Reducing the Production Cost of EV Batteries

Battery design that improves thermal management, ease of assembly, and reduces cost while improving energy density in cylindrical cells. The battery uses a riveted pole that penetrates the cover plate to connect to the cell. The riveted pole allows cell connection without separate terminals, enabling flexible cell polarity arrangement during assembly. It also improves heat dissipation compared to traditional tabs. The riveted pole reduces complexity, parts count, and cost while increasing energy density.

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Battery module and assembly design to simplify the electrical connection between battery modules in order to improve workability and reduce the assembly time. The battery module has terminals formed by extending internal bus bars outside the module case. This allows adjacent modules to connect their bus bars together directly without separate bus bar components.

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Battery module design for vehicle battery packs that can reduce manufacturing cost by using modular frames that can adjust in size to fit different numbers of battery cells. The modular frames can be lengthened or shortened to accommodate varying cell counts by coupling together.

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A connector for connecting battery cells in a battery pack of an electric vehicle that reduces cost and complexity compared to prior solutions. The connector has a carrier with weld openings, a cover over the openings, a contact in the carrier, a flexible film connector along an edge of the carrier, and a film conductor in the carrier that contacts the contact and film connector. The cells are connected by welding through the carrier openings.

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An electric vehicle battery that is lightweight, compact, and efficient, while being easy and cost-effective to manufacture and assemble. The battery includes a plastic foam housing that is formed around the battery cells to encapsulate and protect them. This foam housing replaces traditional metal housings and eliminates the need for separate cell holders. The foam is foamed directly onto the cells and then cured in place.

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Battery module with minimized resistance and cost by reducing the use of bus bars to connect electrode leads. The battery module has a cell stack, a bus bar frame with slits for the electrode leads, and a bus bar. The electrode leads pass through the slits and engage each other on the bus bar instead of being individually connected. The engaged leads are welded to the bus bar. This reduces the number of bus bar plates needed and shortens the current path between adjacent electrode leads.

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Battery module for electric vehicles that reduces weight and cost compared to conventional modules. It uses friction welding to join the busbars rather than welding or bolting. The battery module has a case, battery cells inside, sensing busbars that connect the cells, and power busbars connected to the sensing busbars. The sensing and power busbars are made of a layered composite material with an aluminum outer layer and a copper inner layer that friction weld together to form a bonding layer, eliminating the need for separate welds, bolts, or connectors.

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Lithium iron phosphate battery with enhanced power output and cost-effective manufacturing. The battery uses an active material with a specific crystalline structure made by a low-cost synthesis method. The method involves mixing lithium, phosphorus, iron compounds and water, adjusting pH, and heat treating under pressure. The resulting lithium-containing complex phosphate has a flat or columnar shape and a space group Pnma.

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A multi-core lithium-ion battery with improved safety and reduced manufacturing costs. The battery has a sealed enclosure that houses multiple lithium-ion cores, along with features like deflectable pressure release domes, external fuses, and flame arrestors to prevent cascading failures and contain any failures to a single cell. The battery also uses endothermic materials and kinetic energy absorbing supports to mitigate thermal runaway and impact risks.

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Highly efficient alkali metal batteries (e.g. lithium, sodium) with high energy density and power density. The batteries use anode and cathode particulates that contain 3D networks of conducting pathways. This enables high mass loading and volumetric capacity. The particulates are composed of active material, electron conductor, and ion conductor. When packed together in electrodes, the networks merge into extensive pathways covering the entire electrode.

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Lithium-ion battery design with improved safety and reduced manufacturing costs. The design uses features like pressure triggered electric disconnects and venting to prevent cascading failures and thermal runaway. The battery casing has a bottom plate that can separate from the battery components when pressure exceeds a threshold. This disconnects the battery. The casing also has a vent structure to release pressure.

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A dual storage battery system for vehicles that combines lithium-ion and lead-acid battery cells to improve performance and reduce cost compared to using either cell type alone. In the system, a lithium-ion cell is electrically connected in parallel with a lead-acid cell. The lead-acid cell can protect the lithium-ion cell from overcharging and overdischarging, and balance their charge. The lithium-ion cell can provide higher power density and faster charging.

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A hybrid battery control system architecture that can be used to implement battery control systems with reduced implementation costs and flexibility. The architecture includes basic building blocks like cell control units, string control units, and system control units, each with specified functions and infrastructure. The architecture can be customized by analyzing battery systems to determine the target control levels and functions needed.

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A method to fabricate lithium batteries with improved cycle life and safety compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, without incurring the excessive cost of traditional thin-film lithium batteries. The method involves depositing thin cathode, electrolyte, and anode layers on a substrate using vacuum deposition techniques, then completing the battery structure with thick film deposition of the anode and current collectors. This enables the use of high performance solid electrolytes like LiPON, which enhance safety compared to liquid electrolytes. The thin film cathode, electrolyte, and anode enable cycling of a higher fraction of lithium ions than in thick electrodes, improving cycle life.

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