Cycle Tests on the Influence of Different Charging Currents—A Case Study on Different Commercial, Cylindrical Lithium Ion Cells

On the way to a Precise Battery, the generation of measurement results and findings based on them play an important role. Although cycle life tests are time-consuming and expensive, they can provide support and important information. Especially in the current topic of accelerating the charging process, it is important to know how different charging currents affect different cell types. The CC CV charging method is still the most common, widely used method. Therefore, long-term cycle tests are carried out in this work in order to clarify the influence of different charging currents, as recommended by the cell manufacturers. Common high-energy and high-power cylindrical lithium ion cells are investigated and compared. In addition to the influence of the charging protocol on the aging, charging time and heating, the effects on the dispersion of the cells as well as the effects on the constant current and the constant voltage part of the charging process are considered. From the results it can be seen how different the investigated cells behave in response to increased charging currents. Even supposedly similar cells show significant differences in aging behavior.