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PluginIndia Electric Vehicles

Best Practices for your Lithium-Ion battery pack

30/9/2014

14 Comments

 
By Kamlesh
The best practices used to charge batteries of gadgets like laptops, can also apply to the lithium-ion batteries of electric cars and e-bikes.  If you have an EV, it makes sense to follow these bests practices, as lithium-ion batteries for automobiles can be very expensive.  You might want to keep them healthy and happy for many years. 
Most modern electric cars and e-bikes use the lithium-ion battery pack. The main reasons are 
  • They have high energy density. The energy density of lithium-ion is typically twice that of the standard nickel-cadmium. There is potential for higher energy densities.
  • Better weight to energy density ratio. A typical lithium-ion battery can store 150 watt-hours of electricity in 1 kilogram of battery.  A lead-acid battery can store only 25 watt-hours per kilogram.  It takes 6 kilograms to store the same amount of energy that a 1 kilogram lithium-ion battery can handle.
  • Lithium-ion is a low maintenance battery, an advantage that most other chemistries cannot claim. There is no memory and no scheduled cycling is required to prolong the battery's life. In addition, the self-discharge is less than half compared to nickel-cadmium.

But there are also limitations of the chemistry.
  • Aging is a concern with most lithium-ion batteries
  • Capacity deterioration is noticeable after one year, whether the battery is in use or not.
  • A temperature above 35 degrees C affects the battery pack performance instantly and even permanently if it lasts many months. In addition the power of lithium-ion batteries decreases in cold weather.

Lithium-Ion - A reasonable compromise
The Ragone chart which is used for performance comparison of various energy storing devices. On such a chart the values of energy density (in Wh/kg) are plotted versus power density (in W/kg). 
Conceptually, the vertical axis describes how much energy is available, while the horizontal axis shows how quickly that energy can be delivered, otherwise known as power, per unit mass. The sloping lines on the Ragone plots indicate the relative time to get the charge in or out of the device.

Picture
Ragone chart
From the chart, we can deduce that that ultracapacitors (supercapacitors) can deliver very high power but the storage capacity is very limited. On the other hand Fuel Cells can store large amounts of energy but have a relatively low power output. Lithium batteries are somewhere in between and provide a reasonable compromise between the two.

Even though Lithium-Ion batteries offer a good compromise between energy and power, we need to have a battery which can have better energy storage capacity with higher power ratings. 

Trust the Lithium Ion Battery
Auto manufacturers lack information as to how batteries age under different user conditions and climates. Nissan Leaf had serious battery degradation issues in hot American states like Arizona. To compensate for capacity loss, EV manufacturers increase the size of the batteries to allow for some degradation within the service life.
For example, our Indian electric car, The Mahindra e2o has a battery pack with 125 km worth of energy inside it. But the models that were sold earlier only provided 100 km worth of energy.  The remaining 25 km worth of energy is 'buffer' which is meant to protect the battery pack from allowing users to set a lower maximum state of charge in order to extend battery life.
Nevertheless most EV batteries are guaranteed for 5–8 years or 1,00,000 km and they support more than 2000 charge cycles. Assuming we charge the pack 3 times a week (assuming 2 full cycles), an average EV user will charge around 145 cycles a year. A lithium-ion battery pack will last a long time.  There are EV owners who have used a Nissan Leaf for 1,00,000 miles on a single battery pack.  There have been Revai owners who have used a single battery pack for more than 6 years.  So its important to trust the the lithium-ion chemistry and ensure you follow best practices to take care of it. 

Tips to Max the battery life for electric vehicles
  • Ensure there is no 'deep discharging' of the batteries. Ensure the state-of-charge is in the range of 40-70 percent of capacity, which is generally the best state of charge to leave a battery before leaving it unused for an extended period of time
  • Charge frequently - mostly every 2 days even if the SOC is 60%. Lithium-ion batteries generally last longer when they are “cycled” (charged and discharged) “more shallowly,” rather than fully from 0 to 100 percent charge.
  • Once a week, keep the battery pack plugged in for overnight charging (of about 10 hrs) since this enables the Battery Management System (BMS) to check and balance cells that are low on charge in the battery pack, keeping all of them at same level. Remember each battery pack is made out of individual cells and these cells need balancing. By plugging in for 10 hours or so, you will allow the BMS to check every cell to ensure that no cells are out of balance.
  • Keep it cool. Every EV owner should do this - park the vehicle in the shade as lithium batteries are sensitive to heat.  Forget your ICE car habits and always find a cooler spot to park your car.

Final Words
Owning an EV is a liberating experience.  No oil, No visiting petrol pumps, you are doing good for your country and the environment.  But most people are worried bout batteries and the costs of changing the pack.
These simple tips from PluginIndia will ensure you can enjoy a hassle free experience and keep your 
battery pack healthy and happy for a long time!
14 Comments
Nitin Sahebaro Banait
29/1/2015 10:33:50 am

Very Good Information about Charging E2O.....

Reply
Kamlesh
20/8/2015 12:51:30 am

thanks. Glad you liked them.

Reply
Anup
7/12/2015 07:13:06 pm

A much detailed info. Keep it up.

Reply
DR. AJEENCKYA
28/4/2016 04:43:57 pm

Very good information about EV battery. Cleared a lot of misconceptions.
Thank you.

Reply
Sreenath N
10/9/2016 07:14:10 pm

Hi ,
I own an Hero Photon , I traded my Royal Enfield for this scooter. Yes, I am mad. At the moment an electric car is out of question for me due to affordability concerns.But I was wondering if anyone have any idea about the battery replacement cost in E2O ,usually we have to worry about such thing after 6-7 years.But I haven't seen anyone talking about this .I am sure battery price may come down but again. I would like to know.

Reply
Kamlesh
12/9/2016 09:55:58 am

Hey Sreenath,

Battery prices will come down drastically 6-7 years from now.

Lithium-Cell cost have fallen dramatically from 2009 to 2015. Now we still see a fall in price.

Having said that. I dont expect to change in battery pack for 7+ years as Lithium ion battery packs last a long time unlike lead acid batteries.

There have been Nissan Leaf's with a 100000 miles and a Reva electric car with over 6+ years use with a single pack.

Battery degradation is a chemical process that happens. Nothing can be done about it.

But if you treat your battery packs well , you can use a single battery pack for a long long time.

I do know a user who has used the e2o for around 70,000 km on the e2o and no battery degradation yet.

Reply
Daniel Walker link
20/3/2019 12:29:05 pm

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I am actually getting ready to across this information, is very helpful with us. Also great blog here with all of the valuable information you have. Keep up the good work you are doing here. Well, got a good knowledge.

Reply
Iron Edison link
10/7/2019 05:35:18 pm

Thanks for informative post!!!

Reply
Puuja
29/7/2019 05:24:37 pm

Nice article, lithium ion battery has great scope in coming years, lithium ion battery market is expected to grow from USD 37.4 billion in 2018 to USD 92.2 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 16.2%.
Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lithium-ion-battery-market-49714593.html

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Tez link
22/6/2021 10:24:35 pm

I didn't know that lithium batteries were better degradation. I need to get a battery for my new car. The battery shorted out right away.

Reply
Khushbu Kumari link
25/6/2021 10:46:44 pm

According to Value Market Research, the latest technology trends and global market opportunity analysis in the Lithium Ion Battery Market industry growing with a high CAGR in the upcoming year. Our report has categorized the market based on technology, service, development, vertical and region.

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