We have an A123 M1 cell application that has a steady 5A-30A current draw with pulses, from 300mS-1500mS long, of 80A-150A occurring occasionally.
The bq40z50 looks like a great choice for the gas gauge for this application (using a 500 uohm sense resistor) but I wanted to confirm that the IT algorithm would be able to handle calculating SOC even with these short and very large pulses of discharge current. Its ability to handle TURBO BOOST mode current draw and the IT configuration options that are available seem to indicate that these large current pulses wouldn't be a problem. But I wanted to check in case I missed something in the datasheet or Tech Reference Manual.
Laying out the circuit board will be interesting, to say the least. We'll adapt the EVM layout where we can, consult the design guidelines document, and test extensively.