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To extend a lithium-metal EV battery’s life, just drain it and let it sit, find Stanford scientists
Electrek ^ | Michelle Lewis | Feb 13 2024 - 3:16 pm PT

Posted on 02/24/2024 8:36:05 PM PST by Red Badger

Stanford University researchers found that the best way to extend the life of a lithium-metal EV battery is to drain it and let it rest for a few hours.

The study, “Resting restores performance of discharged lithium-metal batteries,” published on February 7 in the journal Nature, found that this straightforward approach restored battery capacity and boosted overall performance.

Study co-lead author Wenbo Zhang, a Stanford PhD student in materials science and engineering, said:

We were looking for the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to improve lithium metal cycling life.

We discovered that by resting the battery in the discharged state, lost capacity can be recovered and cycle life increased.

These improvements can be realized just by reprogramming the battery management software, with no additional cost or changes needed for equipment, materials, or production flow.

The study results could provide EV manufacturers with practical insights into adapting lithium metal technology to real-world driving conditions.

Lithium-metal vs. lithium-ion Lithium-metal batteries could double the range of EVs, but they rapidly lose their capacity to store energy after just a few cycles of charging and discharging, rendering them useless for routine driving.

A conventional lithium-ion battery consists of two electrodes – a graphite anode and a lithium metal oxide cathode – separated by a liquid or solid electrolyte that shuttles lithium ions back and forth.

In a lithium-metal battery, the graphite anode is replaced with electroplated lithium metal, which enables it to store twice the energy of a lithium-ion battery in the same amount of space. The lithium-metal anode also weighs less than the graphite anode, which is essential for EVs. Lithium-metal batteries can hold at least a third more energy per pound than Li-ion batteries.

When a lithium-metal battery is discharged, micron-sized bits of lithium metal become isolated and trapped in the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). This spongy matrix forms where the anode and electrolyte meet.

“The SEI matrix is essentially decomposed electrolyte,” Zhang explained. “It surrounds isolated pieces of lithium metal stripped from the anode and prevents them from participating in any electrochemical reactions. For that reason, we consider isolated lithium dead.”

Repeated charging and discharging results in the build-up of additional dead lithium, causing the battery to lose capacity rapidly. So, an EV with a lithium-metal battery would lose range much faster than a Li-ion-powered EV.

Drain it and let it sit Previous research at Stanford found that the SEI matrix begins to dissolve when the battery is idle. Based on that finding, the researchers conducting this study decided to see what would happen if the battery was allowed to rest while discharged.

They completely discharged the battery so it had zero current running through it and found that if the battery rests in the discharged state for just an hour, some of the SEI matrix surrounding the dead lithium dissolves away.

When the lithium-metal battery is recharged, the dead lithium will reconnect with the anode because there’s less solid mass in the way. Reconnecting with the anode brings dead lithium back to life, enabling the battery to generate more energy and extend its cycle life.

The research team initially thought the energy loss was irreversible, but using time-lapse video microscopy, they found that lost capacity could be recovered simply by resting the discharged battery.

IRL application The average driver in the US spends about an hour behind the wheel each day, so resting a car battery for several hours isn’t out of the question.

A typical EV may have 4,000 batteries arranged in modules controlled by a battery management system. In a lithium-metal battery, an existing management system can be programmed to discharge an individual module entirely so that it has zero capacity left.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Military/Veterans; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: batteries; ev; fakenews; firetraps; lithium

1 posted on 02/24/2024 8:36:05 PM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Complicated. Where is this draining done? And I would guess there are hidden, surprising unintended consequences. And maybe a limit to how many drainages can be done.

and “....an hour behind the wheel each day, so resting a car battery for several hours isn’t out of the question.”
How can people remember to do that and have the energy and time to do that every day?

“I’d like to go to the club but I just started resting my lithium batteries in the EV so I’m stuck here.”
“Oh, yeah? Sounds like you’re lying. You’re seeing Emily again behind my back.”


2 posted on 02/24/2024 8:50:00 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: Red Badger

Watch out - here comes the state mandated Sabbath.


3 posted on 02/24/2024 9:57:29 PM PST by Hessian (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.)
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Study co-lead author Wenbo Zhang
Stopped reading right there.
4 posted on 02/24/2024 10:16:19 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Red Badger
FYI, this will NOT work for the batteries in EVs today which are Lithium-ion. Leaving a discharged Lithium-ion EV battery sit in a fully discharged state turns it into a very expensive brick. Please do not try this at home!

This article is proposing a way to improve a different battery technology (Lithium-metal) which is not now useful for EVs because it loses capacity too quickly.

5 posted on 02/24/2024 10:25:51 PM PST by Dimples
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To: Dimples

That was my first thought. I always heard that you cannot totally discharge lithium Ion batteries with out destroying them and possibly even having them catch fire if you try to charge them at that point. There is a reason why your cordless tool will just stop working when the battery is low. It will not slowly die like the N-cads. They are designed to cut off the load when they are discharged to a certain point.


6 posted on 02/24/2024 10:47:15 PM PST by Revel
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To: Red Badger

So, take two weeks off per month and don’t drive to work in your electric vehicle. That will extend the life of your EV battery. (Your boss might have a problem with your extended “resting” status).

Better yet, leave the EV “resting” at the car dealership when you refuse to buy something so ridiculously overpriced and impractical.

That will greatly extend its useful life.

It’s the same principle as never using your hammer or pliers to keep them shiny and new for possible future use.

Where do these “brilliant” minds find such solutions?

“My Mama always says, ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’ “


7 posted on 02/25/2024 1:15:35 AM PST by Gnome1949
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To: Red Badger

so resting a car battery for several hours isn’t out of the question.

You said dead...it had to be dead...how do you do that at work? Or even home?

It just isn’t practical...this whole ev thing is the PITS...[Pie In The Sky wishing]


8 posted on 02/25/2024 2:42:17 AM PST by Adder (End fascism...defeat all Democrats.)
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To: Red Badger

hmmm...I let one go completely dead and it would charge after that. I thought it was recommended never to let them go dead.


9 posted on 02/25/2024 2:44:47 AM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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...wouldn’t charge after that


10 posted on 02/25/2024 2:45:21 AM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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To: nuconvert

Sometimes it only takes a slight bump charge from another battery to get them going. There are tons of videos showing how. It has to do with the charge not knowing if the battery is installed unless it has some juice.


11 posted on 02/25/2024 2:47:16 AM PST by DainBramage
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To: Red Badger

These manufacturers cant even get our cell phone batteries to hold a charge for 24 hours, and we still buy them and carry them like programmed drones. But an electric car? No thanks! Ive been playing with battery charted toys since I was a kid, they never last and batteries were too expensive to buy.
Looks like nothing changed.


12 posted on 02/25/2024 7:28:35 AM PST by 9422WMR
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To: frank ballenger

“Where is this draining done?”

That was my first thought.

Down the kitchen sink? In your neighbor’s yard, maybe?


13 posted on 02/25/2024 8:29:21 AM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: moovova

pretty much anywhere you want to kill weeds.


14 posted on 02/25/2024 8:34:21 AM PST by going hot (Happiness is a Momma Deuce)
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