How the utilised SOC window in commercial Li-ion pouch cells influence battery ageing

In many lithium-ion battery (LIB) applications, e.g. hybrid vehicles and load-levelling storage systems, only part of the state-of-charge (SOC) range needs to be utilised. This offers the possibility to use an optimal SOC window to avoid LIB ageing. Here, a large test matrix is designed to study LIB ageing in a commercial 26 Ah pouch cell, in order to map the ageing behaviour at different SOC levels with respect to temperature and current. A quantification of the degradation modes, loss of lithium inventory (LLI), loss of active positive (LAM_PE) and negative (LAM_NE) electrode materials is made by analysing the change in the open circuit voltage (OCV). A key result is that lower SOC intervals significantly improved battery ageing. Even during harsh test conditions, such as high C-rates and temperatures, the cells deliver more than three times the expected number of full cycle equivalents. High SOC combined with high C-rate increase ageing where the dominating ageing mechanisms are LLI, followed by LAM_PE.