Analysis of Safety Characteristics for Prismatic Lithium-Ion Batteries Based on a Refined Model

As the global automotive industry is transitioning toward sustainable development, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have experienced rapid global growth due to their environmental friendliness and high efficiency. Global sales of NEVs are projected to reach 50 million units by 2030. Nevertheless, safety incidents caused by impacts on traction batteries remain a major factor restricting the development of NEVs. Prismatic batteries, which account for over 90% of the traction battery market owing to their high energy density and structural robustness, nevertheless continue to face significant safety challenges under mechanical loading conditions. Typical failure modes involve structural damage induced by external compressive forces during severe vehicular collisions, which can subsequently result in the tearing of internal electrode layers and rupture of the separator, thereby initiating internal short circuits and leading to severe incidents. Accordingly, this research focuses on the mechanism of structural damage transmission for prismatic lithium-ion batteries under compression conditions. By integrating a refined mechanical model, it further elucidates the structural failure mechanisms and conducts a microscopic analysis of the damaged battery structure to investigate the effects of varying damage levels on battery safety performance, providing significant guidance for the safety and reliability of new energy vehicles.