Evaluation of a Back-up Range Extender and Other Heavy-Duty BEV-Supporting Systems

Electric powertrains in terms of battery electric vehicles (BEV) are considered to be very interesting for heavy truck transportations. The challenge is the need for very large onboard energy and batteries. Long-term fuel cells (FCs) are considered an interesting support system for heavy-duty BEV, but in the short term, a range extender (REX) is also interesting. A heavy-duty BEV with 970 kWh batteries installed can handle 27% of all possible missions for the Scania fleet considering daily recharging. The back-up range extender (BUREX) can expand this figure to 55% utilized 20 days per year. If a customer has a few very energy-demanding use cases each year and does not want to pay for all the batteries needed, the BUREX may be an especially good option. The BUREX reduces life-cycle CO2 emissions, irrespective of the generation mix of the grid supplying the electricity used in vehicle manufacturing and battery charging. The BUREX reuse of the existing electric components of the BEV powertrain enables the installation of a 10% larger battery pack while being 80% less costly. The BUREX also adds redundancy to the BEV concept while recharging infrastructure improves, especially in rural places. These results indicate that the BUREX concept is a powerful short-term solution that could enable greater use of HD FC and BEV trucks while charging infrastructure and FC technologies gradually become more mature

Methods for Testing and Analyzing Lithium-Ion Battery Cells intended for Heavy-Duty Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Lithium-ion batteries designed for use in heavy-duty hybrid vehicles are continuously improved in terms of performance and longevity, but they still have limitations that need to be considered when developing new hybrid vehicles.                The aim of this thesis has been to study and evaluate potential test and analysis methods suitable for being used in the design process when maximizing lifetime and utilization of batteries in heavy-duty hybrid vehicles. A concept for battery cell cycling on vehicles has been evaluated. The work included development of test equipment, verification of hardware and software as well as an extended period of validation on heavy-duty trucks. The work showed that the concept has great potential for evaluating strategies for battery usage in hybrid vehicles, but is less useful for accelerated aging of battery cells.                             Battery cells encapsulated in flexible packaging material have been investigated with respect to the durability of the encapsulation in a demanding heavy-duty hybrid truck environment. No effect on water intrusion was detected after vibration and temperature cycling of the battery cells.                    Aging of commercial battery cells of the type lithium manganese oxide - lithium cobalt oxide / lithium titanium oxide (LMO-LCO/LTO) was investigated with different electrochemical methods to gain a deeper understanding of the origin of performance deterioration, and to understand the consequences of aging from a vehicle manufacturer's perspective. The investigation revealed that both capacity loss and impedance rise were largely linked to the positive electrode for this type of battery chemistry.                           Postmortem analysis of material from cycle-aged and calendar-aged battery cells of the type LMO-LCO/LTO and LiFePO4/graphite was performed to reveal details about aging mechanisms for those cell chemistries. Analysis of cycle-aged LMO-LCO/LTO cells revealed traces of manganese in the negative electrode and that the positive electrode exhibited the most severe aging. Analysis of cycle-aged LFP/graphite cells revealed traces of iron in the negative electrode and that the negative electrode exhibited the most severe aging.Litiumjonbatterier anpassade för användning i tunga hybridfordon förbättras kontinuerligt med avseende på prestanda och livslängd men har fortfarande begränsningar som måste beaktas vid utveckling av nya hybridfordon.                 Syftet med denna avhandling har varit att studera och utvärdera potentiella prov- och analysmetoder lämpliga för användning i arbetet med att maximera livslängd och utnyttjandegrad av batterier i tunga hybridfordon.                               Ett koncept för battericykling på fordon har utvärderats. Arbetet innefattade utveckling av testutrustning, verifiering av hårdvara och mjukvara samt en längre periods validering på lastbilar. Arbetet har visat att konceptet har stor potential för utvärdering av strategier för användandet av batterier i hybridfordon, men är mindre användbar för åldring av batterier.                                Batterier kapslade i flexibelt förpackningsmaterial har undersökts med avseende på kapslingens hållbarhet i en krävande hybridlastbilsmiljö. Ingen påverkan på fuktinträngning kunde påvisas efter vibration och temperaturcykling av de testade battericellerna.                     Åldring av kommersiella battericeller av typen litiummanganoxid - litiumkoboltoxid/litiumtitanoxid (LMO-LCO/LTO) undersöktes med olika elektrokemiska metoder för att få en djupare förståelse för prestandaförändringens ursprung och för att förstå konsekvenserna av åldrandet ur en fordonstillverkares användarperspektiv. Undersökningen visade att både kapacitetsförlust och impedanshöjning till största delen var kopplat till den positiva elektroden för denna batterityp.                  Post-mortem analys av material från cyklade och kalenderåldrade kommersiella battericeller av typen LMO-LCO/LTO och LiFePO4/grafit utfördes för att avslöja detaljer kring åldringsmekanismerna för dessa cellkemier. Vid analys av cyklade LMO-LCO/LTO celler påvisades mangan i den negativa elektroden samt uppvisade den positiva elektroden kraftigast åldring. Vid analys av cyklade LFP/grafit celler påvisades järn i den negativa elektroden samt uppvisade den negativa elektroden kraftigast åldring.QC 20140520</p

Development of a Novel Method for Lithium-Ion Battery Testing on Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Increasing demands for lower environmental impact from vehicles, including heavy-duty vehicles, have driven several vehicle manufacturers to consider adding hybrid electrical vehicles (HEV’s) to the product portfolio. Present research on batteries for HEV’s is mainly focused on lithium-ion battery chemistries, since lithium-ion batteries has the most promising technical potential compared to other types of batteries. However, the uncertainty regarding battery lifetime combined with a high battery cost can have a negative impact on large scale commercialisation of heavy-duty hybrid vehicles in the near future. A large part of present lithium-ion battery research is focused on new materials, but there is also research focusing on ageing of already established lithium-ion battery chemistries. Cycle ageing of batteries often includes complete charging and discharging of batteries or the use of standardized test cycles. Battery cycling in real HEV applications is however quite different compared to this kind of laboratory testing, and real life testing on vehicles is a way of verifying the soundness of laboratory ageing. The aim of this study was to develop a test method suitable for real life testing of lithium-ion batteries for heavy-duty HEV-usage, with the purpose of investigating the correlation of battery ageing and usage in real life applications. This concept study includes both cell level battery cycling and performance testing on board vehicles. The performance tests consist of discharge capacity measurements and hybrid pulse power characterization (HPPC) tests. The main feature of this test equipment is that it is designed to be used on conventional vehicles, emulating an HEV environment for the tested battery. The functionality of the equipment was verified on a heavy-duty HEV with satisfying results. Results from real life testing of 8 batteries using the developed test equipment on four conventional heavy-duty trucks shows that the concept of comparing battery ageing with battery usage has a most promising potential to be used as a tool when optimizing battery usage vs. lifetime. Initial results from this real life study shows significant differences in state of charge (SOC) and power distributions between cycled batteries, but so far only small differences in ageing. Lithium-ion batteries of the type lithium manganese spinel/lithium titanate (LMO/LTO) were used in this study.Ökande krav på minskad miljöpåverkan från fordon, inklusive tunga fordon, har drivit flera fordonstillverkare till att addera hybridiserade fordon till produktportföljen. Forskning på hybridfordonsbatterier är idag huvudsakligen inriktad på litiumjonbatterikemier, vilken har den mest lovande tekniska potentialen jämfört med andra typer av batterikemier. Det finns idag en risk att osäkerheten kring litiumjonbatteriers livslängd i kombination med en hög batterikostnad kan ha en negativ inverkan på en storskalig kommersialisering av tunga hybridfordon inom den närmsta framtiden. En stor del av batteriforskningen är inriktad på nya material, men det finns även forskning som fokuserar på åldring av redan etablerade litiumjonbatterikemier. Vid åldringsprov används ofta standardiserade testcykler eller cykler där batterierna blir fullständigt laddade och urladdade. Cykling av batterier i verkliga förhållanden skiljer sig dock från den typen av laboratorietester och provning på fordon är därför ett sätt att kontrollera att laboratorieprovning ger relevanta resultat gällande åldring. Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla en testmetodik lämplig för provning av litiumjonbatterier för tunga hybridfordon i verklig drift, med syfte att undersöka kopplingen mellan batteriers åldrande och hur det används. Detta koncept inkluderar battericykling på cellnivå och möjligheten att utföra batteriprestandatester på fordon, där prestandatesterna består av kapacitetsprov och pulsprov. Den viktigaste egenskapen hos den utvecklade testmetodiken är att provning sker på konventionella fordon genom att emulera en hybridmiljö för det testade batteriet. Funktionaliteten hos den utvecklade testutrustningen verifierades på en tung hybridlastbil med goda resultat. Resultaten från en fältstudie av 8 batterier på 4 lastbilar där den utvecklade testutrustningen användes påvisar att testmetodiken har en lovande potential att kunna användas som ett verktyg vid optimering av utnyttjandegrad och livslängd för HEV-batterier. De initiala resultaten från denna fältstudie påvisar skillnader i laddningsgradsfördelning och batterieffektfördelning mellan cyklade batterier, men ännu bara små skillnader i åldring. Litiumjonbatterier av typen litiummanganspinel/litiumtitanat (LMO/LTO) användes i denna studie.QC 2011120

Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Cycling and Usage Analysis in a Heavy-Duty Truck Field Study

This paper presents results from a field test performed on commercial power-optimized lithium-ion battery cells cycled on three heavy-duty trucks. The goal with this study was to age battery cells in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) environment and find suitable methods for identifying cell ageing. The battery cells were cycled on in-house developed equipment intended for testing on conventional vehicles by emulating an HEV environment. A hybrid strategy that allows battery usage to vary within certain limits depending on driving patterns was used. This concept allows unobtrusive and low-cost testing of battery cells under realistic conditions. Each truck was equipped with one cell cycling equipment and two battery cells. One cell per vehicle was cycled during the test period while a reference cell on each vehicle experienced the same environmental conditions without being cycled. Differential voltage analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to identify ageing of the tested battery cells. Analysis of driving patterns and battery usage was performed from collected vehicle data and battery cell data

Novel Field Test Equipment for Lithium-Ion Batteries in Hybrid Electrical Vehicle Applications

Lifetime testing of batteries for hybrid-electrical vehicles (HEV) is usually performed in the lab, either at the cell, module or battery pack level. Complementary field tests of battery packs in vehicles are also often performed. There are, however, difficulties related to field testing of battery-packs. Some examples are cost issues and the complexity of continuously collecting battery performance data, such as capacity fade and impedance increase. In this paper, a novel field test equipment designed primarily for lithium-ion battery cell testing is presented. This equipment is intended to be used on conventional vehicles, not hybrid vehicles, as a cheaper and faster field testing method for batteries, compared to full scale HEV testing. The equipment emulates an HEV environment for the tested battery cell by using real time vehicle sensor information and the existing starter battery as load and source. In addition to the emulated battery cycling, periodical capacity and pulse testing capability are implemented as well. This paper begins with presenting some background information about hybrid electrical vehicles and describing the limitations with today's HEV battery testing. Furthermore, the functionality of the test equipment is described in detail and, finally, results from verification of the equipment are presented and discussed.QC 20110613</p

An Experimental Setup with Alternating Current Capability for Evaluating Large Lithium-Ion Battery Cells

In the majority of applications using lithium-ion batteries, batteries are exposed to some harmonic content apart from the main charging/discharging current. The understanding of the effects that alternating currents have on batteries requires specific characterization methods and accurate measurement equipment. The lack of commercial battery testers with high alternating current capability simultaneously to the ability of operating at frequencies above 200 Hz, led to the design of the presented experimental setup. Additionally, the experimental setup expands the state-of-the-art of lithium-ion batteries testers by incorporating relevant lithium-ion battery cell characterization routines, namely hybrid pulse power current, incremental capacity analysis and galvanic intermittent titration technique. In this paper the hardware and the measurement capabilities of the experimental setup are presented. Moreover, the measurements errors due to the setup’s instruments were analysed to ensure lithium-ion batteries cell characterization quality. Finally, this paper presents preliminary results of capacity fade tests where 28 Ah cells were cycled with and without the injection of 21 A alternating at 1 kHz. Up to 300 cycles, no significant fade in cell capacity may be measured, meaning that alternating currents may not be as harmful for lithium-ion batteries as considered so far.QC 20180816</p

Novel Field Test Equipment for Lithium-Ion Batteries in Hybrid Electrical Vehicle Applications

Lifetime testing of batteries for hybrid-electrical vehicles (HEV) is usually performed in the lab, either at the cell, module or battery pack level. Complementary field tests of battery packs in vehicles are also often performed. There are, however, difficulties related to field testing of battery-packs. Some examples are cost issues and the complexity of continuously collecting battery performance data, such as capacity fade and impedance increase. In this paper, a novel field test equipment designed primarily for lithium-ion battery cell testing is presented. This equipment is intended to be used on conventional vehicles, not hybrid vehicles, as a cheaper and faster field testing method for batteries, compared to full scale HEV testing. The equipment emulates an HEV environment for the tested battery cell by using real time vehicle sensor information and the existing starter battery as load and source. In addition to the emulated battery cycling, periodical capacity and pulse testing capability are implemented as well. This paper begins with presenting some background information about hybrid electrical vehicles and describing the limitations with today's HEV battery testing. Furthermore, the functionality of the test equipment is described in detail and, finally, results from verification of the equipment are presented and discussed.QC 20110613</p

Li-Ion Pouch Cells for Vehicle Applications-Studies of Water Transmission and Packing Materials

This study includes analysis of encapsulation materials from lithium-ion pouch cells and water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) measurements. WVTR measurements are performed on both fresh and environmentally stressed lithium-ion pouch cells. Capacity measurements are performed on both the fresh and the environmentally stressed battery cells to identify possible influences on electrochemical performance. Preparation of the battery cells prior to WVTR measurements includes opening of battery cells and extraction of electrode material, followed by resealing the encapsulations and adhesively mounting of gas couplings. A model describing the water diffusion through the thermal welds of the encapsulation are set up based on material analysis of the encapsulation material. Two WVTR equipments with different type of detectors are evaluated in this study. The results from the WVTR measurements show how important it is to perform this type of studies in dry environment and apply a rigorous precondition sequence before testing. Results from modelling confirm that the WVTR method has potential to be used for measurements of water diffusion into lithium-ion pouch cells. Consequently, WVTR measurements should be possible to use as a complement or alternative method to for example Karl Fisher titration.QC 20130305</p

Design Aspects of an Experimental Setup for Investigating Current Ripple Effects in Lithium-ion Battery Cells

This paper describes an experimental setup for investigating the effects of current ripple on lithium-ion battery cells. The experimental setup is designed so that twelve li-ion cells can be simultaneously tested in a controlled environment. The experimental setup allows for a wide range of current ripple in terms of frequency and amplitude. Additionally, the quantification of the current ripple effects such as the aging of li-ion cells implies that a precise measurement system has to be designed which also are discussed in the paper.QC 20160216</p