1. Higher charge voltages boost capacity but lowers cycle life and compromises safety.

2. Besides selecting the best-suited voltage thresholds for a given application, a regular Li-ion should not remain at the
high-voltage ceiling of 4.20V/cell for an extended time. The Li-ion charger turns off the charge current and the battery
voltage reverts to a more natural level. This is like relaxing the muscles after a strenuous exercise.

3. For safety reasons, many lithium-ions cannot exceed 4.20V/cell. (Some NMC are the exception.) While a higher
voltage boosts capacity, exceeding the voltage shortens service life and compromises safety. Figure 5 demonstrates
cycle count as a function of charge voltage. At 4.35V, the cycle count of a regular Li-ion is cut in half.

Temperature

Cell can change dramatically with temperature. At the lower extreme, in batteries with aqueous electrolytes, the electrolyte itself
may freeze setting a lower limit on the operating temperature. At low temperatures Lithium batteries suffer from Lithium plating
of the anode causing a permanent reduction in . At the upper extreme the active chemicals may break down destroying the
battery. In between these limits the cell generally improves with temperature. See also Thermal Management and Battery Life for
more details.

The above graph shows how the of Lithium Ion batteries deteriorates as the operating temperature decreases.

Probably more important is that, for both high and low temperatures, the further the operating temperature is from room
temperature the more the is degraded. See Lithium Battery Failures.

Temperature Effects

The rate of unwanted chemical reactions which cause internal leakage between the positive and
negative electrodes of the cell, like all chemical reactions, increases with temperature thus
increasing the battery self discharge rate. See also Battery Life . The graph below shows typical
self discharge rates for a Lithium Ion battery.

Discharge Rates

The for a Lithium Ion cell below show that the effective of the cell is reduced if the cell is
discharged at very high rates (or conversely increased with low discharge rates). This is called
the offset and the effect is common to most cell chemistries.
There are two conclusions to be drawn from this graph:

 Care should be exercised when comparing battery specifications to ensure that

comparable discharge rates are used.
 In an automotive application, if high rates are used regularly for hard acceleration or for
hill climbing, the range of the vehicle will be reduced.

Low Temperature Effects

Capacity Reduction

Capacity is also quite sensitive to temperature effects. Lithium cells offer more capacity and
higher performance at higher temperatures, including at excessive temperatures causing
accelerated ageing. At freezing temperatures, the available capacity upon discharge shrinks quite
significantly [4], but is recovered once the cell warms up again.
Available capacity as a function of temperature for a low voltage discharge cut-off threshold of
2.5V/cell (Plot courtesy of Tsinghua University)

This phenomenon highlights the fact that lithium ions become more and more difficult to extract
from the graphite matrix of the anode as temperature drops and only relatively superficial charge
carriers are available at low temperatures; the balance of the capacity effectively becomes
“locked-in” out of reach. This loss of available capacity also translates into a lower discharge
voltage, with the low voltage cut off point being reached earlier.
Constant current voltage discharge curves at different temperatures. The low voltage cut-off
threshold leaves significant capacity locked into the battery at freezing temperatures (Plot
courtesy of Tsinghua University)

Accepting a lower low voltage cut-off threshold would be a way of regaining access to some of
this locked-in capacity in sub-freezing conditions, but the matter is only of real interest for
automotive applications.

Cut-off voltage = 2.5V Cut-off voltage = 2.0V

T = 25°C C = 100%

T = 15°C C = 98%

T = 0°C C = 90%

T = -10°C C = 74.5% C = 87%

T = -20°C C = 56% C = 72%

For all practical purposes on marine vessels, battery temperatures below freezing should be
uncommon unless the water also freezes around the hull. Capacity reduction is then limited to
about 10% only in the worst case, which should be negligible. While discharge at low
temperature yields both reduced power and capacity, it is harmless to the cell. The same cannot
be said of low temperature charging.

The exponential voltage increases when battery is charging, no matter the SOC of the battery.
When the battery is discharging, the exponential voltage decreases immediately:
Figure 2: Typical discharge curves of lead acid as a function of C-rate.
Smaller batteries are rated at a 1C discharge rate. Due to sluggish behavior, lead acid is rated at
0.2C (5h) and 0.05C (20h).

While lead- and nickel-based batteries can be discharged at a high rate, the protection circuit
prevents the Li-ion Energy Cell from discharging above 1C. The Power Cell with nickel,
manganese and/or phosphate active material can tolerate discharge rates of up to 10C and the
current threshold is set higher accordingly.