Abstract
This paper addresses the thermal management of a solid polymer electrolyte battery system, which is currently the only commercialized solid-state battery chemistry. These batteries aim to increase the range of electric vehicles by facilitating a lithium metal anode but are limited by operational temperatures above 60 °C. The feasibility of a cold start procedure is examined, which would enable a solid polymer battery to be used, without preconditioning, in a wide variety of ambient temperatures. The proposed solution involves dividing the solid-state battery into smaller sub-packs, which can be heated and brought online more quickly. Thermal modelling shows a cold start procedure is theoretically feasible when using a small liquid electrolyte lithium battery at the start. The key bottlenecks are the rate at which the solid-state batteries can be heated, and the discharge rates they can provide. After resistive heating is used for the first solid-state module, all subsequent heating can be provided by waste heat from the motor and operating battery modules. Due to the insulation required, the proposed system has lower volumetric, but higher gravimetric energy density than liquid electrolyte systems. This work suggests that with suitable system-level design, solid-state batteries could be widely adopted despite temperature constraints.
Highlights
All Solid-State Batteries (ASSB) are highlighted as a potential solution to many or all of the limitations and drawbacks of current Liquid Electrolyte Battery (LEB) cells and systems [1,2]; these include range, charging times, safety, cost, and recyclability
Polymer electrolyte ASSBs have progressed beyond laboratory experiments, these Solid Polymer Electrolyte (SPE) cells require an elevated operating temperature of around 60–80 ◦ C due to poor ionic conductivity at low temperatures [1,6]
The only commercially available ASSB for automotive applications is the Lithium Metal Polymer (LMP) battery produced by Bolloré, which uses a SPE [8]
Summary
All Solid-State Batteries (ASSB) are highlighted as a potential solution to many or all of the limitations and drawbacks of current Liquid Electrolyte Battery (LEB) cells and systems [1,2]; these include range, charging times, safety, cost, and recyclability. The only commercially available ASSB for automotive applications is the Lithium Metal Polymer (LMP) battery produced by Bolloré, which uses a SPE [8] This was used in the Citroën e-Mehari (produced 2016–2019), owing to the large thermal inertia of the battery it must be kept permanently at operating temperature, even when not in use. It must be kept plugged in while parked so that the battery heaters can draw the heating load from the grid, thereby avoiding discharging the high-voltage battery
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