Lithium polymer battery for EVs and HEVs

摘要

Global environment problems like air pollution in large cities and climate warming have emphasized the importance of reducing vehicle fuel consumption and gas emissions. In Kyoto, at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes, various countries have set targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In California, the California Air Resource Board has introduced Zero Emission Vehicle regulations. Greater environmental concern and tighter regulations have renewed the interest for the development of alternative fuel vehicles such as electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Considerable efforts have been made in the last eight to ten years in the development of a viable EV and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) has been at the forefront of this battery development. Today almost all major car manufacturers have developed EVs. More recently, HEVs have received a lot of attention. Although they are not zero emission vehicles, HEVs have the potential to significantly reduce vehicle emissions by cutting fuel consumption in half, while utilizing existing support infrastructures. The Lithium Polymer Battery described in this paper is an advanced battery technology under development for both EV and HEV applications. Present performance of EV cells and modules, when scaled up to the pack level with design concept now under development, can nearly achieve the power and energy targets defined as USABC commercialization goals. Cycle life at the cell level is rapidly improving toward 1000 cycles. These life characteristics must now be demonstrated at the module and pack level. Initial results at the cell level for HEV are showing very promising results. Hydro-Quebec has been developing the LPB for twenty years for electric vehicles and stationary applications. Since 1993, the LPB has been under development for EV applications under a series of United States Advanced Battery Consortium cost-shared contracts totaling