Comparison of lithium-ion batteries with traditional aqueous technologies
Electric Road Transport - Batteries for Electric Vehicles

The batteries traditionally used on vehicles (lead acid – NiCd – NimH) are aqueous technologies. In addition to the main electrochemical reaction, a large number of parasitic reactions exist or are activated beyond a voltage threshold.

Lithium batteries only have the electrochemical reaction of lithium ions. Ageing reactions are slow and are neglected here.

This difference greatly modifies the performance, design and management constraints for vehicle battery packs.

While traditional aqueous technologies self-discharge on the scale of a few months, good quality lithium batteries can retain their energy for several years.

Conventional batteries do not require individual battery monitoring and balancing electronics. In a battery, i.e. a series of cells, a fully-charged cell can continue to...