Abstract
High power is a critical requirement of lithium-ion batteries designed to satisfy the load profiles of advanced air mobility. Here, we simulate the initial takeoff step of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles powered by a lithium-ion battery that is subjected to an intense 15C discharge pulse at the beginning of the discharge cycle followed by a subsequent low-rate discharge. We conducted extensive electrochemical testing to assess the long-term stability of a lithium-ion battery under these high-strain conditions. The main finding is that despite the performance recovery observed at low rates, the reapplication of high rates leads to drastic cell failure. While the results highlight the eVTOL battery longevity challenge, the findings also emphasize the need for tailored battery chemistry designs for eVTOL applications to address both anode plating and cathode instability. In addition, innovative second-use strategies would be paramount upon completion of the eVTOL services.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 934-940 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | ACS Energy Letters |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 8 2024 |
Funding
This article has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract DE-AC0500OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for the United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). This research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05- 00OR22725, was sponsored by the US Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory and was accomplished under Support Agreement 2371-Z469-22. XRD is conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We thank Dr. Jong Keum for his help. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory or the U.S. Government.
