AN EDINBURGH business plans to enhance the viability of electric vehicles through a wireless battery management system that its new chief executive said could transform the market.

Following a £2 million round of funding, Dukosi hired former aerospace specialist Charles Johnston to lead the company into the next stage of its growth.

Dukosi’s system increases the performance and extends the life of the lithium-ion batteries that dominate the electric vehicle market.

This system, which monitors the performance of the batteries, enables manufacturers to improve design, deployment and management of batteries in electric vehicles, and in grid energy storage applications, reducing the cost and weight of batteries, and providing better performance and longer lifespan.

And Dukosi’s game-changing attribute is a wireless solution, as Mr Johnston explained: “Currently sensors are hooked up in cars via hard-wiring so Dukosi has developed this technology that virtually eliminates a lot of wiring relating to electric vehicles and the sizeable battery packs that go into those vehicles today.”

Following several years of research, development and testing, Mr Johnston said Dukosi was now ready to go into production on a semi-conductor chip that will generate real-time state of charge and state of health results.

And the £2m funding round, which was fully subscribed by existing shareholders, including IP Group, Scottish Investment Bank and members of Par Equity, led the company to sign a deal this month with Swindon Silicon Chips to develop the semi-conductor chip that will replace the circuit board it currently uses.

The aim for the company is to deploy its technology on a global scale to take advantage of the increasing demand for battery powered electric vehicles in North America, Europe and Asia.