A vehicle control system comprising: - a vehicle control unit; and - a plurality of battery packs disposed in parallel and configured to power a bus capacitance of a vehicle deriving at least a portion of its motive power from the plurality of battery packs, wherein each battery pack comprises: - a pre-charge circuit coupled to the battery pack and configured to limit a current flowing from the battery pack; - main contactors (80, 82) configured to electrically couple and decouple the battery pack with the bus capacitance upon receiving an electric signal; - a pre-charge contactor configured to electrically couple and decouple the battery pack with the pre-charge circuit upon receiving an electric signal; and - a battery management unit configured to send data about the battery pack to a vehicle control unit, receive commands from the vehicle control unit, and send signals to the main contactors (80, 82) and the pre-charge contactor based on the commands from the vehicle control unit, said data about the battery pack indicate terminal voltage of the battery pack; characterized in that the vehicle control unit is configured to: - receive battery pack data from the battery management units of the plurality of battery packs; - determine which of the plurality of battery packs is able to pre-charge the bus capacitance in parallel; - send commands to each battery management unit of the plurality of battery packs that is able to pre-charge the bus capacitance to pre-charge the bus capacitance with each of the plurality of battery packs that is able to pre-charge the bus capacitance; - receive status information from each of the battery management units, said status information indicates a pre-charge state of the plurality of battery packs; and - determine, based on the status information, whether the bus capacitance was successfully pre-charged by the battery packs. - a vehicle control unit; and - a plurality of battery packs disposed in parallel and configured to power a bus capacitance of a vehicle deriving at least a portion of its motive power from the plurality of battery packs, wherein each battery pack comprises: - a pre-charge circuit coupled to the battery pack and configured to limit a current flowing from the battery pack; - main contactors (80, 82) configured to electrically couple and decouple the battery pack with the bus capacitance upon receiving an electric signal; - a pre-charge contactor configured to electrically couple and decouple the battery pack with the pre-charge circuit upon receiving an electric signal; and - a battery management unit configured to send data about the battery pack to a vehicle control unit, receive commands from the vehicle control unit, and send signals to the main contactors (80, 82) and the pre-charge contactor based on the commands from the vehicle control unit, said data about the battery pack indicate terminal voltage of the battery pack; - receive battery pack data from the battery management units of the plurality of battery packs; - determine which of the plurality of battery packs is able to pre-charge the bus capacitance in parallel; - send commands to each battery management unit of the plurality of battery packs that is able to pre-charge the bus capacitance to pre-charge the bus capacitance with each of the plurality of battery packs that is able to pre-charge the bus capacitance; - receive status information from each of the battery management units, said status information indicates a pre-charge state of the plurality of battery packs; and - determine, based on the status information, whether the bus capacitance was successfully pre-charged by the battery packs.