In this paper, a three-dimensional thermal model of a prismatic battery with multi-layer structure was established and validated by the measured surface temperature of the battery. The proposed model was used to analyze and optimize thermal performance of the battery in three cases that its surface was integrated with one of three shape-stabilized phase change material (PCM) configurations. The results showed that the internal anisotropic characteristics of the prismatic battery have significant effect on the heat transfer and thermal performance of the configurations. The configuration that PCM wrapped around the battery had the best performing temperature rising and distribution due to the large thermal storage capacity of PCM and highest contact area between the PCM and the battery. Furthermore, there were critical values of PCM thickness and convective heat transfer coefficient (e.g., 2.08 mm and 10 W m(-2) K-1 for PCM around the cell) at which the process of phase change was almost completed, and the temperature distribution was significantly different across these values. The temperature gradient across the cell decreased as the thickness increased. However, the effect of increasing convective heat transfer coefficient on the decrease of temperature gradient was limited due to the relatively low internal heat conduction ability of the battery. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.