In this podcast episode, we talk with Prof. Thomas Waldmann from ZSW about battery degradation.
*Green Electricity (Sponsorship):* Green Electricity Smart - Charge smartly, drive affordably! Charge your electric car when green electricity is cheapest and you pay the least. With the dynamic "Green Electricity Smart" tariff and the Green Electricity Smart app, it's incredibly easy, customizable, and fully automatic! Secure your âŹ30 starting credit now: https://www.naturstrom.de/geladen/
In this podcast episode, we talk with Prof. Thomas Waldmann from ZSW about battery degradation. As a battery researcher, he has been studying various aging mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries for many years â a topic that is not only important for electric car and home storage owners, operators of large-scale batteries, or electric truck fleets... We all want our batteries (e.g., in our smartphones) to last as long as possible!
Study: "Less Battery Degradation Through 'Dynamic Electric Car Driving?'" https://www.electrive.net/2025/08/05/...
Study: "Evaluation of Commercial 18650 and 26700 Sodium-Ion Cells and Comparison with Established Lithium-Ion Cells" - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Prof. Waldmann clearly explains which processes inside a cell are responsible for lithium loss and capacity reduction. Two mechanisms are of particular focus: "lithium plating," i.e., the deposition of metallic lithium at the negative terminal (anode), and the formation of a (somewhat too thick) "SEI" film layer (solid electrolyte interphase). Both phenomena contribute significantly to this. It's a fact that batteries lose capacity over their lifespan. This loss is strongly correlated with charging routines, maintenance, storage, temperature, and operating strategy. So it's worth knowing what's good for your batteriesâand what's bad for them!
Professor Waldmann addresses listener questions in detail:
1) Battery temperature sensitivity: Why "too cold" and "too hot" are equally problematic!
2) The optimal state of charge (SoC) for extended storage
3) Calendar aging vs. cyclic aging
4) What role does the battery management system (BMS) play? How should the optimal charging window be defined?
5) DC fast charging vs. AC chargingâWhich charging speeds are healthy for the battery in the long run?
Finally, Thomas Waldmann discusses so-called "post-mortem analyses." Because: He's not only a battery researcher, but as a battery pathologist, he also investigates the true causes and amplifiers of battery degradation using old, damaged cells. Degradation mechanisms in battery cells.
In the Geladen podcast, Daniel Messling and Patrick von Rosen and their guests explore the topics of energy transition, electromobility, electric cars, and battery research from a scientific perspective. This podcast is produced for the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
đ€© Become an advertising partner of Geladen now! đ Start a collaboration: sponsoring@geladen-podcast.de
LinkedIn: LinkedIn: geladen-der-batteriepodcast
Instagram: Instagram: geladenpodcast
Links: https://linktr.ee/geladen
In this podcast episode, we talk with Prof. Thomas Waldmann from ZSW about battery degradation.
*Green Electricity (Sponsorship):* Green Electricity Smart - Charge smartly, drive affordably! Charge your electric car when green electricity is cheapest and you pay the least. With the dynamic "Green Electricity Smart" tariff and the Green Electricity Smart app, it's incredibly easy, customizable, and fully automatic! Secure your âŹ30 starting credit now: https://www.naturstrom.de/geladen/
In this podcast episode, we talk with Prof. Thomas Waldmann from ZSW about battery degradation. As a battery researcher, he has been studying various aging mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries for many years â a topic that is not only important for electric car and home storage owners, operators of large-scale batteries, or electric truck fleets... We all want our batteries (e.g., in our smartphones) to last as long as possible!
Study: "Less Battery Degradation Through 'Dynamic Electric Car Driving?'" https://www.electrive.net/2025/08/05/...
Study: "Evaluation of Commercial 18650 and 26700 Sodium-Ion Cells and Comparison with Established Lithium-Ion Cells" - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Prof. Waldmann clearly explains which processes inside a cell are responsible for lithium loss and capacity reduction. Two mechanisms are of particular focus: "lithium plating," i.e., the deposition of metallic lithium at the negative terminal (anode), and the formation of a (somewhat too thick) "SEI" film layer (solid electrolyte interphase). Both phenomena contribute significantly to this. It's a fact that batteries lose capacity over their lifespan. This loss is strongly correlated with charging routines, maintenance, storage, temperature, and operating strategy. So it's worth knowing what's good for your batteriesâand what's bad for them!
Professor Waldmann addresses listener questions in detail:
1) Battery temperature sensitivity: Why "too cold" and "too hot" are equally problematic!
2) The optimal state of charge (SoC) for extended storage
3) Calendar aging vs. cyclic aging
4) What role does the battery management system (BMS) play? How should the optimal charging window be defined?
5) DC fast charging vs. AC chargingâWhich charging speeds are healthy for the battery in the long run?
Finally, Thomas Waldmann discusses so-called "post-mortem analyses." Because: He's not only a battery researcher, but as a battery pathologist, he also investigates the true causes and amplifiers of battery degradation using old, damaged cells. Degradation mechanisms in battery cells.
In the Geladen podcast, Daniel Messling and Patrick von Rosen and their guests explore the topics of energy transition, electromobility, electric cars, and battery research from a scientific perspective. This podcast is produced for the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
đ€© Become an advertising partner of Geladen now! đ Start a collaboration: sponsoring@geladen-podcast.de
LinkedIn: LinkedIn: geladen-der-batteriepodcast
Instagram: Instagram: geladenpodcast
Links: https://linktr.ee/geladen