Preface

Research on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) began in the early 1980s and the first LIB was
commercialized in 1991. Most of the early technological developments concerned port-
able electronics, but LIBs’ performance was soon made to fit medium- and large-scale
applications, such as electric vehicles and storage systems (Chapter 1). Indeed, thanks to
the use of new electrode materials, such as lithium titanate, fast charge/discharge rates
(up to 6C) needed for the above-mentioned applications were made possible (Chapter 3).
The use of nanostructured compounds, e.g. the titanate and lithium iron phosphate, has
enabled the use of inexpensive, low-conductivity electrode materials and has helped
commercialization. Nanostructuring is also beneficially being extended to such materials
as carbon and carbon-based nanocomposites (Chapter 4)

A more extended commercialization of LIBs obviously depends on both their per-

formance and their price. The origin of manufacturing costs, pathways to lower them,
and how low these may fall in the future are reviewed in Chapter 6. A model enabling the
direct evaluation of manufacturing costs is presented, which provides details on the most
significant contributions to the total battery cost with a special reference to batteries for
electric vehicles (EVs).

In spite of a diffusion thus far limited by cost and range factors, car electrification is

progressing. In Chapter 7, a review of regulatory and market trends that are driving
electrification of the automotive market and design considerations of LIBs for various
types of hybrid vehicles and EVs are presented. Testing requirements for LIBs and the
status of industry standard development are analyzed. Voltec vehicles such as Chevrolet
Volt and Opel Ampera (Chapter 8) feature an extended driving range: they operate as EVs
as long as the battery can deliver energy and, when the battery is depleted, can continue
operation by using an internal combustion engine as energy converter.

Chapter 9 provides an overview of diverse transit bus applications of advanced LIBs.

Battery safety, cost, reliability, availability, and maintainability issues are discussed.
Lessons learned and remaining challenges in the large-scale adoption of LIBs in transit
fleets are also discussed. Progress in and prospects for future LIB improvements and
remaining bus integration and application challenges are presented. A comprehensive
review of the characteristics of hybrid and fully electric vehicles now available in the
market, or ready for commercialization, is provided in Chapter 10. Vehicles are classified
taking into account the level of electrification of their drivetrain characteristics.

Power supply systems based mainly on renewable energy sources like solar and wind

energy require storages on different timescales ranging from seconds to months. In
Chapter 13, the lithium-ion technology is shown to be particularly fit for this application,

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and solutions for decentralized photovoltaic (PV) battery systems and results of simu-
lation studies are presented.

Since the early 2000s, large-sized LIBs have also found applications in Earth-orbit

satellites (Chapter 14), thanks to the benefit that they brought in terms of weight and life
duration to both rockets and satellites.

The battery management system (BMS) needed for batteries of medium/large di-

mensions is dealt with in Chapter 15. Different BMS structures are compared and their
advantages as a function of the battery system size are discussed.

In Chapter 16, electronic options that can be employed with lithium-ion cells as they

are constructed into battery packs are discussed. The functions of measuring, mon-
itoring, calculating, communicating, and controlling still apply from single cells for
smartphones to large battery arrays of kilowatt-hour size. Simple and reliable safety
components for monitoring and controlling were first developed for video cameras and
cell phones. More advanced fuel gauging devices with measuring, calculating, and
communicating functions followed in laptop and notebook computers. More recently,
high-current devices for power tools and e-bikes have become common. And finally,
components for very high-voltage systems for EVs and hybrid vehicles are now
available.

Battery safety has been obviously given a special attention in this volume. Commercial

lithium-ion cells and batteries are commonly used to power portable equipment, but they
are also used to buildup larger batteries for ground (e.g. EVs), space and underwater
applications. Chapter 17 provides test data on the safety of commercial lithium-ion cells
and recommendations for safe design when these cells are used in much larger battery
configurations. Chapter 18 focuses on safety aspects of LIBs at the cell and system level.
In particular, abuse tolerance tests are explained with actual cell test data. Furthermore,
internal short and lithium deposition occurring in lithium-ion cells and failure mecha-
nism associated with them are discussed. In Chapter 19, the state of the art for safety
optimization of all the battery elements is presented. This chapter also reports tests
on not yet commercialized batteries, which pass all the security tests without the help
of a BMS.

Impact of LIBs on the environment and their recycling are also dealt with. In partic-

ular, Chapter 21 deals with the impact of production of automotive LIBs and investigates
how it could be reduced by recycling. Making use of recycled materials (cathode, alu-
minum, copper) could reduce cradle-to-gate energy consumption by up to 50%. In
Chapter 22, the question whether enough lithium is available for the production of LIBs
and how much battery recycling will contribute to a higher availability of lithium in the
future is discussed. An investigated scenario regarding lithium availability and demand
suggests that no real lithium scarcity is foreseen in the near future even from the re-
sources policy perspective. After the year 2050, the situation might change when the
easily extractable reserves in stable countries will decrease significantly.

In Chapter 23, the cost of battery components is presented together with a discussion

on economic, environmental and regulatory aspects of recycling. Furthermore,

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Preface

technologies used for LIBs by the major recycling companies in Europe and the United
States are reviewed.

With prices for large format cells for automotive applications of

w US$250 in 2015 and

even further decreases to US$180–200 later in the decade, margins of cell makers and
materials producers will have a limited increase, driven by the introduction of materials
with higher capacity and progress in cell production technology. The high margin pres-
sure, accompanied by the need for investments in product and process innovation, will
lead to further massive consolidation of the industry (Chapter 24).

February 2013

Gianfranco Pistoia

Consultant, Rome, Italy

[e-mail]

Preface

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