The Formula SAE Michigan competition was held from May 14th to 17th in 2025 at Michigan International Speedway. It is the largest engineering competition worldwide! PCBONLINE, a one-stop printed circuit board (PCB) assembly OEM manufacturer, provides $3000 sponsorship and PCBA manufacturing for the Formula SAE team from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada. They are a group of engineering students who design and build an electric race car to compete in the game.
If you need engineering support and one-stop PCBA services for electric battery packs, partner with PCBONLINE!
PCBONLINE Provides PCB Manufacturing & Sponsorship to Build Electric Car Battery Packs
In February 2024, an engineering student member of the Université Laval's Formula SAE Team contacted us for PCB manufacturing to build their electric Formula car to join the Michigan Formula SAE. We got a deal by providing $3000 sponsorship in exchange for some visibility on their car and social media. Our client only paid $8.15 for our PCB manufacturing and SMT assembly for the electric battery pack!
In 2024 and 2025, PCBONLINE provided PCBA manufacturing (including components) for the following PCBs to build their battery pack:
- Acquisition card
- Battery management system slave
- Battery management system distribution board
- Battery management system balancing board
The above PCBs to build the electric car battery pack include FR4 PCBs and flexible PCBs.
Battery system management PCBs made by PCBONLINE
We provided one-on-one engineering support to improve their design in panelization and silkscreen marking. After confirmation of everything, we provided PCB manufacturing and SMT assembly for the PCBs of the electric formula car's battery pack.
In the delivery, besides the SMD-assembled PCBAs, we also include the through-hole components.
This is the electric battery pack tested by our client.
What do You Know about Electric Formula Cars and Battery Packs?
Electric Formula racing cars are high-performance vehicles built around advanced electric powertrains and energy management systems. Their battery packs are among the most sophisticated energy storage systems in the world, providing extreme power delivery, efficiency, and safety under race conditions.
The following is some information about Formula E cars:
Their speed reaches 320 km/h (200 mph), and their acceleration takes about 2.8 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. Their weight is about 850 kilograms, including the driver.
During qualifying and attack mode, the electric E car provides a power output of 350kW (470hp) and regenerative braking up to 600kW total.
Their drive system is a dual-motor design, with the rear motor for propulsion and the rear motor for regenerative braking.
We are proud to join the electronics manufacturing to build such a Formula E car!
What we joined to build is the battery management system, which is the heart of the Formula E car.
The electric Formula car's battery pack has a capacity of about 51kWh usable energy, with a voltage of about 800V and a weight of about 284Kg.
The battery management system acts as the brain of the battery pack:
- Monitors voltage, current, and temperature of each cell group
- Balances cells to maintain uniform charge levels
- Protects from overcharge, over-discharge, and short circuits
- Communicates real-time data to the race engineers
- Adjusts power delivery based on thermal limits and SOC (State of Charge)
Order CCS and BMS for Electric Battery Packs from PCBONLINE
Since the foundation in 2005, PCBONLINE has been committed to automotive PCB assembly for more than two decades and served end-terminal and design clients from around the globe, including Fortune 500 companies and startups in automotive electronics. PCBA manufacturing for the cell connection system (CCS) and BMS of battery packs is what we focus on.
Our automotive PCB assembly services offer:
- Turnkey PCBA manufacturing: From PCB ptototypes and testing to mass PCBA and box-build assembly, our PCB assembly services are custom and one-stop.
- Complete procurement: We source and customize enclosures, cables, and accessories from reliable suppliers.
- Engineering support: We check Gerber, BOM, pick-and-place file, and enclosure and accessory designs, and can suggest design changes.
- Free DFM/DFT: We provide free Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Testability (DFT) checks to ensure that designs are optimized for a smooth production process.
- Quality assurance: IPC-A-610 Class 3, IATF 16919:2016, 4-terminal sensing, and automotive-grade inspection standards.
- Turnkey delivery: From PCB fabrication to final product packaging and shipping.
PCBONLINE manufactures, assembles, and tests CCS and BMS PCBs and PCBAs from prototypes to bulk production, saving costs and time for you.
PCBONLINE can help develop a custom CCS and BMS for battery packs according to the R&D requirements provided by you, providing a full set of BMS R&D and design services.
PCBONLINE has robust automotive PCBA capabilities, including speedy delivery for prototypes and small batch orders, and electronic components integration sourcing.
We take care of BMS and CCS manufacturing traceability and print a QR code on the FPC/PCB/integrated busbar PCBA that contains all the information on the manufacturing operations, time, and specs.
Our automotive PCB assembly is certified with ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, RoHS, REACH, UL, and IPC-A-610 Class 3.
Our one-on-one free and professional DFM helps you debug and improve design, to ensure the manufacturability, cost-effectiveness, and final device success.
Send us your BOM, Gerber, and pick-and-place file, and we can bring out turnkey automotive PCB assembly as well as conformal coating, four-terminal sensing, functional test, and value-added services. To get a quote for your CCS and BMS project, email us at info@pcbonline.com.
PCBA and module for CCS
This is the flexible PCBA we made for the CCS. Its components are few, including the NTC thermistor, nickel sheets, and connectors. Next, it is further processed to become the CCS.
The flexible PCBA is integrated with the insulation films and blister trays and soldered with copper busbars to be the CCS. A CCS connects the cells and the BMS and provides fast and slow charging paths.
Battery management system (BMS) PCBA
PCBONLINE provides custom BMS manufacturing and standard BMS secondary development. If you need BMS for boats, renewable energy systems, and so on, contact PCBONLINE for BMS PCBA manufacturing!
Conclusion
PCBONLINE provides one-stop PCBA manufacturing for building battery packs for automotive and renewable energy applications. We offered $3000 sponsorship to the engineering students of Université Laval's Formula SAE team to show our manufacturing capabilities for PCBA of renewable energy devices. With more than 20 years of automotive PCB assembly experience, we are ready to check your Gerber and provide turnkey services for you. Contact PCBONLINE today!
PCB assembly at PCBONLINE.pdf
Battery Management System Manufacturing at PCBONLINE.pdf
CCS Product Introduction - PCBONLINE.pdf
