RegGuheert
Well-known member
In light of the recent reports of capacity loss in some LEAFs in Phoenix, I was doing a little research on the effects of temperature on Li-ion batteries and I came across this article in MIT's Technology Review in which they discuss some of the issues along with a new approach to the problem by a company named Leyden Energy:
This technology seems like it would be a good candidate for a replacement battery for a vehicle like the LEAF which does not have an active battery cooling system.Leyden's battery replaces lithium hexafluorophosphate, one of the components of a lithium-ion battery, with imide salt. Unlike lithium hexafluorophosphate, it does not react with water inside the battery cell, a reaction that significantly degrades the cycle life of a battery. Lithium hexafluorophosphate also starts to decompose at room temperature and loses its effectiveness more significantly when the temperature hits 55 °C. Imide salt doesn't start to decompose at higher temperatures.