A Method for Quantifying Battery’s Fast Charging Ability and Application to Different Lithium-Ion Chemistries

Abstract

Wide adoption of lithium-ion batteries brings up the question of their fast charging ability which is still an issue in many applications. This is probably the most important for electric vehicles, but also for battery energy storage and even consumer electronics. Charging times can be reduced by using new battery materials, but also by using alternative charging strategies. This paper presents a novel method for quantifying battery’s ability to accept charge in some arbitrary time interval. The proposed method can be used to quickly and effectively compare different battery technologies, different charging strategies or any possible charging condition that might be adjusted, while taking into account battery’s charging ability throughout the entire state-of-charge range. This is achieved by introducing novel fast charging comparison metrics. The method is demonstrated by analyzing and comparing the fast charging ability of four lithium-ion battery cells of different chemistries. Input data are obtained experimentally, on a proprietary laboratory testbed.