Improving Battery Safety for Electric Vehicles through the Optimization of Battery Design Parameters

Abstract

Battery safety is crucial to electric vehicles (EVs). Battery degradation is closely related to battery safety. Degraded battery cells can cause potential safety issues. In order to improve battery safety, it is essential to reduce battery degradation. Battery degradation is mainly caused by side reactions, which can cause solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer growth. This paper aims to reduce degradation and improve battery safety by optimizing battery design parameters. The proposed framework develops a reduced-order electrochemical battery model to predict battery performance as well as SEI layer growth. Battery design parameters (i.e., electrode thickness, particle size, conductivity, and electrode porosity) are optimized to improve battery health and reduce battery capacity loss during cycling. The simulation results show that battery health has been improved from 46% to 68% and battery capacity loss has been reduced more than 22% during the first 100 cycles.