Charge-Discharge Cycling Studies:
The discharge profiles of the cycled cells at -10, 0, 25 and 40 °C are
shown in Figure 3a-d. It was observed that during the initial cycles the
total discharge duration at 40 and 25 °C is about 2X as compared to that
at 0 and -10 °C, which is due to slower kinetics and lower electrolyte
conductivity. Moreover, the discharge duration are 2, 2.5, 3.8 and 1.5 h
after 120 cycles for 40, 25, 0 and -10 °C, respectively. This suggests
that ageing of PbA battery is
faster at elevated temperature (40 and 25 °C) than at sub-ambient
temperatures (0 and -10 °C). For
cell discharged at 0 °C, the total discharging duration remains
unchanged throughout the cycling studies. Whereas for cell discharged at
-10 °C the discharge duration decreases from 3.5 to 1.5h, which is
relatively faster ageing despite low active materials utilization due to
reduced initial available capacity.