A Technical Review of Battery Technologies in Electric Vehicles

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have become a major component of the global transition toward electrified transportation. The rapid expansion of BEV adoption has been accompanied by substantial advances in lithium-ion battery technology, including improvements in cell chemistry, manufacturing processes, energy density, charging capability, and structural integration. However, technical information describing commercial traction batteries remains distributed across manufacturer documents, regulatory databases, engineering studies, teardown investigations, and market reports. This fragmentation makes direct comparison of battery technologies across commercially successful electric vehicles difficult. This review provides a comprehensive technical assessment of battery technologies implemented in high-volume BEV models produced between 2010 and 2026. This study establishes a standardized database that integrates vehicle sales information with battery-related engineering characteristics, including usable battery capacity, cell chemistry, cell format, battery pack architecture, battery placement, nominal voltage class, approximate pack mass, and certified driving range. Vehicle selection is based on cumulative global sales at the nameplate level using multiple independent market sources, with inclusion limited to production BEVs that have verifiable sales records and publicly available battery information. Battery technologies are classified according to engineering relevant categories, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP), nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), and other emerging chemistries where applicable. Cell formats are categorized as cylindrical, prismatic, or pouch. Battery pack architectures are classified according to their structural design, including module-based packs, cell-to-pack systems, and structural battery integration approaches such as cell-to-body and cell-to-chassis designs. Each reported parameter is assigned a confidence level based on source quality and verification status. Manufacturer specifications, regulatory documents, peer-reviewed studies, and independent teardown analyses are evaluated using a parameter-specific source assessment framework. This review identifies the relationship between battery design decisions and commercial adoption by comparing engineering characteristics across high-volume electric vehicles. The analysis provides insights into how battery chemistry, pack architecture, voltage platform, and vehicle market success have evolved over time. The resulting database offers a traceable technical reference for researchers, engineers, and policymakers studying the development of commercial electric vehicle battery systems.