Battery electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles demand batteries that can store large amounts of energy in addition to accommodating large charge and discharge currents without compromising battery life. Lithium–titanate batteries have recently become an attractive option for this application.
Lithium titanate battery system is designed for hybrid-electric heavy-duty vehicles. Actual working condition test guides lithium titanate battery system design. The performance of the LTO battery system meet the design expectations. The hybrid-electric heavy-duty vehicle with LTO battery system has a fuel saving rate of 54.9 %.
Additional benefits from good thermal management of lithium–titanate cells include improved electrochemical performance, better charge acceptance, higher power and energy capacity, and improved cycle life. Preliminary tests revealed that the cells do not generate heat evenly throughout their volume.
Performance of lithium titanate battery system Testing of the 120 Ah LTO battery module indicates that it has the required capability of charging and discharging for heavy-duty vehicles such as the hybrid-electric mining truck.
Additionally, the manufacturing cost of a lithium titanate battery is estimated to be around ¥234,000 (¥3000 /kWh), while the annual charging cost is significantly lower at ¥26,000 (¥1.1 /kWh) per year. Therefore, the implementation of lithium titanate batteries in mining vehicles offers substantial economic benefits.
Recent advances in Li-ion technology have led to the development of lithium–titanate batteries which, according to one manufacturer, offer higher energy density, more than 2000 cycles (at 100% depth-of-discharge), and a life expectancy of 10–15 years .