Thermal runaway behaviors of lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles: Experimental and modeling studies with realistic applications to a battery pack

The performance of lithium-ion battery is characterized by cost, energy density, fast charging capability and so on. Among them, the most important one is the thermal safety behavior. This research systematically investigate the thermal runaway (TR) behaviors of lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles, from battery cell to battery module and ultimately to battery pack. Firstly, a TR model is proposed based on the experimental result from accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC). Then, the parameters of the TR model are calibrated in a battery cell subjected to side heating. Furthermore, the validation of the TR model is carried out by a battery module in terms of max temperature, triggering time and the time interval in the analysis of TR propagation. The agreement between experimental and modeling results shows the effectiveness of the proposed model. The TR model is further extended to a battery pack to investigate TR propagation behaviors with the consideration of realistic operating conditions. The modeling results reveal that the fast charging and uphill driving have an important impact on TR propagation behaviors. The proposed TR model along with realistic operating conditions provides unique design guidelines for battery module and pack with the characteristic of non-TR propagation in the early stage of design.