Today’s electric vehicles are almost exclusively powered by lithium-ion batteries, but there is a long way to go before electric vehicles become dominant in the global automotive market. In addition to policy support, widespread deployment of electric vehicles requires high-performance and low-cost energy storage technologies, including not only batteries but also alternative electrochemical devices. Here, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of various batteries and hydrogen fuel cells that have the greatest potential to succeed in commercial applications. Three sectors that are not well served by current lithium-ion-powered electric vehicles, namely the long-range, low-cost and high-utilization transportation markets, are discussed. The technological properties that must be improved to fully enable these electric vehicle markets include specific energy, cost, safety and power grid compatibility. Six energy storage and conversion technologies that possess varying combinations of these improved characteristics are compared and separately evaluated for each market. The remainder of the Review briefly discusses the technological status of these clean energy technologies, emphasizing barriers that must be overcome. Recent years have seen significant growth of electric vehicles and extensive development of energy storage technologies. This Review evaluates the potential of a series of promising batteries and hydrogen fuel cells in their deployment in automotive electrification.

Batteries and fuel cells for emerging electric vehicle markets

Thermal runaway mechanism of lithium ion battery for electric vehicles: A review

Due to increasing concerns about global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, and the depletion of fossil fuels, the electric vehicles (EVs) receive massive popularity due to their performances and efficiencies in recent decades. EVs have already been widely accepted in the automotive industries considering the most promising replacements in reducing CO2 emissions and global environmental issues. Lithium-ion batteries have attained huge attention in EVs application due to their lucrative features such as lightweight, fast charging, high energy density, low self-discharge and long lifespan. This paper comprehensively reviews the lithium-ion battery state of charge (SOC) estimation and its management system towards the sustainable future EV applications. The significance of battery management system (BMS) employing lithium-ion batteries is presented, which can guarantee a reliable and safe operation and assess the battery SOC. The review identifies that the SOC is a crucial parameter as it signifies the remaining available energy in a battery that provides an idea about charging/discharging strategies and protect the battery from overcharging/over discharging. It is also observed that the SOC of the existing lithium-ion batteries have a good contribution to run the EVs safely and efficiently with their charging/discharging capabilities. However, they still have some challenges due to their complex electro-chemical reactions, performance degradation and lack of accuracy towards the enhancement of battery performance and life. The classification of the estimation methodologies to estimate SOC focusing with the estimation model/algorithm, benefits, drawbacks and estimation error are extensively reviewed. The review highlights many factors and challenges with possible recommendations for the development of BMS and estimation of SOC in next-generation EV applications. All the highlighted insights of this review will widen the increasing efforts towards the development of the advanced SOC estimation method and energy management system of lithium-ion battery for the future high-tech EV applications.

A review of lithium-ion battery state of charge estimation and management system in electric vehicle applications: Challenges and recommendations

Extreme fast charging, with a goal of 15 minutes recharge time, is poised to accelerate mass market adoption of electric vehicles, curb greenhouse gas emissions and, in turn, provide nations with greater energy security. However, the realization of such a goal requires research and development across multiple levels, with battery technology being a key technical barrier. The present-day high-energy lithium-ion batteries with graphite anodes and transition metal oxide cathodes in liquid electrolytes are unable to achieve the fast-charging goal without negatively affecting electrochemical performance and safety. Here we discuss the challenges and future research directions towards fast charging at the level of battery materials from mass transport, charge transfer and thermal management perspectives. Moreover, we highlight advanced characterization techniques to fundamentally understand the failure mechanisms of batteries during fast charging, which in turn would inform more rational battery designs. Along with high energy density, fast-charging ability would enable battery-powered electric vehicles. Here Yi Cui and colleagues review battery materials requirements for fast charging and discuss future design strategies.

Challenges and opportunities towards fast-charging battery materials

A comprehensive review of lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles at cold temperatures

Computational fluid dynamic and thermal analysis of Lithium-ion battery pack with air cooling

Integration issues of lithium-ion battery into electric vehicles battery pack

Numerical analyses on optimizing a heat pipe thermal management system for lithium-ion batteries during fast charging

Electrochemical–thermal analysis of 18650 Lithium Iron Phosphate cell

Recent advancement in the micro-scale and nano-scale electronics systems, the demand of an innovative solution for the thermal management to dissipate the high amount of heat flux generated have become more rigorous to ensure good reliability of the devices. Micro-channel heat sink has been introduced to dissipate the heat flux with capacity of 10 MW m−2, which providing an ideal solution in the thermal management technology. Researches have been done experimentally or numerically to investigate effect of different geometric designs of micro-channel heat sinks to promote better heat transfer between micro-channel walls and cooling fluid. Other than micro-channel geometric design, type of cooling fluids and two-phase flow boiling are important issues in the micro-channel based thermal management system. In addition, applications of nano-fluids in the micro-channel heat sink are also highlighted which helps in improving the thermal conductivity of the coolant and leads to better heat dissipation rate. In addition, applications of micro-channel in the engineering sector such as solar cell, fuel cell and medical devices are reviewed. For the literature, implementation of micro-channel in the electronic devices as a thermal management solution is highly recommended due to its ability to protect and prolong the lifespan of electronic devices.

Lip Huat Saw

Papers

Computational fluid dynamic and thermal analysis of Lithium-ion battery pack with air cooling

Integration issues of lithium-ion battery into electric vehicles battery pack

Numerical analyses on optimizing a heat pipe thermal management system for lithium-ion batteries during fast charging

Electrochemical–thermal analysis of 18650 Lithium Iron Phosphate cell

Overview of micro-channel design for high heat flux application