Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technology Prepared by: Dr. Mohan Das A N & Prof.

Abhishek H A

Unit-3
Battery for EV’s: Selection of battery for EVs and HEVs, Battery pack design, Requirement of
Battery Monitoring, Battery state of charge estimation methods, Battery cell equalization problem,
thermal control, Protection interface, SOC Estimation, Energy and Power Estimation, Battery
thermal management system.
Battery Management Systems: Definition, parts, power module, battery, DC/DC converter, load,
communication channel, Battery pack safety, Battery standards and Tests.

Introduction:
As an important part of national economy, with high consumption of energy, especially
petroleum resource, transportation industry has received much concern. Under the pressure
of energy shortage and environment pollution, automobile manufacturers are forced to shift
their attention to green energy power and clean vehicles. Pure electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid
electric vehicles (HEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are more energy efficient and
cleaner than conventional vehicles. The improving electric vehicles market demands high
specific power and high specific energy density batteries to meet the operational needs of
electric vehicles. Various batteries such as lead-acid, zinc/halogen, metal/air, sodium-beta,
nickel metal hydride (Ni- MH) and lithium-ion (Li-ion) are available for EVs and HEVs, proton
exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), for FCEVs. On the one hand, the performance of
electric vehicles is determined by the batteries that the battery safety is a key issue for
electric vehicles applications. On the other hand, the cost is a key barrier to the viability of the
electric vehicles for both manufactures and customers. Therefore, improving the power
performance and cycle life of the battery is very important.
The success or failure of an EV hinges upon its battery performance. In order to eliminate the
drawbacks of the existing battery technology, R & D organizations, automotive companies, and
universities worldwide have been researching to develop new technologies. In addition to further
development of Li-Ion batteries as lithium metal batteries, several other advanced technologies like
graphene, solid-state, and aluminum-air batteries are being developed to help EV OEMs obtain the
desired performance characteristics. Selection of one these battery technologies is certainly a
challenging task for the OEMs. It is the high time that the EV OEMs need to be proactive in making
vehicle cost effective, efficient, safe, reliable, and quick-charging EVs. Selection of best advanced
battery technology will help them to meet these requirements. The battery technology selection
is a Multi-Criteria Decision (MCD) problem, hence, an MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision Making)
will be effective to handle it. WPM (Weighted Product Model) is one such method extensively
applied to MCD problems.

Advanced Battery Technologies

A. Lithium metal battery
Rechargeable lithium metal batteries have been considered as one of the reasonable energy density
batteries due to better specific capacity and the lowest reduction potential of metallic lithium. It
is the best candidate for anode material to increase the energy density because of their ultrahigh
specific capacity. However, the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth lead to severe safety issues
and a reduced life, which is severe especially at a high current density. Lithium metal is also
considered as the perfect negative electrode material because of its highest specific capacity (~3860
mA h g-1) and its lowest electrochemical potential.
In the real system, the pretreated Li-metal battery cell (E.g. Li|LiMn2O4) retains 83 % of the
capacity over 200 cycles at a high rate of 2C and a high temperature of 55 degree C. The cell
shows a robust coulombic efficiency and good electrochemical performance after the cycles at
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10C especially at a high current density. There is a plenty of literature available on Lithium- Ion
batteries and their performance characteristics.

B. Graphene battery
The graphene batteries do have graphene electrodes for both cathode and anode. Graphene has a
highest intrinsic mechanical strength (1060 Gpa) and thermal conductivity (3000Wm-1k-1). The
graphene battery operates based on fast surface reaction occurring in both electrodes, thus delivering
a high-power density, which is better than that of conventional lithium ion battery. The properties
like porous morphology and high electrical conductivity helps to increase the power density.
Among various high- performance energy-storage devices such as lithium-ion battery (LIBs),
superconductors, and lithium ion capacitors (LICs), the LIBs are promising candidates because of
their high energy density. However, the power density of available LIBs is not suitable for large-
scale applications, and the cost is too high. These issues of low power density and high cost –
are closely related to the fundamental electrode reaction characteristic of LIBs. Moreover, it
retains high energy density, attributable to the wide potential difference between the anode
and cathode. From the literature, it is observed that the electrochemical property, i.e., specific
capacity of graphene battery evaluated at a current density of 0.05 A g-1 in the voltage window
between 0.01 and 4.3 V is approximately
170 mAh g-1 based on the weight of the cathode, which corresponds to 100% utilization of the
graphene cathode, whereas the graphene anode delivers a capacity of 430 mAh g-1, which
corresponds to 80% utilization.
The charge/discharge profiles of the graphene batteries are not significantly altered upon
repeated charging and discharging cycle, thereby ensuring that the electrochemical reaction is
highly reversible in graphene batteries, and showing better performance as compared to LIBs and
superconductors.
C. Aluminum-air battery
Amongst all metal-air batteries, the aluminum-air battery is attractive candidate as a power source
for electric vehicles (EVs) because of its high theoretical voltage (2.7V) and high energy density
(8100 Wh kg-1), which is significantly greater than that of the state-of-the-art lithium- ion batteries
(LIBs), apart from high capacity, and lower cost (depending on the metal anode). Al-air batteries
reveal high energy densities ranging between 2~10 folds higher than that of LIBs. The lowest cost
coupled with high specific capacity of 2.98 Ah g-1, makes is more suitable for large- scale
applications. The specific capacity of Al-air batteries is much higher than those of manganese
(2.20 Ah g-1) and zinc (0.82 Ah g-1). Al-air battery has the potential to be used to produce power
to operate cars and other vehicles. The Al-air battery has proven to be very attractive as an
efficient and sustainable technology for energy storage and conversion with the capability to
power large electronic devices and vehicles.
D. Solid-state rechargeable lithium battery
Solid state battery systems are of great interest because of potential benefit in volumetric energy
density, operable temperature range, safety in comparison to traditional liquid electrolyte-based
systems. The solid-state lithium batteries uses solid electrolytes that are truly new generation
devices for energy storage. Compared to liquid- electrolyte in Li batteries, solid-state electrolytes
are believed to be safer, and to have longer operating life, higher energy density. Unlike Li-ion
batteries, there is a minimal requirement on packaging and state-of-art charge monitoring circuits.
The solid polymer electrolytes used in solid-state batteries, in general, do have better flexibility
and higher safety, which is one of the promising electrolytes for the solid-state lithium
batteries that include Li-ion, Li-sulfur and Li-air. The first generation of all solid-state lithium
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batteries used in electric vehicle was manufactured by the France’s Bollore group in 2011, Interest
in these batteries is increasing rapidly because they offer numerous advantages over traditional
liquid-based batteries. Recently, many automotive companies world-wide have invested
billions of dollars on R & D of solid-state batteries. The usability of solid polymer
electrolyte material for various fuel cell and battery applications has already been demonstrated
a couple of decades ago.

Selection of Advanced Battery Technologies:

As discussed in the previous section, it is realized that there is a need to develop a tool or method
for selecting the best advanced battery technology to help EV OEMs. Based on the literature, and
interaction with the some of the OEMs of EV batteries and battery management systems, an MCDM
(Multi-Criteria Decision Making) method is proposed to select the advanced battery technology that
is based on WPM (Weighted Product Method). In this method, the performance factors of various
battery technologies are selected, compared, appropriately weighted based on the importance, and
combined to obtain performance score, which is then used to rank the battery technologies. Table 1
presents comparison of performance factors of four different battery technologies, which have been
reviewed in the previous section. The following performance factors are identified and considered
for the selection of advanced battery technology;

1. Cost effectiveness (C): The cost of batteries is one of the major stumbling blocks standing in the
way of widespread use of electric vehicles. Hence, the price of the battery must be as low as possible.
2. Performability (Pr): This represents the ability of battery to perform under combined effect of C-
rate, E-rate, nominal capacity and energy of the battery. A C-rate is defined as the measure of the rate
of discharge that is relative to its maximum capacity, whereas, E-rate represents the discharge power.
The nominal capacity and energy are reduced with an increase in C- and E- rates. After a few thousand
of charging cycles, the performability of a typical EV battery pack does not stay up to the task of
powering the vehicle. Hence, the batteries with reduced C- and E- rates are preferred for electric
vehicles.
3. Safety (S): Though the battery related safety issues are being addressed by the battery developers,
yet the failures are bound to happen during application. The battery technology should ensure the
maximum safety for EV applications.
4. Life (L): In general, batteries degrade with time regardless whether they are in use or not.
Moreover, High temperature and charging and discharging cycles accelerates the failures. It is,
therefore, crucial to consider the aging characteristics of the battery before installing onto EVs.
5. Weightlessness (W): In order to reduce the gross vehicle weight of the EV, it is important to use
light weight batteries.
6. Recyclability (R): The stringent environmental regulations have forced EV OEMs to have closed
loop recycling of batteries. Although the OEMs have the contingency plans to recycle their batteries
to a great extent, yet the battery developer/ manufacturers must ensure that the batteries are fully
recyclable.
7. Maintainability (Mn): The batteries lose their efficiency due to frequent charging / discharging
cycles, and eventually become week to retain the charge. This lessens driving range gradually.
Moreover, a cooling system is required to be integrated with the battery to maintain safe operating
temperatures. This may require regular inspection and periodic maintenance. The complete battery
management system should need less maintenance and/ or should be less complex to be easily
maintainable.

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8. Manufacturability (Mf): The design and manufacturing of complex battery management system
that contains various subsystems like control, and cooling subsystems remain a crucial task for the
battery manufacturers / developers. The battery elements should be good enough to reduce or
eliminate the requirements of the complex battery management system. This will help to lessen the
manufacturing difficulty of the battery system.
9. Fast Charging (F): Fast charging of EV batteries is in huge demand. The battery must be
developed to accept the fast charge, without affecting the life of the battery. The selected
performance factors are given appropriate rating [Refer Table 1]. The performance rating of the
factors may vary from poor (P) to excellent (E), and in-between the codes are given as “average” (A)
and “good”(G).The selected range in the scale is good in representing the performance of the factors,
however, the higher side of the range is used for representing the performance code in order to reduce
the subjectivity. As mentioned earlier in this section, the performance of each technology is compared
based on the input from the OEMs and literature. However, this performance may vary in near future
as these technologies are still in developing. This proposed battery technology selection method will
help the EV OEMs to select the best technology which is based on the current performance of the
battery technologies.

Table 1 Performance rating of factors Table 2 Performance score and ranking

From the above, it is observed that the performance score of solid-state battery technology is high,
and therefore, it is selected as optimally best alternative for electric vehicle applications. Solid-state
batteries have been widely used in medical devices (E. g. pacemakers), tracking system (E. g. RFID
bar code system) and smart electronics (E.g. wearable). They are safer with higher energy densities
but are expensive. They are also free from toxic or flammable compounds which are found in organic
electrolyte. Heat generation inside the battery is lower, which increases the battery life. In addition,
these are maintenance- free, lightweight, and recyclable. These characteristics make the solid-state
batteries better option for EV applications.
Requirement of Battery Monitoring:
Battery Monitoring is used for supervision without manual engagement, which is state of the art with
many cycling batteries in automatically guided vehicles (AGVs), forklift trucks, submarines,
electrically driven cars and trucks, as well as with standby batteries in telecom and UPS applications.
With consumer applications, any mobile phone, laptop or pocket computer, or even a wristwatch is
equipped with a device providing some information with respect to energy being left.
Battery Monitoring in the automotive fields:
 They are scarcely ever been completely charged, i.e. ‘‘opportunity charge’’ is standard.
 Recharge is performed with a wide range of different current rates.
 Discharge virtually never starts from a full SOC.
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 Discharge is performed with a wide range of different current rates.

 Sometimes full discharge or (unfortunately) even over discharge occurs.
 A large variety of electric duties must provide power for may different applications.
 Operational temperature may even exceed the window from -30 to 70oC.
In addition, the automotive cost level excludes many solutions which may be acceptable in other
fields. While the term ‘‘Battery Monitoring’’ comprises taking and/or receiving data from and/or
about the battery, processing of this information, including predictions of performance, and indicating
raw data or processed information to a human being or a unit, i.e. only passive surveillance and
evaluation.

Fig. 1. Layer structure of Battery Monitoring generating Battery Status Information, Battery Management,
and Energy Management, and mutual data flow.
Fig. 1 sketches the layer structure of Battery Monitoring generating Battery Status Information,
Battery Management, and Energy Management. It is Energy Management, preferably including
Battery Management, which, based on the information from Battery Monitoring, allows for a self-
standing operation of a system without manual input—the comfort and the technical necessity
requested for a vehicle at the beginning of the 21st century.
Battery Monitoring allows for best use of the capability of a battery of given size, to guarantee power
supply for highreliability devices, and for replacement strategies. Furthermore, monitoring of the
actual state-of-charge allows for an electrical power management which may include both reducing
consumption of electrical power by limiting of operable luxury applications as well as increase of
power generation by appropriate control of alternator or even idle speed and automatic gearbox
control.
Battery Monitoring may be needed if
1. energy has to be provided for a component which is essential for operation, e.g. an
Electromechanical Power Steering (EPS) or an Electro-hydraulic Power Braking (EHB) system, an
electrically powered suspension stabilization system, or an automatic gear shift;
2. an Electrical Energy Management (EEM) has to guarantee, e.g. for future cranking capability;
3. the cranking capability has to be supervised to operate a stop/start-system;
4. an indication of battery fatigue is needed for garage service to replace the battery.
Battery Monitoring consists of data acquisition, data processing, and some prediction of the future.
For different technical goals, different information with respect to the future is needed.
Any approach for Battery Monitoring may be classified according to the following criteria, which
may be combined, too, e.g. data acquisition from both long-term and the nearest past, and prediction
of both battery status and behaviour:
(A) Data acquisition
Type of data: Battery status/battery behaviour/operational conditions.
Time scale of data acquisition: From long-term history/ near past.

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Source of data: External battery parameters (e.g. U, i, T)/internal battery parameters (e.g. electrolyte
proper- ties)/vehicle data (e.g. engine rpm, speed, environmental temperature).
Data achieved from: Undisturbed battery behaviour/ after electrical stimulation.
(B) Data analysis
Analysis of operational history (i.e. conditions the battery had to suffer so far).
Analysis of previous performance (i.e. behaviour the battery has shown so far).
Analysis of actual performance (i.e. recent and actual battery behaviour and status).
(C) Prediction of battery performance under a hypothetical future electrical load
Point in time for prediction: Near future (just now, with the present battery status)/medium future (in
several hours or days, when the battery charge and temperature may have been changed).
Type of predicted battery data: Status (temperature, state-of-charge)/load behaviour.
(D) determination of available electrical energy: This is a special case of C, with the standard
capacity test scheme as the hypothetical (future) electrical load.
(E) Determination of battery degradation (state-of-health (SOH) figure of merit).

Fig.2. Sketch of interdependence of data acquisition from battery and vehicle, data processing, and
prediction with respect to time scale.
Fig.2. sketches the interdependence of some of these aspects. While Battery Monitoring may provide
information about the status of the battery, this knowledge is not a goal by itself. The final technical
benefit has to be made clear, and a strategy and means to achieve this goal have to be worked out, to
find out the relevant properties of the battery which have to be considered and evaluated.
Battery state of charge estimation methods
The Definition of SOC The SOC of the battery refers to the ratio of the current remaining battery
capacity to the available capacity under certain conditions (temperature, charge and discharge ratio,
etc.), and its mathematical expression is shown in below Equation.

Or

Depth-of-Discharge (DOD)=1-SOC

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State of health (SOH) can be defined as the possible bridging time to cut-off voltage compared to
the design value. A fresh battery is given a nominal SOH= 1, a battery just meeting the threshold
criterion is named SOH =0, and negative SOH values are given to batteries which fail the specified
duty. The characteristic dependence of SOH on temperature T and SOC can be used to deduce SOH
values at other (T, SOC) combinations.

State-of-function (SOF)

To describe the capability of the battery to perform a certain specified duty, a new figure, the state-
of-function (SOF), is defined, which is relevant for the functionality of a system powered by the
battery. SOF brings together the battery state parameters, i.e. state-of-charge, state-of-health,
temperature, and if needed also the short-term previous discharge/recharge history. SOF is defined
similarly to SOH, but comprising state parameters (SOC, SOH, T), i.e. the number of SOF equals
that of SOH for a certain battery state under investigation, characterized by (SOC, SOH, T):

Where, Umin- minimum Voltage, Umax-Maximum Voltage, U1 –initial Voltage.

SOC Estimation Methods
SOC is an important part of BMS. Based on the theoretical and experimental characteristics, various
estimation methods are classified into three groups: the traditional estimation algorithm based on
experiments, modern methods based on control theory and other methods based on the innovative
ideas. As shown in Figure3, we classify these methods into three groups to compare them in more
detail.

Figure 3. Classification of the State of Charge (SOC) estimation methods.

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Traditional Methods Based on Experiments

Open Circuit Voltage
The Open Circuit Voltage method, also known as the Voltage measurement method, is based on the
corresponding relationship between Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) and SOC in below Equation.

In this correspondence, the experimental methods help us obtain Uoc and f (soc) can be obtained
through the charge and discharge fitting experiment of the battery.

When determining the above relationship, it is necessary to establish the PNGV model and refer to
the PNGV battery experiment manual for the HPPC experiment to obtain the SOC-OCV relationship
curve. As shown in Figure3, the PNGV model adds the capacitance CP, compared with the Thevenin
model. The advantage of the PNGV model is that it need not high-performance processor and is easy
to implement, so it is suitable for simulation dynamic analysis. The disadvantage of the PNGV model
is that it does not consider the charging process, so it is not suitable for long-term stable discharge
simulation of the battery.

Figure 4. Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) curve of lithium iron phosphate and lithium
manganese acid battery.
As shown in Figure4, the corresponding relationship is shown between OCV and SOC of lithium
iron phosphate battery and lithium manganese acid battery.

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The advantage of the OCV method is that the measured quantity is relatively simple, and the accuracy
obtained is higher.
Ampere-Hour Integral Method

The Ampere-hour (Ah) integral method is the most commonly used method for electric charge
accumulation at present. It is based on the calculation of electric quantity during charging and
discharging. In fact, we also take the temperature, charging and discharging efficiency of the battery
into account, when estimating SOC. below Equation can illustrate the Ah integral method. Efficiency
of the battery into account, when estimating SOC. below Equation can illustrate the Ah integral
method.

In above Equation , Q is the rated capacity of the battery, unit: A.h. Q0 is the initial charge of the
battery, unit: A.h. η is the charging eciency. S is the electric quantity of self-discharge, unit: A. h. ic
is the charging current, unit: A. id is the discharge current, unit: A.

The Ah integral method has the advantages of simple calculation, stable algorithm and online
measurement. Considering the battery’s self-discharge, temperature, charging and discharging
Efficiency of the battery, the method can meet certain accuracy requirements in the early use of the
battery

Internal Resistance Method

The internal resistance method aims to obtain the SOC value according to the relationship between
the internal resistance of the battery and SOC. The relationship between the internal resistance of the
battery and the SOC is based on the relationship between internal resistance and voltage change.
Taking the PNGV model in Figure3as an example, the following relationship can be obtained. There
is a basic principle in below Equation.

In below Equation, Uoc is the open-circuit voltage of the battery. R1 is the ohmic resistance of the
battery. R2 is the polarization resistance of the battery, which forms a parallel RC loop with the
polarization capacitor C2. The polarization effect inside the battery can be simulated. Cb is the battery
capacitor, which is due to the OCV change blocked together with the current I1.

Theoretically, the internal resistance method is relatively simple, mainly because it only considers
the discharge current and internal resistance of the battery. However, in practice, the relationship
between battery parameters and SOC is quite complex.

Discharge Test Method

The discharge test method is the most reliable SOC estimation method at present. Its principle is that
in the constant current continuous discharge, the SOC equals that the discharge current multiples
time. Its advantage is that it has good applicability for almost all batteries. It is mainly used in the
laboratory as the standard of SOC accuracy, as well as in the research on charging and discharging
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characteristics and battery maintenance. However, the whole experimental process needs a lot of
time, so the SOC measurement with the vehicle in motion cannot be carried out.

Overall Summary:

In summary, the traditional estimation method based on the experiment has the advantage that the
algorithm is simple and easy to implement, but the higher requirements of the hardware require a
large amount of experimental investment and it only has a significant performance in estimating SOC.
With respect to the estimation accuracy and test characteristics of each method, the accuracy of the
open-circuit voltage method increases with the battery’s stand by time, which means that the test time
will be extended accordingly. The Ampere-hour (Ah) integral method is mainly used for the initial
state-of-charge estimation, but its accuracy decreases with the test time, because the internal
resistance constantly changes due to many factors. The internal resistance method is stable only in
the late stage of discharge and has a high degree of precision, but the test time is often not accurately
obtained which will cause an error. The discharge test method has high precision, but it is not suitable
for real vehicles and can only be performed in the laboratory stage.

Neural Network Method

The neural network is a branch of artificial intelligence. It bases on a simple abstraction and
simulation of the human brain and accepts the corresponding training mainly through the input and
output sample so that it can meet the mapping function relations. It improves the accuracy of the
model through the model weight and deviation adjustment. This process can be divided into two
stages. The first is the positive calculation process, which mainly completes the calculation of each
unit from the input layer to the output layer.

The second is the process of error echo propagation.

In Figure5, the input layer is mainly the battery performance parameters such as current, voltage,
temperature and internal resistance. The output layer is the estimated value of the battery’s SOC. The
hidden layer is the activation function of the system. According to the research of Xia Kegang et al.,
the basic processing process of neural network algorithm is shown in Figure6. The experimental
results show that the method is robust and accurate.

The advantages of this method lie in that it can accurately estimate the SOC quickly and easily. At
the same time, the parallel and global searching methods are fast and it has better convergence speed
and precision in the experiment. The disadvantages of this method are also obvious, mainly because
it requires a large amount of training data as a support to complete the training system.

Kalman Filter Method

The core idea of the Kalman Filter (KF) is the optimal design of the least variance of the state of the
power system. The KF method for SOC estimation treats the battery as a power system. The general
mathematical form of the battery model is as follows.

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In the above Equation, uk is the input of the system, generally referring to the variables such as
current, temperature, residual electric quantity, and internal resistance. yk+1 is the output of the
system, usually referring to the voltage, xk is the state quantity of the system, including the estimated
value of SOC. Functions f (xk, uk) and g(xk, uk) refer to the nonlinear equations established on the
battery model, but they need to be linearized in the calculation process.

Figure 5. SOC estimation principle of neural network. Figure 6. Process of neural network.

Figure 7. The principle of Kalman Filter (KF).

The principle of this method is shown in Figure7. It describes the battery as a system composed of
an equation of state and observation equation, considers SOC as an internal state of the system,
establishes a state-space model, and makes the minimum variance estimation for SOC.

Its advantage is that it eliminates the error of the ampere-hour integral method accumulated over
time. At the same time, it does not have a high requirement for the accuracy of the initial SOC. In
other words, even if the initial value has a certain deviation it can well converge to the real value.
Even if there is noise, it can have a good correction effect.

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Its disadvantage is that the accuracy largely depends on the establishment of the battery equivalent
model, and the error mainly comes from three aspects: the time variability of the model, the non-
linearity of the model and the approximate treatment of noise. In practical applications, it is actually
used in a variety of batteries, especially in hybrid-electric vehicles with violent current fluctuations.
Table 3. The comparison of all estimations and their advantages and disadvantages.

Battery cell equalization problem

Imbalance of cells (each battery that makes up the whole battery pack is called cell hereafter unless
otherwise noted) in battery systems is very usual and an important matter in the battery system life.
It is caused by two major categories, they are the internal sources that consist of manufacturing
variance in physical volume, variations in internal impedance and differences in self discharge rate;
and external sources such as thermal difference across the pack. A battery system without a balancing
technique takes special importance in Li-based cells, since it can lead its cells to be overcharged,
undercharged, or even over discharged.

Imbalance harms performance can be summarized in four different groups.

The first group deals with premature cells degradation due to the overvoltage exposure. The effects
of the cell degradation caused by imbalance is auto-accelerating, once a cell has a lower capacity, it
is exposed to an increasingly higher voltage during charge, what makes it degrade faster, and so its
capacity becomes even less, closing the runaway circle. The second group is safety hazards from
overcharged cells. Overcharging and overheating of the battery lead to a reaction of the active
components with electrolyte and with each other ultimately, inducing explosion and fire. Thermal
run-away can be caused merely by overcharging a single cell to voltages above 4.35 V. Other cells
of the pack will also join the explosive chain reaction if one cell is compromised. The third group is
based on the early charge termination resulting in reduced capacity. The charging process is finished
if one of the cell voltages exceeds the programmable cell overvoltage threshold due to safety reasons.
Finally, the last and forth group deals with early discharge termination. In order to prevent the over
discharge of the cells and resulting damage, the discharge process is finished if any of the cells reaches
the low voltage threshold.

Based on the cited problems, the equalization for the Lithium based series-connected battery string
is necessary in order to mainly keep the energy of the cells balanced and extend their lifetime.

Balancing methods

Balancing methods can be divided into three main groups: battery selection (building the battery pack
by selecting the cells with similar properties), passive methods (no active control is used to balance)
and active methods (external circuitry with active control is used to balance), as shown in Fig. 8.

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Fig. 8. Classification of the battery equalization methods. Fig. 9. Fixed shunting resistor method.

Battery selection

By properly selecting cells so that their properties are uniform (similar electrochemical
characteristics) in order to make up the battery pack, the issues of voltage imbalance can be mitigated.
Two different screening processes are carried out to select the similar cells. The first one obtains the
cells with similar average capacity by discharging at different current regimes. It is based on

where CCelli is the cell capacity defined as the maximum electrical charge (Ah) that the cell can
deliver from the fully charged state to the fully discharged state, ICelli is the cell current, and
tSOC=100% and tSOC=0% are the State of Charge of the cell at the fully charged and discharged
states, respectively.

This method is not enough to keep the series string balanced since their self-discharge can vary
differently along their lifetime. It can only be useful in case of complementing a balancing system.
Passive methods
No active control is used to balance. Passive methods can only be used for Lead-acid and Nickel-
based batteries as Li-ion batteries cannot be overcharged. They can be subdivided into two subgroups:
overcharge and fixed shunting resistor. In the overcharge method, when cells are fully charged, due
to internal reactions cells stop being charged and the energy is converted into heat rather than stored.
It is only effective on a small number of series cells as balancing problems grow exponentially with
the number of series cells. It cannot be repeated forever without eventual damage of the battery, since
the side reactions and the loss of water degrades the performance and life of the unit. The fixed
shunting resistor method uses a resistor in parallel with each individual cell in the pack as shown in
Fig. 9, and the current is partially or totally bypassed from the cells in order to limit the cells voltages.
This method is continuously bypassing current and therefore continuously wasting energy.
Active methods
Active balancing methods use external circuits to actively transport the energy among cells in order
to balance them, and are the only ones that can be implemented for Lithium-based batteries.
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Attending to the energy flow, active balancing methods can be grouped into five categories: cell
bypass, cell to cell, cell to pack, pack to cell and cell(s) to pack to cell(s). A diagram of the different
active balancing methods is shown in Fig. 10.
In cell bypass methods, cells currents are bypassed when the cells voltages reach their upper limit.
Cell to cell methods transfer the extra energy stored in the most charged cells to the adjacent least
charged ones. Cell to pack methods transfer the energy from the highest voltage cell to the whole
battery pack, pack to cell methods transfer the energy from the whole battery pack to a single cell,
by means of galvanic isolated DC/DC converters, and finally, cell to pack to cell methods transfer
the energy from the set cell(s) to the whole pack, from the whole pack to the target cell(s) or from
the set cell(s) to the target cell(s).
Cell bypass

Three groups subdivide this method: complete shunting method, shunt resistor, and shunt transistor
methods.

Fig. 10. Classification of the different active balancing methods.

Complete shunting

Each individual cell is individually controlled by only using two power switches (or bidirectional
switches, attending to the utilized topology), as shown in Fig. 11. Each cell is fully shunted, that is
to say, it is disconnected from the current path, when either it reaches its maximum voltage (minimum
in discharge mode) or it is close to a reference value, depending on the control strategy. The
advantages of this method are the relatively low cost and high efficiency.
It is easy to be modularized. The main disadvantage is that it can only be used for low power
applications since the higher the currents through the switches are or the number of cells is (the higher
the voltage of the whole battery pack is), the less the efficiency is because of the switches on-
resistance, and the efficiency degradation per cell follows

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where ηis the efficiency degradation, Rsw is the on-resistance of the module bypass switch, I is the
current, N is the number of cells, and VCell is the cell voltage.

Fig. 11. Complete shunting method. Fig. 12. Shunt resistor method.

Fig. 13. Shunt transistor method. Fig. 14. Switched capacitor method.

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Fig. 15. Double-tiered switching capacitor method. Fig. 16. Shunt inductor method.
Shunt resistor
A switch in series with a resistor is set in parallel with each individual cell in the battery pack as
shown in Fig. 12. The switches are controlled in two different modes: in the first mode, all of them
are commanded by the same signal, that is to say, they all are set either on or off at the same time. In
the second mode, cells voltages are monitored and each switch is commanded individually, so when
the imbalance conditions are sensed, it is decided which resistor is shunted and a fraction of the
current bypasses the cell (cells can be balanced during both charge and discharge
modes). When a cell is bypassed, the current through the cell is

where ICell is the current through the cell, Icharger is the current delivered by the charger, VCell is
the cell voltage, R is the resistor set in parallel with the cell, and Rsw is the resistance associated with
the switch.

The advantages of this method are the low cost and easy implementation. The main disadvantage is
that it can only be utilized for low power applications as it has an excessive power dissipation and
therefore a low efficiency operation.
Shunt transistor
It shares the same idea as the shunt resistor method. A transistor is set in parallel with each individual
cell as shown in Fig. 13. During charging, when the cell reaches the maximum voltage, the current is
proportionally bypassed around the cell and so this cell is charged at constant voltage. In this method,
the current is only shunted at the end of the charging process, so compared to shunt resistor working
in the first mode, it has less energy loss. Compared to shunt resistor working in the second mode, it
does not need intelligent control, and therefore the cost is lower. By considering Rsw =0, and R the
transistor on-resistance.
Cell to cell
This method can be subdivided into five methods, the switched capacitor, the double-tiered switching
capacitor, the Cûk converter, the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controlled converter and the Quasi
Resonant and the resonant converter ones.
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Switched capacitor
In this method, two states are alternated continuously. In the first state, each capacitor is set in parallel
with its corresponding upper cell, and therefore the capacitor is set to the cell voltage, delivering or
demanding energy from the mentioned cell. Once each capacitor has reached its corresponding upper
cell voltage (Vu), the stored charge (Qc) for the i-capacitor is

where Ci is the capacitance of the i-capacitor.

In the second state, the capacitors are set in parallel with their corresponding lower cell, transferring
or demanding energy from this one in order to reach this new voltage. After cycles of this process,
both cells will be balanced.The topology is depicted in Fig. 14. Each switching cycle, the i-capacitor
transfers the current Ici from the most charged adjacent cell to the least charged adjacent
cell according to

where Vli is the lower cell voltage of the i-capacitor and fsw is the switching frequency.
The efficiency degradation per capacitor follows

The main advantages of this method are the efficiency, low complexity and the possibility of low and
high power applications. No sensing or closed-loop control are needed. The main disadvantage is the
speed, as the lower the voltage difference between adjacent cells is, the lower the balancing current
is, and therefore the lower the balancing speed is.
Double-tiered switching capacitor
This method is a derivation of the switched capacitor one, the difference is that it uses two capacitor
tiers for shuttling energy and the equalization time is reduced even to a quarter. Fig. 15 shows the
mentioned topology. Similar advantages and disadvantages are obtained compared with the switched
capacitor method. The advantages compared with the switched capacitor are the balancing time and
the lower balancing capacitors currents while simultaneously transferring more charge along the
string of cells. It is due to a better charge distribution between the most charged cells and the least
charged ones. The disadvantages are higher cost and size.
Shunt inductor
The configuration of this method is shown in Fig. 16. In case a cell is detected to have a higher voltage
than the other ones of the pack, the inductor is alternately set in parallel with the cell (the cell is
shunted by the inductor), activating the corresponding switches of the cell, and with the whole pack,
activating the switches SWa and SWb in the figure, with the aim of transferring the extra energy from
the imbalanced cell to the pack.
The average inductor current when a cell is being balanced is

where VCelli is the most charged cell voltage, VBat is the voltage of the whole battery pack, D is the
switching duty cycle, L is the inductance, and fsw is the switching frequency.
This method is good for high power applications, but it is very slow since only one cell is being
balanced at every instant.
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Battery thermal management system:

The power improvement of electric vehicles needs large-scale battery and high current
discharge. These batteries generate much heat during rapid charge and discharge cycles at
high current levels, such as during quick acceleration, with various chemical and
electrochemical reactions. The safety risks, overheating, combustion, and explosive, increase
with the amount of thermal energy contained within the battery or pack. In addition,
excessive or uneven temperature rise in a module or pack reduces its cycle life significantly.
Battery thermal energy management, including traditional cooling systems, such as an air
thermal management system with an electric fan, liquid thermal management system with
water, glycol, oil, acetone or even refrigerants, hear pipe thermal management system and
PCM thermal management system have been investigated by many researchers.
In general, temperature affects the battery performance including: (i) electrochemical
system; (ii) round trip efficiency; (iii) charge acceptance; (iv) power and energy capability;
(v) reliability; (vi) cycle life and cost. In 1990s, researchers had realized the importance of
battery safety concerning heat accumulation and studied for effective battery thermal
energy management. Effective heat dissipation and thermal runaway safety, which would
require a successful thermal energy management, are still the major concerns in the
commercialization of Li-ion batteries.
Based on the above analysis, there are two main problems caused by temperature. The
first is that the high temperature during charge and discharge will lead to the possibility that
temperatures will exceed permissible levels and decrease the battery performance.
Another is that the uneven temperature distribution in the battery pack will lead to a localized
deterioration. Thereof, temperature uniformity, within a cell and from cell to cell, is important
to achieve maximum cycle life of cell, module, and pack. To opti- mize the performance of a
battery and pack/module, the thermal energy management system should have.
(i) Optimum operating temperature range for every cell and all battery modules, rejecting
heat in hot climates/adding heat in cold climates.
(ii) Small temperature variations within a cell and module. (iii) Small temperature variations
among various modules.
(iv) Compact and lightweight, easily packaged, reliable, low-cost and easy for service.
(v) A provision for ventilation if the battery generates potentially hazardous gases.
The thermal management system may be passive (i.e., only the ambient environment is
used) or active (i.e., a built-in source provides heating and/or cooling), and can be also divided
into four categories based on medium.

(i) Air for heat/cooling/ventilation (Fig. 17). (ii) Liquid for cooling/heating (Fig. 18). (iii) Phase
change materials. (iv) Combination of above.

Fig. 17. Thermal management using air.

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Fig. 18. Thermal management using liquid.

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Thermal control
■ Will not go into detailed thermal management control strategy.
■ Generally, Li-ion cells last longest if maintained in temperature band from about 10oC to 40oC
during use.
■ Air cooling may be sufficient, especially for EV.
■ Liquid/evaporative cooling may be necessary for some aggressive HEV/PHEV/E-REV
applications.
■ Heating may be necessary in some cases to avoid charging at low temperatures—high risk for cell
damage if pack is charged below about 0oC.
■ May also want to measure input/output temperature of coolant for use with battery pack thermal
model.

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Protection and interface

■ BMS must provide monitoring and control to protect: Cells from out-of-tolerance ambient
operating conditions.
User from consequences of battery failures.
■High-energy storage batteries can be very dangerous:
If energy is released in an uncontrolled way (short circuit, physical damage), can have catastrophic
consequences;
In a short circuit, hundreds of amperes can develop in microseconds; protection circuitry must act
quickly.
■ Different applications and different cell chemistries require different degrees of protection. Failure
in a lithium-ion cell can be very serious: explosion/fire.
Protection is indispensable in automotive environment.
■Protection must address following undesirable events or conditions: Excessive current during
charging or discharging;
Short circuit;
Over voltage and under voltage;
High ambient temperature, overheating;
Loss of isolation;
Abuse.
■When possible, fallback protection paths should be implemented
Energy and power estimation

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Battery Management Systems:

Battery management system (BMS) is technology dedicated to the oversight of a battery pack, which
is an assembly of battery cells, electrically organized in a row x column matrix configuration to
enable delivery of targeted range of voltage and current for a duration of time against expected load
scenarios.
The oversight that a BMS provides usually includes:
• Monitoring the battery
• Providing battery protection
• Estimating the battery’s operational state
• Continually optimizing battery performance
• Reporting operational status to external devices
Efficient battery management of electric vehicles plays an important role in ensuring vehicle safety,
extending battery life, reducing cost and improving driving range. A common Battery Management
System (BMS) in the actual vehicle is mainly composed of a variety of sensors, actuators, controllers
and signal lines, as shown in Figure1. More BMSs have been installed the equalization management,
fault diagnosis and so forth. Among them, the main task of the sampling circuit is to measure voltage,
current, and temperature signals. Then the control circuit uses these signals for the estimation of the
State of Charge (SOC), State of Health (SOH), State of Power (SOP) and State of Life (SOL) of
batteries, making use of all kinds of algorithms available. Eventually, the vehicle’s controller deals
with such circuits and realizes the management of the automobile energy and power distribution.

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Figure 19: BMS Key Features

How do battery management systems work?
Battery management systems do not have a fixed or unique set of criteria that must be adopted. The
technology design scope and implemented features generally correlate with:
• The costs, complexity, and size of the battery pack
• Application of the battery and any safety, lifespan, and warranty concerns
• Certification requirements from various government regulations where costs and penalties
are paramount if inadequate functional safety measures are in place
There are many BMS design features, with battery pack protection management and capacity
management being two essential features. We’ll discuss how these two features work here. Battery
pack protection management has two key arenas: electrical protection, which implies not allowing
the battery to be damaged via usage outside its SOA, and thermal protection, which involves passive
and/or active temperature control to maintain or bring the pack into its SOA.

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Figure 20. The general function of a battery management system.

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Battery Power Modules with Bidirectional DC/DC Converters

Conventionally, batteries are packed with a number of serial cells to obtain a high output voltage since
the electric potentials of battery cells are limited to low levels. To further step up a higher voltage, battery
packs are connected in series. Unfortunately, battery cells or packs connected in series suffer inevitably
from charge imbalance, leading to problematic over-charge and over- discharge. Charge equalization
technique and over charge/discharge protection circuits can be introduced to relieve charge imbalance, but
may cause other problems including additional losses and inefficient utilization of the battery power.
An alternative to solve the problem of charge imbalance is to configure a battery power source with battery
power modules (BPMs). In which, a battery cell or pack is associated with an output power converter to form
a modular battery set. To make up higher power and energy, a battery power source can be constructed by a
number of BPMs connected in series or parallel, or both. When bidirectional converters are adopted in BPMs,
the current can flow either out from the batteries to supply load power or into the batteries to recover the
battery energy from a charger. Comparing the active and passive balancing techniques, the battery power
system configured by BPMs can bi-directionally perform charge equalization with the rated power of the
associated converter. With such a configuration, in addition, the charging and discharging currents of

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batteries can be controlled individually, facilitating battery management with state-of-charge (SOC)
estimation, state-of-health (SOH) evaluation and fault protection.

B IDIRECTIONAL BPMS:

Fig. 1 shows typical bidirectional BPMs with three basic dc-to-dc power converters, renamed as buck/boost,
boost/buck, and dual-port buck-boost typed BPMs from the viewpoint of the battery side. All power
converters are of two ports for charging and discharging. In these bidirectional power conversion circuits,
two power MOSFETs are adopted as the active power switches for high frequency operation. The two active
power switches play reciprocally the roles of the main switch for power regulation and the auxiliary switch for
synchronous rectification, leading to a reduction in the conduction loss. The two active power switches should
not be turned on simultaneously to prevent a short-through current.
The bidirectional BPM in Fig. 2 is a battery set with a bidirectional fly back converter. The coupled
inductors in the converter provide not only galvanic isolation but also a high step-up or step-down voltage
ratio between the battery set and the load/charger. With an appropriate turns’ ratio of the primary and the
secondary windings, the lower battery voltage is no longer a constraint for some applications demanding a
relatively high voltage.
Fig. 3 is the bidirectional BPM with two battery sets and a tri-port dc-to-dc power conversion circuit.
When the BPM is operating in the discharging mode, the load can be powered from two batteries. By adjusting
the duty-ratios of the active power switches, the voltage regulation at the output as well as the power
coordination between two battery sets can be made. On the other hand, the charge equalization between two
battery sets can also be done by adjusting the duty-ratios of three power switches in the charging mode.
OPERATION STATES

The power conversion circuits of the bidirectional BPMs can be operated at the continuous conduction
mode (CCM) or the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), depending on the designated circuit parameters
and the load current. The operation states for the buck/boost converter and the fly back converter are similar to
those for the boost/buck converter and the dual-port buck-boost converter, respectively. Figs. 4, 5 and 6 describe
the operation states that may happen to the three types of the bidirectional BPMs with the boost/buck
converter, the dual-port buck-boost converter and the tri-port converter, respectively. The circuits are operated
sequentially and cyclically through states designated as positive sequence for discharging and negative sequence
for charging.

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A. Bidirectional Boost/buck BPM

Fig. 4 shows the operating states of the bidirectional boost/buck type BPM. The discharging operation
goes cyclically through States I-1, I-2 and I-3, and inversely for charging operation. State I-3 occurs only
when the inductor current falls to zero at the DCM.
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Discharging mode:
In the discharging mode, the active power switch S is switched on during State I-1. The inductor L is charged
by the battery source VB. The inductor current rises up linearly. State I-2 begins when S is switched off. As S is
switched off, the auxiliary power switch M is turned on. The battery source delivers power to the load through
the inductor. If the inductor current declines to zero before S is switched on again, both S and M are turned off
and the operation enters into State I-3. The load draws a current from the filter capacitor, and voltage on
the capacitor declines.
Charging mode:
The charging mode begins from State I-2 when the switch M is turned on. The inductor is charged by the
charger and the inductor current increases linearly. Since M is switched off and S is turned on in State I-1, the
inductor L begins to charge the battery. The charger is charging the capacitor when the BPM operates at DCM
in State I-3.

B. Bidirectional Dual-port Buck-boost BPM

For the bidirectional dual-port buck-boost type BPM, both discharging and charging modes perform the buck-
boost conversion. As shown in Fig. 5, the operations runs in the positive sequence of States II-1, II-2 and II-3
for discharging and the negative sequence of States II-2, II-1 and II-3 for and charging, respectively. Similarly,
Stage II-3 only happened when the inductor current declines to zero before the next cycle.

Discharging mode:
The discharging mode begins with State II-1. The main power switch S is switched on, and the
inductor is charged by the battery voltage source VB. As soon as the S is switched off, the auxiliary power
switch M is switched on and the operation enters in to State II-2. The load draws energy from the inductor
when the BPM operates in this state. When the converter is operated at the DCM, State II-3 is entered.
Otherwise, the operation returns to State II-1 of the next cycle.

Charging mode:
The main power switch M for charging operation is turned on o charge the inductor at the beginning of
State II-2. The inductor current increases linearly in this state. State II-1 begins when S is switched on, and
the switch M is turned off. The inductor delivers its energy to charge the battery. In State II-3, the charging
action stops when the converter is operated at the DCM.

C. Bidirectional Tri-port BPM

Fig. 6 shows the operation states for the bidirectional tri-port BPM. There are four states in the
positive sequence for the discharging mode and only three states in negative sequence for the charging
mode. To achieve better power coordination between two battery sets, the discharging operations are divided
into four states. State III-4 occurs only when the inductor current declines to zero.

Discharging mode:
The discharging mode starts from the beginning of State III-1. As the power switch S2 is turned on,
the inductor L is charged by VB2 and the inductor current rises linearly. Since the switch S2 is turned off, S1
is switched on to commute the inductor current. At State III-2, the inductor current rises continuously. The
BPM operates in State III-3 as soon as the S1 is switched off, and the switch M is turned on. In this State, the
inductor starts to provide energy to the load. Furthermore, if the inductor current falls to zero, the operation
state will turn into State III-4. Otherwise, the operation state will return to State III-1, depending on the
continuity of the inductor current.

Charging mode:
The first operating state of charging mode is State III-3. As the switch M is turned on, both the charger and
the capacitor charge the inductor and the battery set 1. The State III-1 begins when the switch M is turned off,
and the active power switch S2 is switched on to commute the freewheeling current of L. In this state, the
battery set 2 received the rest energy of the inductor L.

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Battery pack safety

In recent years, tons of Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been recalled due to explosion and
fire accidents, resulting in severe economic issues for related market sectors and significantly
damaging the reputation of LIB. Consequently, increasing attention is being paid to LIB safety
issues and a large number of safety strategies are being developed.
The internal failure of a LIB is caused by electrochemical system instability. Thus, understanding
the electrochemical reactions, material properties, and side reactions occurring in LIBs is
fundamental in assessing battery safety. Voltage and tem• perature are the two factors
controlling the battery reactions. Safety accidents are accompanied by continuous heat and gas
generation, which causes battery rupture and ignition of the combustible materials. The
external environment (which controls the temperature, voltage, and electrochemical reactions)
is the leading cause of internal disturbances in batteries. Thus. the environment in which the
battery operates also plays a significant role in battery safety.
Safety standards and related tests have been developed to analyze battery performance and
influential factors to meet the required safety demands. For example. GB/T 31485-2015
standard safety tests were established in China, thereby helping the implementation of
stringent standards for LIBs produced and used in China. These strict and vigorous battery safety
tests ensure no future safety problems under normal working conditions. Stable LIB operation
under normal conditions significantly limits battery damage in the event of an accident. As a
result of all these measures, current LIBs are much safer than previous generations, though
additional developments are still needed to improve battery safety even further.

LIB safety issues

Even under normal operating conditions, battery-generated heat cannot be entirely removed,
especially on hot days or in a large battery pack. Rising battery temperature would trigger
other undesirable parasitic reactions, causing thermal runaway, where battery heat generation

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cannot be controlled. During mechanical (damage to shell casing, compression. punching, and
twisting of cells), electrical (overcharge/discharge and short circuit), and thermal abuse
(thermal shock and local heating) situations, which could occur during accidents, thermal
runaway will occur even quicker (Fig. 2a-c, and f). Understanding LIB performance in unsafe
conditions is critical, therefore, for the production of safer cells.
Strategies for LIB safety improvements
Battery safety is determined by the active material and electrolyte chemistry, the speed of
heat generation and dissipation, and the tolerance of external forces. On one hand, safety analysis
should start with evaluating the electrode active materials, electrolytes, and separators, as these
are the most controllable factors. On the other hand, strategies for alleviating the consequences
of thermal and electrical abuse also need to be engineered into LIBs. Moreover, freshly-
manufactured LIBs can be tested for safety before they are incorporated into devices.
Since undesirable and uncontrollable heat and gas generation from various parasitic reactions
are the leading causes of LIB safety accidents, efforts to improve battery safety need to focus on
ways to prevent LIBs from generating excessive heat, keeping them working at a suitable voltage
range, and improving their cooling rates.

Internal strategies for LIB safety improvements

Internal strategies include safety enhancement of each LIB component: active materials, separator, and
electrolyte. Adding appropriate additives to any of these components might also improve LIB safety
performance.
Cathode material needs to be chemically and structurally stable to maintain a controllable chemical
reaction during lithiation and delithiation. The heat release for common battery materials has been
summarize, and its starting temperature for cath• ode materials has been found to follow the
order LiCo0 (LCO) < LiNi,C0AL,O (NCA) < LiNi,Co,Mn,O (NCM) < LiFePO, (LFP). A very popular
active cathode material is LiFePO, which has an ordered olivine structure and strong P-O covalent
bonds forming a three-dimensional structure with excellent thermodynamic and kinetic stability

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A separator is a porous polymer film. Its role is to separate the cathode physically from the anode but
allow the ions to pass between them. Traditional separators are polyolefin-based porous membranes,
which are thermally unstable and structurally fragile. They shrink at elevated temperatures, causing LIBs
containing such separators to fail current safety standards (Table 2). Thus, shrinkage resistance and
prevention of the internal short-circuiting of the battery upon separator shrinkage, as well as the polyolefin
separators' overall mechanical stability, need to be addressed. Some modifications on commercial
separators, including coating with ceramic particles or other materials with high thermal stability can
effectively increase the temperature at which thermal degradation starts to about 250 °C. In addition, new
types of separator materials and structures have been developed, which can greatly improve battery safety,
and some separators can even work normally at high temperatures.

Lithium plating in the anode is also a major problem affecting the safety of LIB, which is mainly caused
by electrical and thermal abuse. Since the lithium insertion potential of the graphite anode (0.1 vs Li'/Li)
is very close to the deposition potential of metallic lithium. Metallic lithium and electrolyte are unstable,
and excessive metallic lithium deposition will cause the formation of dendrites to pierce the separator
and cause battery short circuit. The most ideal solution at present is to develop anode materials with
higher lithiation potential to reduce the risk of lithium deposition. Among them, LiTi,O, has a higher
lithium insertion potential but a lower specific capacity (175 mAh g ) which will reduce the energy
density of LIBs in practical applications.

Batteries containing traditional liquid organic carbonate-based electrolytes often combust or even
explode when exposed to air (or other undesirable conditions) because of the extreme electrolyte
flammability. Furthermore, the poor thermal stability of these electrolytes causes their decomposition and
reactions with the electrode's active materials.. If a flammability point or decomposition temperature
can be increased, or fire-retarding additives can be added to decrease liquid electrolyte flammability, the
drawbacks of the carbonate-based electrolytes would be significantly diminished. The combustion
reaction is mainly composed of free radical reactions. Therefore introducing a radical scavenger to the
electrolyte can greatly lower the battery flammability.

External strategies for LIB safety improvements

Cooling
High temperature operation and temperature inconsistency between battery cells will lead to accelerated
battery aging, which trigger safety problems such as thermal runaway, which seriously threatens vehicle
safety. A well-engineered built-in cooling system is an essential part of LIB safety since it allows control
of the sys• tem temperature. A cooling system might be needed when the heat is generated too late
during cycling to dissipate. Under non• uniform temperature distribution conditions, a cooling system
is also needed to adjust the overall temperature manually. An optimal LIB operation range is 15-35 °C.
Thus, an optimal cooling control system capable of maintaining this range is essential for safe and
prolonged battery service life and to reduce costs Depending on the method of heat transfer, typical
battery thermal management systems include (1) traditional cooling systems (e.g., air-based systems
with an electric fan), (2) liquid-based systems containing water, glycols, etc., (3) phase-change
material (PCM)-based, and ( 4) heat pipe-based thermal management systems.
Cell balance
It is difficult to produce totally identical battery cells, due to variations during the manufacturing
and assembly processes, as well as surrounding environment. Thus, during battery operation, even little
differences between each single cell will intensify and accumulate if no measures are taken. In the absence
of an appropriate balancing system, the voltage differences between the individual cells will amplify,
severely compromising battery safety. To achieve a high-performance battery system, the cells need
to be continuously balanced for minimizing the variations between them.
. LIB safety standards and tests
LIB safety standards and test methods are intended to be developed to ensure that LIBs and their
components meet specified safety criteria, especially if they are produced commercially. Standardized
settings and tests are essential for ensuring that batteries available on the market are of sufficient quality

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for intended purposes. Thus, these tests are as crucial for the future development of portable electronics
and EVs as the LIBs themselves.
To reduce the thermal runaway risk in commercially available products, LIBs for vehicles should be
certified in accordance with relevant safety testing standards before mass production or sale. Safety
test standards are designed to ensure that certified LIBs have sufficiently low risks of safety accidents in
specified kinds of thermal runaway induction and expansion situations.
Battery safety standards are constantly being updated and optimized, because current tests cannot
fully guarantee their safety in practical applications. This is still a very serious problem, as there are
fires in electric vehicles almost every week around the world. Hence, various international safety
organizations regulate battery safety, and governments of different countries have formulated safety
standards in accordance with national requirements and conditions and have gradually
improved the safety standards of lithium-ion batteries. Academics and industrial groups have also carried
out extensive research on battery safety.
Safety standards

Most countries and international organizations have developed LIB-safety oriented standards (Table 3),
which include:
(1) Chinese standard GB/T 31,485
(2) Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standard 2464
(3) International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard JEC62133 Edition 2.0
(4) United Nations (UN) standard UN38.3
(5) Japanese Industrial Standard UIS) C8714
(6) Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard UL2580 Edition 2.0
(7) International Standardization Organization (ISO) standard ISO 16750-2

The various safety test standards apply different methodologies, so we provide in Table 4 a summary of
some test requirements and comparisons of five test items in the standards. The table shows that
different standards have distinct and very specific test parameters, but with overlaps in their
methodologies. For example, for the hot box experiment, three of the standards require 'hot box tests' of
batteries at 130 °C. The test standards are formulated to reduce the probability of thermal runaway
accidents in actual use. Thus, they are intended to assess responses of batteries in real potential
situations, with continuous updates and upgrades in accordance with the ongoing development of LIB
technology, which reflects concerns about the causes and hazards of accidents that have occurred.

Overcharge/over-discharge tests are intended to assess overcharge/over-discharge processes that

occur in a cell when the charge and discharge process is out of control. External short circuit tests
assess the short circuiting that is caused by external electrical connections of battery poles under
abnormal conditions. Drop tests assess responses of batteries to rigid impact during transportation
and use. Heating tests assess the thermal runaway caused by a battery being heated due to local
overheating, and the subsequent thermal runaway expansion. Crush tests assess responses of battery
cells being mechanically deformed by an external force in a collision accident, resulting in separator
rupture, cathode and anode connection, short circuiting, and eventually thermal runaway. Nail penetration
tests assess effects of a battery short circuiting if the separator is penetrated by impurities. Temperature
shock tests assess batteries' responses to extreme temperatures during operation

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Safety tests

LIB safety assessment involves a myriad of tests that a battery must pass to certify that it will not be
hazardous under specified abuse conditions. Table 5 shows the main safety tests used to examine
key LIB properties. Analysis of the presence of various LIB defects and shortcomings can help to define
specific LIB safety issues or hazards. Extensive testing uncovers these issues to assist efforts to ensure that
future generations of batteries are safer and more reliable. Table 5 shows electrochemical, mechanical,
and thermal tests included in current standards to ensure the safety of LIBs before they enter the
market.
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In a safety test possible trigger modes are simplified so batteries' thermal runaway characteristics are
measurable in the laboratory. Laboratory environment test conditions must generally be more stringent
than 'real-world' conditions to ensure safety during actual use. For example, batteries being tested have to
be maintained at a 100% SOC.

In addition to the actual cause of an accident, three principles should be met in the process of
formulating a safety standard:

(1) Test operability: the safety test should be feasible, with no unscientific or technically incorrect
elements.

(2) Repeatability of the test: all aspects of the test should be as similar as possible, and consistent
results should be obtained in multiple tests of a given battery sample at the same test center, using the
same experimental equipment, under the same conditions.

(3) Test reproducibility: similar results should be obtained when the test is conducted in different
centers, with similar equipment and the same test conditions.

Overcharge tests

According to the IEC standard test, the cell is first discharged to 3.0 Vat 0.2C rate, and then is charged under
10 V and an arbitrarily If the battery does not combust or explode during or after the test it is considered
safe, its materials (electrolyte, active electrode materials, separators etc.) are regarded as having adequate
properties, and the structural design is deemed satisfactory. The safety performance under overcharge is
closely related to the charge rate, so over• charging is performed at different rates to establish at
which extreme rate and voltage failure occurs. As various battery types are intended to have specific
applications, batteries are typically tested using tests corresponding to specific applications and conditions.

Heating tests

Batteries swell and often explode at elevated temperatures, because their heat release rate is higher
than their cooling rate, causing electrolyte decomposition and interfacial electrode-electrolyte reactions.
Thus, as LIBs store large amounts of chemical energy, heating tests should be performed to examine their
performance in high-temperature conditions. Heating is used to analyze LIBs' thermal stability and heat
distribution to ensure they have sufficiently efficient heat management and capability to forecast potential
hazards. The results are then used to assess how thermal abuse consequences can be alleviated. Specifically,
data obtained from hot box experiments are used to simulate their thermal characteristics, and
distributions of internal and external temperatures, then assess possible improvements in their design,
materials, cooling systems, etc. Some electrochemical models also use thermal shock results to simulate
electrochemical reactions and heat transfer as functions of the internal and external temperatures.
According to the GB/T 31,485 heating procedure, a battery should be placed in a hot box, heated to
130 ± 2 Cat 5C/min and kept at this temperature for 30 minutes. If the battery does not leak or combust
during this thermal shock test, it is considered safe.

Short circuit tests

External short circuit tests. A designed external short-circuit test is aimed to evaluate the LIB safety
performance. According to the GB31485-2015 procedure, the battery is kept at 25 ± 2 ·c in a fully charged
state for 30 minutes, then the cathode and anode terminals are connected with a wire, and the external
resistance is kept at 5 mo. During this test, the temperature and voltage are monitored simultaneously,
throughout the entire test [31]. The test is considered successful if the cell does not explode or combust.

Internal short circuit tests. High current passes through a short-circuited site, generating a large
quantity of heat, which might casue thermal runaway. Thus, tests have been developed to assess
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battery performance under internal short-circuit conditions, and the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Underwriters Laboratories (UL),
and other organizations have published reports on specific short-circuit simulation methods (see Table
6).

Nail penetration tests. These tests are designed to simulate internal battery short circuits that may occur
when a battery's internal membrane is penetrated by impurities. According to GB/ T 31485, a fully-
charged battery should be penetrated with a high temperature-resistant steel spike of <p 5-8 mm
(with a conical spike tip angle of 45 - 60°, and surface that is clean, smooth, and free of rust, oxidized
layer and dirt) in a direction perpendicular to the polar plate at a speed of 25 ± 5 mm/s. The penetration
posi• tion should also be close to the geometric center of the penetrated surface, with the steel spike retained
inside the battery. The test is considered successful if the cell does not explode or combust.

Crush tests. During a crush test, a battery is mechanically compressed. According to GB/T 31485, the
cells are first charged at 1 C rate to 4.2 V, then the battery is placed between two planes in a semi-
cylinder with a 75 mm radius, and subjected to crushing at 5 mm/s, with a load applied in the direction
perpendicular to the battery's polar plate. The crushing is ceased when the voltage reaches 0 V, the
deformation reaches 30%, or the crushing load reaches 200 kN. The test has a positive outcome if no fire
or explosion is observed.

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