Li-Ion Battery Fast Charging Methods: Review and Comparison

In this paper a comprehensive review and analysis on fast charging methods for Li-Ion batteries is reported and assessment of their impact on battery performance addressed. Existing literature proposed and compared several pulse charging strategies, e.g., Positive Pulse Charging (PPC) and Sinusoidal Ripple Current (SRC), with the standard Constant Current Constant Voltage (CCCV) approach, asserting superior outcomes in term charging time, lifetime, and temperature rising. However, it is crucial to highlight that the Electric Vehicles (EVs) typically charge up to 80% to 90% State of Charge (SoC), leading to irrelevant contribution of the CV phase in terms of SoC but heavily contributing to the full charging time, therefore biasing the comparison. A comparative analysis of PPC, SRC against both Constant Current (CC) and CCCV charging methods based on past literatures data and tests is reported here, aiming at highlighting that PC does not significantly impact charging time as compared to CC charging. However, the advantages of PC, including extended battery lifetime, reduced capacity fade, and efficient charging, making it a promising option for the future e-mobility applications. Our evaluation considers several crucial parameters, namely charging time, temperature rise, lifetime, capacity fade, energy efficiency and charge efficiency. Additionally, we considered the practical implementation of pulsed charging strategies with respect to standard ones, considering the challenges and constraints in an actual battery charger. By addressing the feasibility and limitations, our research aims to provide valuable insights for the potential integration of pulsed charging into commercial EV charging infrastructure.