Thermal runaway (TR) and the thermal runaway propagation (TRP) of Li-ion batteries can lead to safety incidents and cause explosion or fire accidents. Therefore, TR is a critical issue for the thermal safety of Li-ion batteries. In this study, the TR and TRP behavior of Li-ion batteries using different abuse methods (nail penetration, side heating, and overcharge) was investigated experimentally. First, the Extended Volume Accelerating Rate Calorimetry (EV-ARC) test was performed using the cell with an internal implantation thermocouple for a comparative study. Three abuse methods were used to induce TR and TRP for the cells and modules. At the cell level, the maximum temperature inside the cell under the EV-ARC test, nail penetration, and side-heating abuse was 994.8 °C, 964.3 °C, and 1020 °C, respectively. The thermocouple inside the cell under the overcharge abuse test was broken, and the experimental phenomenon indicated that the cell was most severely damaged under the overcharging abuse test. At the module level, the TRP behavior using the three abuse methods was different than in the first two TR cells, while the behavior of the other cells was similar. It was evidenced that TRP triggered by the overcharge abuse was the most hazardous, followed by the side-heating abuse, and lastly, the nail-penetration abuse was the least.
