There was a growing trend in the automotive market on the adoption of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) for consumers to purchase. This was partially due to external pressures such as the effects of global warming, cost of petroleum, governmental regulations, and popularity of the vehicle type. HEV technology relied on a variety of factors which included the powertrain (PT) of the system, external driving conditions, and the type of driving pattern being driven. The core foundation for HEVs depended heavily on the battery pack and chemistry being adopted for the vehicle performance and operations. This paper focused on the effects of hot and arid temperatures on the performance of LiFePO4 (LFP) battery packs and presented a possible modeling method for overall performance.

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) packs were subjected to room and high temperature settings while being cycled under a current profile created from a drive cycle. The Federal Urban Driving Schedule (FUDS) was selected and modified to simulate normal city driving situation using an electric only drive mode. Capacity and impedance fade of the LIB packs were monitored over the lifetime of the pack to determine the overall performance through the variables of energy and power fade. Regression analysis was done on the energy and power fade of the LIB pack to determine the duration life of LIB packs for HEV applications. This was done by comparing energy and power fade with the average lifetime mileage of a vehicle.

The collected capacity and impedance data was used to create an electrical equivalent model (EEM). The model was produced through the process of a modified Randles circuit and the creation of the inverse constant phase element (ICPE). Results indicated the model had a potential for high fidelity as long as a sufficient amount of data was gathered. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was performed on a fresh and cycled LFP battery. SEM results suggested a dramatic growth on LFP crystals with a reduction in carbon coating after cycling. XRD effects showed a slight uniformed strain and decrease in size of LFP olivine crystals after cycling.