How to extend the life of a power cell

For electric cars, the most expensive part is the power battery, so when buying an electric car, it will consider how long the battery can last. At the current level of battery technology, batteries in electric vehicles can be used for about a decade if they are used properly. According to the current warranty policies of Nissan and General Motors and other car manufacturers, it is eight years or 160,000 kilometers.

How long the battery can be used depends not only on the quality of the battery itself, but also on how it is used. When visiting a Japanese car company and communicating with its senior engineers, the author summarizes how to use the battery correctly and extend the service life of the battery. It's an important industry secret to offer a few "immature" tips for reference.

1, avoid battery charging too full

Regarding the battery can not be filled with electricity, that is, the battery is often filled with electricity, which will affect the service life of the battery. One of the reasons for this is that we can only get a little bit of experience with batteries in the most popular mobile devices today for three or four years.

For example, the phones we use in our daily lives, like the iPhone 6s, or the millet phones, or the Huawei mate7 phones, mostly wait for the power to run out completely, and then fill it up completely, so that we always charge it completely. This is actually a very serious damage to lithium ion batteries. The result is that mobile phone batteries begin to be very durable after three years or so.

In cars, for example, Nissan's electric leaf, which has a device that improves battery life by allowing batteries to stop charging at 80 %, can dramatically increase battery life, even if it reduces mileage. This setting is completely satisfying for just daily commuting. The key is one of the simplest ways to increase battery life.

For electric vehicles, it is not advisable to be fully charged. Another reason is that when the electric vehicle is braking or downhill, it can recover part of the energy and recharge the battery. This requires a certain amount of charging space for the battery pack. In the process of driving, It is not certain when regenerative braking is needed to charge the battery.

2.For pure electric vehicles, batteries avoid deep discharge

For pure electric vehicles, the opposite of avoiding overcharging is to avoid deep discharge. One of the characteristics of lithium-ion batteries is that they are partially recycled and can not be used in depth. There is no memory effect for lithium ions. Therefore, the use of partial discharge has no effect on the battery and will not reduce the battery's capacity.

In the case of the Nissan leaf, there are 12 battery charged scales on the dashboard, which generally allows you to keep the power between 3-10 scales, which is free to use during this period. For a better battery energy management system, when the battery power reaches a certain threshold, it will warn, "How much longer do you need to drive? " to remind you that you need to recharge according to the schedule.

3.For plug-in hybrids, consider using "mountain mode"

Based on the above to avoid excessive battery discharge, for Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles or augmented electric vehicles such as Chevrolet Volt, BMW i3, etc., almost all use up the battery's power before switching to gasoline engine mode. Fortunately, because of the battery management system, you know when to stop using the battery and avoid deep discharge.

But in one case, the current battery management system is not yet able to recognize that there is a high-powered driving condition such as climbing a long slope in your driving route. If you simply use batteries, it is easy to run out of battery power. The second is that it may lead to deep discharge of the battery. If you can switch the working mode to the mountain mode before climbing, that is, the engine working mode, or select a certain point in time to leave the EV mode, this can save at least 20 % of the battery power.

In addition, it needs to be explained again that the operating system of the Toyota Prius actually provides drivers with a similar operating option to make the vehicle out of pure electric mode. It can use more gasoline and less batteries during this period of time.

4, use the time charger to minimize the time in the Gaohe state

With regard to charging, in many cases, charging late at night will be chosen, which will have a small impact on the load on the grid, and the electricity bill is relatively cheap, but it is likely to be overcharged. So, how do you make sure the battery stays in the best position?

For example, suppose that when your battery is only 50%, but this 50% is difficult to maintain your next day's travel needs, and at this time, you only need to charge the battery for 60 minutes, you can reach 80%, so that you can meet the second. The driving needs of the day. Then, at this time, a charger with a timing function is needed to ensure that the battery is in a high state of charge.

In fact, there are other applications for this charging timer. For example, in normal times, you do not need to wait beside the car to charge, you can charge at any time, you can do other things and come back, and for the merchant, you can provide a time charge; In addition, it is also possible to allow the battery to cool down after charging to ensure that the battery is safe for the next drive. Of course, in extremely cold areas, this is not required.

summary

With regard to the maintenance of electric vehicles, especially the use of batteries, it is particularly crucial to bear this basic rule in mind and to avoid overcharging and excessive discharge. Battery management systems are also managed based on this principle. Of course, the process of use also needs to follow this guideline, so it is particularly important to develop a charger with a timer function. Perhaps this is also an entrepreneurial project.

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