News

£1M Funding for Electric Vehicle Technology Company Dukosi

December 02, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

Dukosi Ltd., an Edinburgh-based developer of battery management and optimization technology for electric vehicles, today announces an equity funding of £1 million to develop its electric vehicle battery management system (BMS) technology into commercial products. The funding was led by IP Group plc, and was also supported by existing shareholders Par Equity and Scottish Investment Bank (the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise).

Dukosi, which was founded in 2003, has developed a patent-pending system that promises to deliver extended vehicle range, more rapid vehicle charging as well as enhanced residual values for used electric vehicle batteries. Dukosi’s Electric Vehicle Optimization Integrated Circuit (EVoIC) is a simple but revolutionary concept developed in response to the limitations of conventional battery management systems (BMS).
 We design integrated circuits, develop the smart firmware and the open application program interface (API) that adds intelligence and functionality to battery management and optimization.

The company’s EVoIC system architecture consists of a battery optimization and management unit on each cell distributed across the whole battery. This makes changes in battery size or configuration simple to achieve without having to redesign or customize a BMS. This also means that the wiring is greatly simplified while increasing cell-level intelligence and control.

EVoIC is an open platform. Its API can support and enhance a whole raft of third party applications that could benefit from the performance or status information of EV energy levels. The CAN Bus provides an easy interface to the vehicle, while EVoIC’s full Internet protocol allows even broader connections to the Internet of Things. For example, locating a charging point, knowing how long charging will take, journey optimisation, ITS integration as well as battery traceability and environmental disposal.

In addition, EVoIC’s in-cell memory retains extensive, precise data on energy use, performance, efficiency and battery charging. When combined with data on electricity generation, grid consumption and air quality, it can be used to provide high quality intelligence on low emissions transportation on a national scale.

Dukosi CEO, Dr Gordon Povey, said: “This investment is a great endorsement of the progress we have made during this year and will enable us to move to the next level. Our technology uniquely addresses the current barriers to growth in the electric vehicle market, i.e. limited range, the need for rapid charging, and also cost issues. We feel we have a very relevant technology addressing a market that is witnessing rapid growth. We are delighted by the support we have continued to receive from our existing shareholders and we look forward to working with IP Group too during the next stage of the company’s development.”