Utilization of the battery recovery effect in hybrid and electric vehicle applications

The battery recovery effect causes a regain in battery voltage when load is interrupted. The possibility of harnessing this effect in automotive applications to increase range, reduce battery size or extend battery life is investigated. The characteristics of the battery recovery effect are studied in a laboratory setup. Especially the impact of discharge pulse characteristics, the battery's state of charge and the cell temperature are determined. Subsequently, an improved model considering the battery recovery effect is presented and validated with measurement results. Finally various measurements are used to determine whether it is possible to extract more energy from a battery by utilizing the battery recovery effect.