European researchers have developed an innovative charging protocol for electric car batteries that promises to double their longevity.
There battery degradation is a significant problem in the electric vehicle industry. Currently, lithium-ion batteries, which equip a large majority of cars on the market, are particularly vulnerable to rapid wear due to traditional loading methods. These latter can accelerate the aging of batteriesand therefore reduce their overall capacity and significantly reduce their lifespan.
While Renault wants to recycle batteries, other manufacturers and users are continually looking for ways to improve their longevity. To do this, one of the main challenges is to reduce the formation of cracks and degradation of internal components. These two phenomena are often amplified by repetitive charge cycles. Innovation in charging protocols, which aims to better manage energy and optimize the distribution of lithium ions, therefore becomes crucial.
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To deal with these problems, Professor Philipp Adelhelm and his team propose a solution: replace the traditional current constant by a pulsed current when charging the batteries. Published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials, their research reveals that this change in method could revolutionize energy management in lithium-ion batteries.
Pulsed current involves sending streams of energy intermittently rather than continuously. It allows better absorption by the battery components and reduces the risk of overheating and of rapid degradation. The results of the study show that this new charging protocol could not only double the lifespan of batteries but also improve their performance and long-term stability.
In doubling potentially the battery lifeowners could see their maintenance and replacement costs significantly reduced, contributing to a significant saving over the life of vehicle ownership.
Source: helmholtz-berlin