Behaviour of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Electric Vehicles

This book surveys state-of-the-art research on and developments in lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. It summarizes their features in terms of performance, cost, service life, management, charging facilities, and safety. Vehicle electrification is now commonly accepted as a means of reducing fossil-fuels consumption and air pollution. At present, every electric vehicle on the road is powered by a lithium-ion battery.

Currently, batteries based on lithium-ion technology are ranked first in terms of performance, reliability and safety. Though other systems, e.g., metal-air, lithium-sulphur, solid state, and aluminium-ion, are now being investigated, the lithium-ion system is likely to dominate for at least the next decade – which is why several manufacturers, e.g., Toyota, Nissan and Tesla, are chiefly focusing on this technology.

Providing comprehensive information on lithium-ion batteries, the book includes contributions by the world’s leading experts on Li-ion batteries and vehicles.

Prof. Gianfranco Pistoia, Ph.D. is formerly Research Director of the National Research Council of Italy. He has authored 150 papers and 11 patents in the field of electrochemistry, with particular reference to non-aqueous batteries. In the early seventies, he pioneere European research on lithium batteries using new electrodes (e.g. MoO3) and new electrolytes (e.g. ethylene carbonate). He has attended 50+ international conferences with presentation of invited lectures and/or acting as a chairman. The Editor was member of the editorial board of Advanced Battery Technology and is now in the editorial board of Sustainable Energy Developments, a book series of  CRC Press. He has often refereed articles for J. Electrochem. Soc., Electrochim. Acta, J. Power Sources, Solid State Ionics as well as several book proposals for Elsevier. In 1993-1995 he has acted as a consultant for Valence Technology (USA): a patent on a new cathode for lithium-ion batteries was issued in 2001 following this cooperation. 

Dr. Boryann (Bor Yann) Liaw is manager of the Energy Storage and Advanced Vehicles Department at Idaho National Laboratory. Before joining INL, Dr. Liaw was a specialist and tenured faculty member at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. At HNEI, he focused on advanced power source systems for vehicle and energy storage applications. He received his bachelor’s in chemistry from the National Tsinghua University in Taiwan, his master’s in chemistry from the University of Georgia, and his doctorate in materials science and engineering from Stanford University. He conducted his post-doctoral fellowship research at the Max-Plank Institute of Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany. For the past three decades, Dr. Liaw has been involved in R&D projects related to electric and hybrid vehicle evaluation and advanced battery diagnostics and prognostics. His major research activities comprise laboratory and real-life battery and vehicle testing, data collection and analysis, battery modeling and simulation, battery performance and life prediction, battery rapid charging technology development, and battery diagnoses and prognoses. He also expanded his endeavors to bio-fuel cells, including sugar-air alkaline battery development, and transforming ambient energy resources into useful power sources for portable or stationary applications. Dr. Liaw has co-authored more than 150 technical papers, seven book chapters, and eight patents and patent applications. He is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Electrochemical Society and a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.