Prismatic Inverted-U battery stack geometry

A prismatic battery includes a prismatic battery can having an upper region, a vertical Z-direction along a height of the prismatic battery can, and a horizontal Y-direction along a width of the prismatic battery can. A plurality of stacked battery layers is disposed inside of the prismatic battery can. The stacked battery layers have an in-plane direction and a transverse direction that is perpendicular to the in-plane direction. The stacked battery layers have an orthotropic thermal conductivity that has a high, in-plane thermal conductivity in the in-plane direction and has a low, transverse thermal conductivity in the transverse direction. The stacked battery layers are folded inside of the prismatic battery can in an Inverted-U geometric configuration. The Inverted-U geometry is configured to provide a longer thermal delay time and a reduced peak temperature in response to a Thermal Runaway event occurring in an adjacent battery can.