Designing safe battery systems: engineering functional safety in practice
7 MAY 2026
In industrial battery systems, safety is not only about understanding risks - it is about implementing robust engineering solutions that manage those risks throughout the entire product lifecycle.
At Scania Industrial Batteries, functional safety is implemented through structured system design, verification activities, and controlled engineering processes that ensure safety requirements are consistently fulfilled in real-world operation.
From requirements to implementation
Functional safety begins with clearly defined requirements derived from hazard analysis, customer needs, applicable standards, and system constraints.
Each safety requirement is fully traceable - from the identified hazard to the implemented solution and its verification. This ensures transparency and control throughout development.
Scania Industrial Batteries follows a structured V-model development process, where every design step is paired with corresponding verification activities. This approach minimizes systematic errors and ensures that safety mechanisms perform as intended.
Safety built into the system architecture
Safety-related control functions are implemented within the system architecture - primarily through the Battery Management System (BMS) and supporting hardware.
These functions continuously monitor critical parameters such as cell voltage, temperature, and current. When abnormal conditions are detected, the system transitions to a safe state - typically by isolating the battery from external systems using safety-rated parts of the control system.
Safety mechanisms are designed and evaluated in accordance with international standards, ensuring that the required performance levels are consistently achieved.
Reliability you can measure
Ensuring safety means ensuring controlled system behaviour, including in the presence of failures. Scania Industrial Batteries applies recognised analysis methods, such as Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA), to evaluate how hardware failures may affect safety functions. Key reliability metrics - including MTTFd, diagnostic coverage, and probability of dangerous failure - are used to assess system performance.
At the same time, systematic failures are addressed through disciplined development processes, including requirements traceability, verification planning, and configuration management.
Software That Safeguards the System
The Battery Management System software plays a critical role in maintaining safe operation. It executes monitoring algorithms, diagnostics, and safety responses under all specified operating conditions.
Software development follows structured processes with multiple layers of verification, including unit, integration, and system testing. Advanced techniques such as static code analysis and fault-injection testing further strengthen confidence in system behaviour.
Verification, Validation, and Continuous Improvement
Testing is performed at every level, from individual components to complete systems, ensuring that safety functions behave as intended even under fault conditions. These activities contribute to a comprehensive safety case that documents how requirements are fulfilled.
As products evolve, structured change management ensures that any modification is assessed for safety impact and verified accordingly - maintaining safety integrity over time.
“Safety is not assumed - it is demonstrated.“
Damian Toruńczak
Functional Safety Expert, Scania Industrial Batteries
Supported by Strong Safety Processes
Functional safety is reinforced by robust safety management practices aligned with ISO 13849, incorporating many of the principles from ISO 26262. Controlled processes - such as supplier management, manufacturing quality assurance, and production testing - ensure that safety is consistently delivered, not just designed.
Safety That Builds Trust
At Scania Industrial Batteries, safety is not about proprietary concepts - it is about the consistent application of proven engineering principles.
Transparency is a key part of this approach. Safety activities, assumptions, and verification results are documented and can be shared with customers, supporting confidence in how safety is implemented. Independent or external review of the safety case can further strengthen confidence in the implemented safety concept and the assumptions behind it.
The result is battery systems that combine performance, reliability, and safety - engineered to meet the demands of real-world industrial applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Battery systems combine high-voltage electrical systems with high-energy lithium-ion cells. Functional safety ensures that hazards identified during Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA) are mitigated through safety mechanisms capable of bringing the system into a safe state in accordance with standards such as IEC 62619:2022 and ISO 13849-1:2023.
For most battery systems the safe state corresponds to operation within defined electrical and thermal limits of the cells. When there is a risk of exceeding these limits, the system maintains safety by electrically isolating the battery pack from loads or external systems.
Cell limits are defined using supplier specifications, laboratory testing, system validation, and operational experience. Close collaboration with cell suppliers helps ensure that system-level protection strategies are based on real cell behaviour.
Our approach is built on proven engineering practices and recognized standards - applied consistently and transparently. Safety is integrated from the start, supported by clear traceability and thorough verification. This gives our customers confidence in how our systems are designed, built, and validated.
Authors
Damian Toruńczak
Damian Toruńczak is a Functional Safety Expert at Scania Industrial Batteries with over five years of experience in the field. He works with industrial lithium-ion battery systems, covering activities from hazard analysis and safety requirements to hardware and software safety analysis. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Gdańsk University of Technology.
Jesper Adolfsson
Jesper Adolfsson is Director of Development Quality at Scania Industrial Batteries. He is responsible for development quality, functional safety and regulatory compliance for industrial battery systems, with a focus on aligning engineering implementation with safety and compliance requirements. He holds a PhD in Engineering Mechanics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
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