An intelligent adaptive energy management system and method for an electronic device such as a cell phone or laptop computer. The system comprises at least two batteries that work cooperatively. The system includes multiple features that may be used alone or in combination. One feature includes one or more sensors capable of measuring various characteristics of the battery cells such as temperature, voltage, and shape deformation. The sensors communicate the measured data to a control module which may control cell charging, cell discharging, cell balancing, and/or terminating the use of one or more of the cells. A second feature is to enhance the scalability of the batteries by making the battery cells logically and/or physically removable and configurable so that the capacity of the batteries can be scaled on demand. A third feature is to provide intelligent charging and discharging methodologies. One alternate discharge method discharges the cells intelligently using measured rotational turns. This process allows every battery cell to recover energy due to chemical elasticity during its idle phase and, therefore, output more energy. A forth feature of this invention is to allow the alternate discharging method to make possible hot plug of battery cells. Another feature is to provide a communication mechanism between a secondary battery and the powered mobile device. Through this communication, the secondary battery can be managed based on the primary battery status and the power requirements (profile) of the electronic device. Another feature is to provide a method to store historical data that will facilitate better performing energy management algorithms that are device use specific. Circuitry, firmware, and programmable software may be used to implement and control the above systems and methodologies.