Battery assemblies, vehicles, and methods with pouch-type battery cells having terminal end caps

A motor vehicle, comprising:

• a vehicle body with a passenger compartment;
• a plurality of road wheels attached to the vehicle body;
• a traction motor attached to the vehicle body and operable to drive one or more of the road wheels to thereby propel the motor vehicle;
• and
• a traction battery pack attached to the vehicle body and electrically connected to the traction motor, the traction battery pack containing a plurality of battery cells, each of the battery cells including:
• a cell pouch including flexible first and second pouch walls defining one or more openings at one or more ends of the cell pouch;
• an electrolyte located inside the cell pouch and configured to conduct ions;
• an electrode stack located inside the cell pouch and including one or more pairs of working electrodes in electrochemical contact with the electrolyte;
• one or more electrically insulating separator sheets each interposed between a respective one of the pairs of working electrodes;
• and
• one or more terminal end caps located in the one or more openings of the cell pouch and each sealed along an outer perimeter thereof to the first and second pouch walls, each of the terminal end caps including a rigid polymeric cap body with one or more electrical terminals embedded in the cap body and electrically connected to the electrode stack, the cap body including a central body portion with tapered end portions adjoining opposing lateral ends of the central body portion, each of the tapered end portions including ramped surfaces projecting obliquely from the central body portion.

A method of constructing a battery cell assembly, the method comprising:

• forming a cell pouch including flexible first and second pouch walls defining an opening;
• locating, inside the cell pouch, an electrolyte configured to conduct ions;
• locating, inside the cell pouch, first and second working electrodes in electrochemical contact with the electrolyte;
• disposing a separator sheet between the first and second working electrodes;
• locating a terminal end cap at the opening of the cell pouch, the terminal end cap including a rigid polymeric cap body with an electrical terminal embedded in the cap body, the cap body including a central body portion and first and second tapered end portions adjoining opposing first and second lateral ends, respectively, of the central body portion, each of the tapered end portions including ramped surfaces projecting obliquely from the central body portion;
• electrically connecting the electrical terminal to the working electrodes;
• and
• attaching the terminal end cap to the first and second pouch walls.