fig4 the negative terminal clamp finger 28 is tightened to progressively deform the bus bar frame negative terminal flange 13 at the bus bar frame flange connector 14 of the bus bar frame 11 and the underlying bus bar negative terminal flange 4 at the bus bar slot 5 and flange connecting portion 6 of the deformable bus bar 1 therefore the bus bar negative terminal flange 4 and the bus bar frame negative terminal flange 13 traverse the contact gap 32 fig3 until the bus bar negative terminal flange 4 makes solid contact or engagement with the negative terminal 22 of the battery cell 18 the bus bar positive terminal flange 3 and the bus bar negative terminal flange 4 can then be welded to the positive terminal 20 and the negative terminal 22 respectively it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the deformable bus bar 1 can be deformed to compensate for the difference in height between adjacent terminals on a battery cell responsive to application of pressure to the deformable bus bar compared to conventional bus bars the deformable bus bar may result in significant reduction or elimination of a contact gap between the bus bar and the positive or negative terminal on a battery cell because the deformable bus bar requires substantially less clamp force which is necessary to be applied for deformation to reduce or eliminate the contact gap the total pressure which is necessary to be applied on the battery array or pack during the welding operation is substantially reduced this expedient may reduce the risk of damaging the battery array or pack due to overload forces in addition.