EV Battery Health with Dr Jeff Dahn Dalhousie U

Everyone with an EV should want to maximize battery life.  Understanding why Li-ion batteries degrade allows one to select operating regimes that minimize degradation and maximize battery life.  Dr. Dahn explains general rules of thumb for operating your EV to maximize battery life. At the end of the talk he briefly touches on what we can expect from the up and coming sodium-ion battery technology.

We are delighted welcome Dr. Jeff Dahn, a premier authority and researcher of Li-ion batteries to our July 4th episode. Professor Dahn is with the Department of Physics & Atmospheric Science and the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University. Dr. Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers, cell-phones and many other devices including electric cars.

[diegofernandez]

Came here from Jason from Engineered Explained. Great explanation Sir!

[jrb_sland]

Many thanks to Dr. Dahn for his patience talking to a [relatively] naive audience!
53:00 Targeting a specific number for optimum SOC is silly - to drive your car any practical distance, you must inevitably lower the SOC, while your range improves at a higher SOC. Jeff has it right - IF you can operate routinely between say 30% & 75%, good for you, but if you are heading out on a long trip then don't be afraid to charge to 100% the previous night, & don't sweat fast charging on a long trip. Just try to avoid 100 % SOC routinely. My personal choice would be a car with a LFP battery, for which the optimum range of SOC is legitimately much closer to 10% ~ 100%.

[jrb_sland]

I have a year-old Dell laptop computer that spends most of its time on the kitchen table, plugged into an AC outlet, and only occasionally goes on a business trip with me when I would need/want maximum battery run time. On the basis of Dr. Dahn's advice, I have now set the laptop's charge limits to operate between 30% & 70%. The night before a trip, I'll charge it to 95%. With luck I should get many years of battery life!

[barry]

Nobody seems to talk about how bad PHEVs are (relative to BEVs), in this respect. I had a 2017 Hyundai Sonata PHEV in Phoenix, and i would cycle it 15 to 100% during my daily commute. My battery was replaced under warranty at 44, 000 miles. It took 6 months to get the new battery.

[milesmckinnon]

Thanks very much Jeff! You are a Canadian legend.

[mikeforwarduk]

The best explanation of prolonging battery life I have seen so far

[KurtSampson]

Love this video! It’s such an honor to be mentioned (50:30) by one of my friends, coworkers, & heroes — Jeff Dahn …and then for this video to be referenced and linked several times by another personal hero, Jason Fenske …just amazing :)

PS - My 2015 Model S just rolled over 500K kms last week, and now maintains ~81.6% of it’s original range, and I charge almost daily to 90% SOC.

[StaticApnea]

Which cars use batteries with monocrystals?

[Longsnowsm]

Fantastic stuff! Please leave these videos up. I try to share them with people and they have been made private. This is EV battery education 101 stuff! Thank you so much! I will be following this advise for my own battery care.

[andre_renard]

Great talk! Would it be possible to get a followup on LFP cells. I'd love hear more about LFP battery life considerations, as those are becoming more popular among entry level EVs.

[MistSoalar]

Hello Dr. Dahn. I've been referred by Engineering Explained channel. Thank you for your great explanation.

[NTOGPredator]

Can we get a quick talk like this but about lfp batteries as they advise them to be charged to 100% once a week.

[davidrowewtl]

Great presentation but I didn't hear about the effect of low discharge. So, how does it effect battery life if you go down to less than 10 or 5% (even if you only charge to +75%)?

[figueiredoeduardo]

Great video! Can you make a video on LFP batteries! Is there anything we can make to make them last longer?

[DougGrinbergs]

Skip housekeeping to 3:13 presentation

[andremcamara]

Great video.

Found this Channel when I was searching for Aptera, Solar Electric Vehicle that can add up 64 kms per day from Solar Charging on a sunny day.

#SEV

[gery]

Amazing information !! Just one question, on 20:00 when you talk about cycling, that includes the buffer ? Or simpy is the whole capacity of the cell ?
Thanks so much !!!

[RickSmith]

Great video, question, you've mentioned long range several times, how would you adjust this on a standard range model? Would you still suggest charging to 75% or would you go lower? Thanks!

[cnghostrider]

Have waited to understand batteries for so long. Finally I did. Thank you sir!

[chipallan]

If a summer trip is planned would you recommend plugging your EV in and setting the upper limit of charge to 30%.