The design of a battery bank that satisfies specific demands and range requirements of electric vehicles requires a lot of attention. For the sizing, requirements covering the characteristics of the batteries and the vehicle are taken into consideration, and optimally providing the most suitable battery cell type as well as the best arrangement for them is a task that requires a great deal of effort from the designer. In this context, this paper develops a battery sizing and selection method for the energy storage system of a pure electric vehicle based on the analysis of the vehicle energy demand and the specificity of the battery technologies. The results demonstrate that the method assists in the decision-making process. From a set of 1158 batteries, it was possible to indicate the most appropriate type of battery cell, as well as the arrangement and main characteristics of the battery energy storage system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]