Performance Effect of Fast Charging Lithium-Ion Cells

As electrically propelled vehicles become more commonplace, consumers who have grown accustom with internal-combustion driven vehicles, would expect to have similar experiences. This is especially true when considering “refueling.” Refueling an internal combustion vehicle can take up to 10-15 min. However, fully charging a lithium-ion battery system can take over 1 hour. To meet the expectation set by internal-combustion engines and liquid fuels, the battery system would have to be charged at the 4-to-6-C rate. If a motorist runs low on liquid fuel during a long trip, additional fuel can be added quickly, partially refilling the tank, and enabling the motorist to reach the destination without much delay. We investigated the performance effects of fast-charging commercially-available lithium-ion cells at various rates which would coincide with similarly minimal “refueling” delays. The effects on performance and life of the cells in both scenarios, full and partial fast-charging, will be presented. The work at Argonne National Laboratory was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Vehicle Technologies, under Contract No. DE AC02 06CH11357. The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory ("Argonne"). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government