Car Battery Coding and Registration: How & Why?

Modern day cars are complicated machines, particularly when it comes to vehicle electronics. With advanced systems and computer management, along with features like idle stop-start, your car’s battery has a lot of work to do.

It may surprise you to learn that a new car battery should be coded for your vehicle when replacing an old battery. Here’s some advice on why a car battery needs coding.

Many European vehicles have an integrated system called an Electrical Energy Management System, or EEMS. With multiple sensors along with the capability to adjust idle speed and adjust energy consumers, the EEMS works to manage both energy consumption as well as energy regeneration.

A key part of this system is the Battery Management System, or BMS. The BMS typically calculates a battery’s State of Charge (SoC), State of Health (SoH), and State of Function (SoF).

Together, this information is used to determine the residual capacity of the battery as well as the battery’s charging capability, which changes as the battery ages.

This brings us to why a car battery might need to be registered or coded for your vehicle.

What is car battery coding?

Your vehicle’s BMS and EEMS take a different approach to the management of your car battery over time to account for its aging. If you were to replace an aged battery at the end of its service life with a brand new battery without updating the BMS, your new battery’s performance and service life will be compromised.

This is why a new car battery should be coded to your vehicle. In this process, your Battery Management System (BMS) is informed that a new battery has been installed and that your Electrical Management System (EEMS) should treat your new battery differently to your previous, aged, battery.

How is a car battery coded?

Our professionals here at Miles Continetal code car batteries to vehicles via diagnostic tester.

With a large number of car batteries in stock, you can purchase your car battery online and arrange installation with our team right here in Christchurch.

We look forward to hearing from you.