Zn-Air Battery Pack Vehicle Powertrain Range Extender with Cell Change-Out With Overall Vehicle Durability Cost

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This battery electrical vehicle (BEV) research program will develop a powertrain model to design two energy storage systems (ESS) units: a smaller less costly primary lithium-ion (LiIon) battery pack, and a range-extending Zn-air battery pack. LiIon batteries have emerged as a promising solution to the energy density required for electric vehicles. However, LiIon batteries now still have high-cost sufficient energy density to make them practical for long trips: the size required to power long trips makes the powertrain design too inefficient, heavy, and costly to be widely commercial practicable. A viable solution is to employ a smaller LiIon battery for daily commuting, coupled with a high energy density range extender such as a Zn-air battery for longer trips. Zn-air batteries are promising because of this high theoretical energy density, as well as safe operation and lower-cost materials. The research program has three primary objectives: 1) Design commercial technology to increase Zn-air pack durability by designing novel cell configurations to enable scale-up. 2) Will develop a model powertrain that can accommodate a Zn-air pack, and explore the concept of `changing-out' cells or modules. 3) We will develop novel techniques that allow for changing-out modules within the battery packs for increased efficiency. The proposed Zn-air battery research has been conducted on a half-cell, and the program will seek to improve the durability of a full cell while factoring the compromise between lifespan and energy density. A thicker air electrode increases battery durability, but also decreases the energy density of the pack, while a thicker Zn electrode results in higher battery capacity but a reduced cycling life. A tri-electrode configuration, where the Zn electrode for the oxygen reduction reactions and oxygen evolution reaction electrodes, has been proposed to improve cycling stability. The research will also conduct a feasibility study of cell/module change-out for Zn-air packs, as some modules lose their capacity at a faster rate than others. Instead of changing out the entire pack, it would be more economically beneficial to replace a specific module within the pack. This research will examine new techniques for pack design that allow quick cell/module change-out and determine the optimal schedule for when these services are required through a design simulation model methodology. The simulation research will focus on changing reliability and durability rates, and model degradation evaluation design to represent a realistic pack. The findings will make the long-term deployment of BEVs more economically feasible and environmentally sustainable. There is a significant demand for highly qualified students will battery manufacturing materials skills, battery degradation, and cost quality materials electrode optimization, well as the design of vehicle battery packs for vehicles in a wide field of battery mobility powertrains.