Since KERS was introduced in 2009, one of the less-talked-about parts of energy-recovery systems has been the battery and the electronics needed to manage the electrical energy passing from the Motor Generator Units.
With the huge increase in the potential power from ERS for 2014, the design of these systems is ever more critical, doubly so given the limit of five of each of the energy store and control electronics per driver per season. This means reliability is paramount if teams are to avoid grid penalties for busting their allowance later in the season.
The Energy Store (ES) is, in the most simplistic terms, the battery. This unit plays the key role of storing energy harvested by both the kinetic (ERS-K) and heat (ERS-H) energy-recovery systems.