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Electric transportation has the potential of mitigating CO2 emissions and reduce fuel needs. One of the challenges for the growth of this industry is limited range and efficiency of the vehicles associated with battery storage systems and electric drive technology. High voltage systems are expected to increase efficiency and then vehicle mileage, however this increases the severity of the fault conditions, especially in case of short circuit. Melting fuse is commonly used for the purpose of protection in electrified vehicles, while it is effective and reliable, there are several shortcomings such as lack of precision, effect of ambient temperature, bulky, interruption time depending on the fault condition etc. Additionally, the on-board DC power distribution system (PDS) is characterized by low impedance, in this environment fuses are not able to limit the fault current leading to damage of electronics and hazard for the battery pack.

In recent years, many motorsports have been developing competitions based on electric vehicles. The demanding performance requires the battery pack to have the perfect balance between energy, power, and weight. This research paper presents a systematic methodology for the initial design of the battery pack (size and cell chemistry) by statistically analyzing the characteristics of the mission profile. The power profile for the battery pack of a motorsport vehicle can be estimated by considering the duty cycle of a racing car using the technical and sporting regulations and vehicle parameters. In this paper, many statistical metrics correlated to this power profile have been defined and analyzed (such as the max, mean, and standard deviation of the power profile, the total energy consumed, and the expected heat generation). These metrics have been used to estimate the cell energy and power density requirement and the pack sizing considering the weight constraints.