A high-current charge during battery-cell manufacturing—not a change EV owners can make at a charging station—was associated with a 50% increase in average lifespan among the batteries tested in a 2024 study. The factory step also cut the cells’ initial charge time from 10 hours to 20 minutes, according to SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
What was the change?
Researchers studied a high-current first charge, known as formation, in newly manufactured lithium-ion cells. Formation is a controlled factory process carried out before cells are assembled into vehicle battery packs or grid-storage systems. It is not a faster charging setting or a charging habit for owners of batteries already in service.
The study, led by Xiao Cui and published in Joule on August 29, 2024, involved researchers from SLAC and Stanford, Toyota Research Institute, MIT, and the University of Washington. SLAC reported that the tested batteries had 50% higher average lifespan with the high-current formation conditions, while the initial charge took 20 minutes rather than 10 hours.
Why does the first charge matter?
During charging, lithium ions move into the cell’s negative electrode; during discharge, they return toward the positive electrode. The first charge helps form a thin solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on the negative electrode. This layer is part of how the cell behaves during its later use.
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Using machine-learning analysis, the researchers identified formation current and temperature as influential process conditions. Under the high-current conditions studied, about 30% of the lithium was deactivated up front, compared with 9% under previous methods, according to SLAC. The researchers’ explanation is that this early deactivation creates additional headspace in the electrode, supporting more efficient later cycling and reducing subsequent losses.
That is a counterintuitive trade: more lithium is lost at the outset, yet the tested cells later lost less and lasted longer. It does not mean lithium loss is generally beneficial. The result applies to the cells and formation conditions studied; the report does not establish that every chemistry, cell format, or manufacturing line will see the same effect.
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What the 50% result does—and does not—show
The 50% figure is an increase in average lifespan for the batteries tested in this study, as reported by SLAC. The 10-hour-to-20-minute comparison refers to the initial factory formation charge—not time to charge an EV, a consumer battery-life improvement, or charging performance on the road.
The findings point to a possible manufacturing improvement, not proof that commercial EVs or grid batteries already last 50% longer. The SLAC account describes laboratory research and its potential manufacturing relevance; it does not report real-world fleet longevity or grid-storage deployment outcomes. Whether a production line can reproduce the result at scale depends on applying and validating suitable formation conditions for its cells and process.
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Will Chueh, the study lead and a professor, described the work as manufacturing science intended to make critical technologies for the energy transition more affordable. Cui, the lead researcher for the battery informatics team in Chueh’s lab, emphasized the stakes of formation: “Formation is the final step in the manufacturing process,” he said, “so if it fails, all the value and effort invested in the battery up to that point are wasted.”
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