The present invention relates to a battery cell, in particular a lithium-ion battery cell. In addition, the invention relates to a motor vehicle comprising such a battery cell.
Battery cells, sometimes also referred to as rechargeable battery cells, are used for the chemical storage of energy provided electrically. Already today battery cells are used for supplying energy to a large number of mobile devices. In the future, battery cells are intended to be used, inter alia, for supplying energy to mobile electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, on land and in water, and for the stationary buffer-storage of electrical energy originating from alternative energy sources.
For this purpose, usually a large number of battery cells are assembled to form battery packs. In order to use a pack volume available in this case in a manner which is as efficient as possible, primarily battery cells having a prismatic, for example a right-parallelepipedal form are used for such purposes.
Owing to its possible high energy density, thermal stability and lack of memory effect, a lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology, which is being developed intensively at present owing to the high economic significance of future electromobility, is usually used for demanding applications such as storage solutions for motor vehicles, for example.
There are already many different types of battery cells, in particular lithium-ion battery cells, and in addition in particular battery cells having a prismatic form. In this case, components of the battery cell are usually accommodated in hermetically sealed tight fashion in the interior of a housing. The housing generally comprises a container which is open at the top and a cover arrangement, which closes off this container in sealed tight fashion at the top. Part of the cover arrangement is usually a covering plate, which is connected to the container at its rims in sealed tight fashion, for example by virtue of the covering plate being welded to a container rim. Openings are provided in the covering plate, and contact arrangements which are accessible from the outside and are electrically connected to the internal components, for example, reach through said openings.
It has been observed that unexpected short circuits can arise in the case of battery cells, in particular in moist operating conditions.