Lead-Acid Batteries for Future Automobiles

Jürgen Garche, Eckhard Karden, Patrick T. Moseley, David A. J. Rand, Jurgen Garche

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780444637000
• eBook ISBN: 9780444637031
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Automotive Transportation & Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Lead-Acid Batteries for Future Automobiles provides an overview on the innovations that were recently introduced in automotive lead-acid batteries and other aspects of current research. Innovative concepts are presented, some of which aim to make lead-acid technology a candidate for higher levels of powertrain hybridization, namely 48-volt mild or high-volt full hybrids.Lead-acid batteries continue to dominate the market as storage devices for automotive starting and power supply systems, but are facing competition from alternative storage technologies and being challenged by new application requirements, particularly related to new electric vehicle functions and powertrain electrification.- Presents an overview of development trends for future automobiles and the demands that they place on the battery- Describes how to adapt LABs for use in micro and mild hybrid EVs via collector construction and materials, via carbon additives, via new cell construction (bipolar), and via LAB hybrids with Li-ion and supercap systems- System integration of LABs into vehicle power-supply and hybridization concepts- Short description of competitive battery technologies

Part 1

Overview

Outline

1. Development trends for future automobiles and their demand on the battery

2. Overview of batteries for future automobiles

3. Lead–acid battery fundamentals

4. Current research topics for lead–acid batteries

1

Development trends for future automobiles and their demand on the battery

E. Karden Ford Motor Company, Research & Innovation Centre Aachen, Aachen, Germany

Abstract

Requirements to automotive batteries are changing due to increasing electrical content – for example, multiple transient high-power loads that enable various levels of autonomous driving – as well as due to fuel economy and CO₂ emissions targets that drive the broad introduction of micro-hybrid technology. The cascaded process of requirements development, from vehicle functions to power-supply and powertrain system requirements and then down to storage system requirements, is illustrated. Low-volt power-supply system topologies are discussed briefly. Upcoming storage system requirements are outlined, with emphasis on shallow cycle-life at partial state-of-charge (PSoC), as well as dynamic charge-acceptance (DCA). The position of lead–acid technology for automotive applications is discussed in the light of these new requirements, but also in contrast to fast-evolving alternative storage technologies.

Keywords

Automotive battery; Autonomous driving; Hybrid-electric vehicle; Lead–acid battery; Lithium-ion battery

1.1. Lead–acid batteries in automobiles: still good enough?

In the early days of the automobile, it was not clear that internal combustion engines (ICEs) would be the dominating propulsion technology for the coming century. In the first decade of the twentieth century, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) quickly outsold early steam-powered automobiles. Around 1900, young engineers like Ferdinand Porsche, who was employed at a carriage manufacturer named Lohner, developed electric cars that were propelled by lead–acid batteries. To overcome the range limitation and weight penalty of the rechargeable accumulator, Porsche's next development, the Lohner-Porsche Mixte (1902), was the world's first series hybrid that added a Daimler engine and an electric generator to the wheel-hub motors and the downsized battery. Economically, this concept suffered from the high cost of two powertrains and remained a luxury niche product.

In the coming two decades from 1910 to 1930, gasoline (and diesel) vehicles (ICEVs) gained market share rapidly. This development was partly due to the low price, abundancy and high specific energy of fuels made from petrol. Other important success factors were some technological innovations that improved the comfort and reliability of ICEVs and can be viewed as the introduction of minimal electrification. Manual cranking became unnecessary after the introduction of electric starter motors (Cadillac, 1912), and magnetic ignition was replaced by lower-cost battery ignition (Bosch, 1925) that required an electric generator and a rechargeable battery. Once electricity was available, other components like headlamps and windshield wipers were also electrified. Pioneers of automobile mass production, such as Henry Ford, continued to build experimental BEVs (in this case, employing Edison's nickel–iron battery around 1913 so as to save weight in relation to lead–acid batteries) but could not find a commercially viable alternative to what are now called conventional powertrains.

For the first time in automobile history, lead–acid technology had survived a paradigm shift as an enabler for new powertrain and comfort functions. Radical downsizing from a traction battery to the starting-lighting-ignition (SLI) battery had minimized its weight burden. Other electrochemical storage systems, though superior in specific energy, could not compete in terms of robust operation, simple controls and, usually, cost. Higher engine crank torque requirements and additional electric functions like fuel ignition, steering and braking assistance and heated seats are still handled by fundamentally the same power-supply system, with system voltage doubled to 12 V in the 1960s and alternators generating with higher efficiency than t...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• About the Editors
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Part 1. Overview
• Part 2. Battery Technology
• Part 3. Application Technology
• Part 4. Product Life Cycle
• Part 5. Outlook
• Glossary
• Index