Patent ID: 8710801

Claim:
A battery, comprising: a first battery module that includes a first plurality of submodules electrically connected to each other, each submodule including a first submodule terminal, a second submodule terminal, and a cell, wherein: the submodules include a first switchable submodule that includes a first submodule switching circuit, the first submodule switching circuit being configured to be switched between a first state and a second state; the first submodule switching circuit is configured to electrically couple the cell of the first switchable submodule between the first and second submodule terminals of the first switchable submodule when the submodule switching circuit is in the first state; the first submodule switching circuit is configured to provide an electrical bypass connection between the first and second submodule terminals of the first switchable submodule and electrically decouple the cell of the first switchable submodule from at least one of the first and second submodule terminals of the first switchable submodule when the first submodule switching circuit is in the second state; and the first battery module comprises a battery balancing circuit configured to balance a state of charge of the cells of the first plurality of submodules of the first battery module, the battery balancing circuit including an active charge balancing circuit configured to temporarily store energy from one or more of the cells of the submodules of the first battery module and to pass the stored energy to one or more other ones of the cells of the submodules of the first battery module; a control unit configured to operate the first submodule switching circuit.