Low temperature performance evaluation of electrochemical energy storage technologies

Abstract The performance of electrochemical energy storage technologies such as batteries and supercapacitors are strongly affected by operating temperature. At low temperatures ( Results demonstrate that despite exhibiting the greatest loss in performance with temperature reduction, the lithium-ion batteries tested provide the highest energy and power densities down to −30 °C due to higher capacity and operating voltage. At lower temperatures, the lead-acid cell gives the highest energy density and supercapacitor the highest power density. A new simplified empirical method is introduced for lithium-ion cells to determine the optimum pre-heating temperature for maximum net energy output including heating efficiency. This new method can be used to assess the benefits of different cold-start thermal management strategies for electric vehicles. It is also demonstrated that the temperature of the lithium-ion cells tested can be accurately predicted from impedance phase change at low temperatures across a range of electrode materials.