This paper reviews the current status of the mechanical integrity study on electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries, points out shortcomings and unsolved problems, and pinpoints important future research frontiers. Due to the inevitable traffic crash accidents, lithium-ion battery would experience internal short-circuit, temperature rise, pressure increase thus leading to thermal runaway, and finally causing catastrophic consequences such as fire and explosion, subject to mechanical abuse conditions including vibration and shock, large deformation and nail penetration. The possible safety issue may restrain the further spreading and wider pplication of electric vehicles. Researchers have a comprehensive study for lithium-ion battery through experiment, theory and simulation considering multi-physics field from different scale, such as material, cell, modulus and system.
