Patent ID: 8405351

Claim:
An electrochemical battery system, comprising: a first electrochemical cell; a second electrochemical cell; a memory in which command instructions are stored; and a processor configured to execute the command instructions to (i) selectively charge or discharge the first electrochemical cell based upon an evaluation of first criteria associated with the first electrochemical cell, and (ii) selectively charge or discharge the second electrochemical cell based upon an evaluation of second criteria associated with the second electrochemical cell, wherein the command instructions define a state of charge (SOC) threshold, and the processor is configured to execute the command instructions to selectively charge the first electrochemical cell whenever the SOC of the first electrochemical cell is above the SOC threshold and charging is available, and to selectively discharge the first electrochemical cell when the SOC of the first electrochemical cell is below the SOC threshold.