One of the challenges in developing batteries, in addition to making them last longer, is making them work properly in adverse weather conditions. This was the goal of engineers at the University of California at San Diego, who developed lithium-ion batteries that perform well at freezing cold and scorching hot temperatures while packing a lot of energy.
These batteries could allow electric vehicles in cold climates to travel farther on a single charge. They could also reduce the need for cooling systems to keep the vehicles’ battery packs from overheating in hot climates.
In tests, the proof-of-concept batteries retained 87.5% and 115.9% of their energy capacity at -40 and 50 degrees Celsius, respectively. Perhaps even more importantly, the researchers note that the batteries maintained high Coulombic efficiencies of 98.2% and 98.7% at these temperatures, respectively, which…
New energy-dense batteries work well in scorching sun and freezing cold
