The Role of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs): Structure, Applications, and Future Prospects

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) represent the most vital technology for the worldwide switch to sustainable transportation, especially battery electric vehicles (BEVs). In establishing the context of the critical role that LIBs can play, this review will first define the industrial and policy imperatives under which it is conducted. The paper is a comparative analysis of the most common battery chemistries, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) and Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC), with the fundamentals of the engineering trade-off of cost, safety, and energy density. Cases of BYD Blade Battery innovations in optimizing these trade-offs are being presented. The paper thereafter explores the critical impediments in the current LIB technology based on thermal management requirements, degradation in performance over time, the enormous challenges in sourcing raw materials, and end-of-life recycling. Lastly, it evaluates the future potential of the next-generation technology as an answer to these shortcomings, such as solid-state batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and silicon anodes. The analysis concludes that though LIBs will continue dominating the immediate term, active innovation will be needed to address the internal issues in the LIBs to achieve a genuinely sustainable and efficient future of the electric mobility sector.