What is Discharge Rate?
Discharge Rate is the amount of energy removed from a battery over a given unit of time. Often measured in Amp-hrs.
Key Takeaways:
- Discharge rate is a measurement of energy lost or used in a battery
- The C-Rate is how discharge rate is expressed
- A Larger ‘C’ number would indicate a longer discharge time
Understanding discharge rate
Discharge rate is the amount of energy removed from a battery over a given unit of time. How fast it is ‘used up’. This is measured by a unit called the C-rate which indicates how quickly a battery discharges relative to its maximum capacity. The C-rate is defined as the discharge current divided by the battery’s capacity to store an electrical charge. This is typically abbreviated as ‘C’ with a number to indicate how many hours it will take to fully discharge under standard usage.
For instance, a battery with a rate of C1 would fully charge or discharge in one hour. This is never expressed as a negative number, so whether this is describing charging or discharging is entirely dependent on the context.
Example: When the 100 kWh battery in a Tesla Model S P100D is undergoing supercharging at 120 kW the C-rate is 1.2C and when that battery delivers its maximum power of 451 kW, its C-rate is 4.51C.
For solar applications C10 batteries are recommended.
Related Terms
Battery – A storage device for electrical energy, typically in a chemical solution, that can be used as a source of power.
Charge Rate – The amount of energy added to a battery over a given unit of time. Often measured in Amps.
Battery Cycle Life – The typical number of charge and discharge cycles that a battery can undergo before it reaches the end of its useful life.