appear post-formation, or on arrival post-shipping, as cell-to-cell variation in capacity, DCIR/ACIR, self-discharge, dimensions, mass, or cleanliness. Even when average performance looks acceptable, excessive variation can create pack-level imbalance, reduce usable energy, increase warranty risk, and complicate BMS calibration.
We support manufacturing and supplier quality investigations by assessing process capability (Cpk and Ppk). The aim is to evaluate whether production and transportation processes are capable of repeatedly meeting specification limits.
For deeper investigations, we use Six Sigma methods to identify dominant sources of variation, compare supplier quality, and define robust incoming inspection criteria, acceptance limits, and corrective actions.
UnityVolt Stream
Spend less time working through raw battery test files and more time on meaningful R&D with our secure, cloud-based data analysis platform, tailored to your needs.
UnityVolt Solutions develops Python-based analysis tools and user-friendly dashboards that process raw cycler data from systems such as Maccor, Arbin, Neware, Basytec, and others. These tools automate data cleaning, metric extraction, plotting, curve fitting, and report generation, helping reduce manual analysis time and minimise errors.
Outputs can include discharge rate capability plots, cycle ageing trends, fitted degradation curves, EOL forecasts, summary tables, and export-ready datasets. Tools can be delivered as custom Python scripts for full control and flexibility, or as cloud-based dashboards where users upload files and instantly receive clear graphs and processed results.
The examples below show how automated workflows can turn raw test data into rate capability plots and cycle ageing graphs, including degradation curve fitting and extrapolation to a defined end-of-life threshold.
UnityVolt Stream, our secure, automated, cloud-based data analysis platform, tailored to your needs.