  Growing demands for electrification result in increasingly larger battery
packs. Due to factors such as cell position in the pack and variations in the
manufacturing process, the packs exhibit variations in the performance of their
constituent cells. Moreover, due to the fixed cell configuration, the weakest
cell renders the pack highly susceptible to these variations. Reconfigurable
battery pack systems, which have increased control flexibility due to
additional power electronics, present a promising solution for these issues.
Nevertheless, to what extent they can prolong the battery lifetime has not been
investigated.
  This simulation study analyzes the potential of dynamic reconfiguration for
extending battery lifetime w.r.t. several parameters. Results indicate that the
lifetime extension is larger for series than for parallel configurations. For
the latter, the dominant factor is equivalent full cycles spread at the end of
life, but resistance increase with age and the number of cells in parallel are
also influential. Finally, for the former, the number of series-connected
elements amplifies these effects.
