Heating Lithium-Ion Batteries at Low Temperatures for Onboard Applications: Recent Progress, Challenges and Prospects

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are commonly used in electric vehicles (EVs) due to their good performance, long lifecycle, and environmentally friendly merits. Heating LIBs at low temperatures before operation is vitally important to protect the battery from serious capacity degradation and safety hazards. This paper reviews recent progress on heating methods that can be used onboard. The existing methods are divided into two categories, namely external heating methods and internal heating methods, mechanisms, advantages and limitations of each method are systematically reviewed. Then, the rates of temperature rise, energy consumptions, and maximum temperature gradient of different methods are quantitatively summarized to compare the heating performances of each method. In addition, features related to the onboard application of each method are qualitatively compared, which is essential for the rapid cold start of EVs in frigid weather. Finally, prospects of external and internal heating methods are given. This paper aims to provide researchers and engineers with guidelines about how to select a method based on their requirements and application environments.