Lithium titanate battery system enables hybrid electric heavy-duty vehicles

Electrification plays an important role in the transformation of the global vehicle industry. Targeting the rapidly growing heavy-duty off-highway vehicles, we developed a battery system for hybrid-electric heavy-duty trucks based on lithium titanium oxide (LTO) batteries. With LTO as the anode and nickel manganese cobalt (NCM) as the cathode, comprehensive measurements of the battery cells and modules indicate that LTO batteries are uniquely suitable for applications requiring high-rate fast charging and discharging. An LTO battery system was constructed and implemented to realize the first advanced lithium-ion battery-based hybrid-electric heavy-duty vehicle, a hybrid-electric mining truck with vehicle mass 34 ton and maximum load 60 ton. Field operation tests of the hybrid-electric vehicle suggest that the performance of the LTO battery system meet the design expectations. After analyzing operation parameters of the hybrid-electric heavy-duty vehicle, we found 54.9 % fuel savings compared to conventional diesel-powered truck of the same mass and load.

Automated summary

Electrification plays a crucial role in the transformation of the global vehicle industry. This study developed a hybrid-electric heavy-duty truck battery system based on LTO batteries, which are uniquely suitable for high-rate fast charging and discharging. Field operation tests showed that the LTO battery system performed as expected, resulting in 54.9% fuel savings compared to conventional diesel-powered trucks of the same size.