Blog & News

Mechanics is a critical factor influences degradation mechanisms. Unlike SEI formation or lithium plating, mechanical effects do not directly degrade the battery. Instead, they create the conditions that accelerate other degradation pathways, making them a crucial aspect of battery modeling.

While SEI growth is an inevitable part of battery aging, another degradation mechanism can lead to even more severe consequences: lithium plating. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at lithium plating, the conditions that cause it, and how it can be modeled.

Battery degradation is a complex process driven by multiple interwoven mechanisms. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at SEI growth, one of the most fundamental yet still not fully understood processes affecting lithium-ion battery lifespan.

Battery aging is not caused by a single factor but rather by a combination of degradation mechanisms, each affecting different components of the cell. These mechanisms ultimately lead to a reduction in energy storage capacity, increased resistance, and a decline in overall efficiency.

Batteries, like all engineered systems, don’t last forever. Over time, they gradually lose capacity, efficiency, and power output—a process known as battery degradation or aging. This decline in performance affects everything from electric vehicle range to smartphone battery life.

When a battery operates, not all of the energy goes into powering devices; some is inevitably lost as heat due to internal resistance and other electrochemical processes. Managing this heat is essential, especially in large-format cells used in electric vehicles or grid storage, where temperature fluctuations can impact performance, lifespan, and safety. This is where thermal models come into play.