Optimization of Electric Vehicle Lithium-ion Battery Design Parameters for Stationary Storage Applications in the Electricity Grid

Abstract

Stationary storage plays an integral role in decarbonization efforts and will benefit from the economies of scale and further decline in cost for lithium-ion batteries due to growing demand from the electric vehicle industry. However, the performance characteristics for lithium-ion batteries used for electric vehicle applications and for stationary storage applications are not identical, suggesting that the design of the former can be optimized to be used for the latter. This study explores a design space of varying lengths of electrode thickness and C-rates and the tradeoffs that different combinations of these parameters achieve with regards to battery cost and cycle life for lithium-ion batteries using the lithium iron phosphate - graphite (LFP-G) electrode pair. We use an electricity system capacity expansion optimization model to identify optimal design characteristics within this space. We find that an electrode that is three to four times the nominal thickness of a lithium-ion battery used for electric vehicle applications results in more battery and co-located solar deployment in the electricity grid, and leads to a decrease in system costs than if only batteries with an electrode thickness and C-rate tailored for EV applications were available for deployment. Furthermore, an increase in battery deployment also tends to correspond with a decrease in transmission capacity, due to the co-location of solar and battery resources, as well as a decrease in natural gas capacity. Such results suggest to battery manufacturers that there may be opportunities to capture greater revenues and share of the battery market if they are able to accommodate slightly modified battery designs in their manufacturing lines.