Every lithium battery can lose up to half of its capacity at -20C and colder temperature. My question is - will that capacity return after the battery is heated back to room temperature? Where the energy stored in battery go when battery gets cold? Or is it just usable capacity (which increases in higher voltage)? I am mostly interested in LTO, if that makes any difference.
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
1
-
\$\begingroup\$ LTO supposedly withstands cold temperatures better than other Li batteries (some are rated to -40C). So I don't think you can rely on "Li battery" info in general unless it specifically refers to LTO. \$\endgroup\$– user16324Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 15:20
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
will that capacity return after the battery is heated back to room temperature?
Short answer: Technically, yes.
Where the energy stored in battery go when battery gets cold?
It's all about the chemical reactions inside the battery.
For lithium-based batteries, it's true that the capacity decreases as the temperature decreases. Likewise, increasing the temperature will increase the capacity of the battery since the chemical reactions occur more frequent/quicker. So, we can say that the capacity is proportional to the temperature.
However, the lifecycle is "inversely" proportional to the temperature: If the temperature increases the capacity increases but the lifetime (total remaining number of charge-discharge cycles) decreases.
So, I'm not sure but I think we can assume that a cold battery will return to its normal performance as it gets cooler or approaches to its normal (room?) temperature.
answered Dec 22, 2021 at 12:03