Challenges in lithium-ion battery pack design and scale-up for electric vehicles

Cell-to-cell variations and thermal gradients in lithium-ion battery packs can significantly impact the accessible energy and rate of degradation thereby reducing the range and lifetime of poorly designed electric vehicles. Here we discuss some of these challenges, ways of quantifying their effects and the outlook for better battery pack designs.
00:00 Introduction
00:22 The need to decarbonise transport
01:26 The problem with scaling up
03:16 The battery model
05:42 Interconnect resistances result in uneven currents
07:17 Cell-to-cell variability
07:41 The impact of cell placement on pack performance
09:33 The impact of thermal gradients
11:55 Summary
This video covers content presented in our paper "The effect of cell-to-cell variations and thermal gradients on the performance and degradation of lithium-ion battery packs" published in Applied Energy in 2019. Please check it out in the link below:
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
The slides for this video can be downloaded from the below link:
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Interested in learning more?
Here are some books which I recommend to learn more about the history of batteries and how they've impacted the world
- Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green - Henry Sanderson - amzn.to/3WoCDEc (Amazon)
- The Powerhouse: America, China, and the Great Battery War - Steve LeVine - amzn.to/3UPHf5e (Amazon)
- Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions - Akshat Rathi - amzn.to/3we1jVo (Amazon)
#LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryPacks #ElectricVehicles #Degradation
Twitter: / icbillywu
Personal website: www.imperial.ac.uk/people/bill...
About us: www.imperial.ac.uk/design-engi...

[@vasuguvera5912]

Thank you professor for your response. I got it.

[@srinivasj9009]

Thank you for uploading this video.

[@BillyWu]

Glad you found it interesting

[@vasushanmugam9072]

Thank you for your informative video. The single particle modelling will be considered for different form factor of cell like cylindrical, prismatic and pouch cells cases. Could you please comment on among these three cases in pack level which is could deliver better performance.

[@BillyWu]

Thanks Vasu. The single particle model is a simplification that starts to lose accuracy at ~2 C. As you say, it also doesn't capture the complexity of cell form factor or size as it assumes everything is homogeneous. In terms of performance you might expect a well designed pouch cell with compression and thermal management to be better than a cylindrical or prismatic. This is a generalisation but the cylindrical and prismatic have windings inside the cell which can cause stresses and uneven performance. In practice, cylindricals are easier to make and if managed well can be just as good so there are many factors to consider when selecting a suitable cell.