Am about to buy a new pedelec,the supplier has offered a choice between Life Po4 (Lithium Ion Phosphate) and Lithium Ion...have read that Life Po4 is a big improvement over Lithium Ion....described as maintenance free,safer,better power discharge. A 36v x10 Ah battery is said to travel 48 miles,recharge in 30 mins and have a cycle life 2.7 times over Lithium Ion. The shelflife at less than 25 deg C over 1 year is said to maintain 98% recharge capacity,it is also cheaper. It all seems to say that Life Po4 is the obvious choice....anybody really know whether the above is true?
Life PO4 Battery v Lithium Ion
- Thread starter ghostrain
- Start date
From what I've read LiPo's are lighter for the same capacity and give out more current compared with Li phosphate but LiPo's have shorter life cycles and need very careful charing and discharging.
It all seems to be going towards the phosphates these days.
It all seems to be going towards the phosphates these days.
I too don't believe that short charge range, it's hype.
LiFePO4 promise a longer life, on e-bikes at present probably about 50% longer, depending on usage conditions. As a relatively new technology in e-bike sizes there's the odd question mark which is why most manufacturers don't use them yet, but they are getting there.
The currently favoured lithium polymer or the slightly older "li-ion" are now very reliable, can be lighter and are a bit smaller in cell size, but don't last as long. If the "li-ion" he's offering isn't a polymer type, it's worth going for the lithium iron phosphate one.
N.B. I've put li-ion in inverted commas above because all lithium batteries including phosphate are li-ion batteries. Li-ion was the name given originally to the hard cell case lithium batteries with plate construction of the time. Li-ion refers to the way they work. Later a polymer construction of the cell contents was developed which enables soft cell casings, so Li-polymer refers to the construction.
Lithium iron phosphate (chemical formula LiFePO4) refers to the chemistry, so we have the silliness of three ways of naming lithium batteries!
Perhaps a more accurate way to identify is by the principal cathode material, for example: lithium-ion cobalt, lithium-ion manganese and lithium-ion iron, but that last name is very confusing and the position is being made more complicated by modern cathodes being complex compounds of numerous elements.
One day there'll be one dominant type and life will get simpler.
.
LiFePO4 promise a longer life, on e-bikes at present probably about 50% longer, depending on usage conditions. As a relatively new technology in e-bike sizes there's the odd question mark which is why most manufacturers don't use them yet, but they are getting there.
The currently favoured lithium polymer or the slightly older "li-ion" are now very reliable, can be lighter and are a bit smaller in cell size, but don't last as long. If the "li-ion" he's offering isn't a polymer type, it's worth going for the lithium iron phosphate one.
N.B. I've put li-ion in inverted commas above because all lithium batteries including phosphate are li-ion batteries. Li-ion was the name given originally to the hard cell case lithium batteries with plate construction of the time. Li-ion refers to the way they work. Later a polymer construction of the cell contents was developed which enables soft cell casings, so Li-polymer refers to the construction.
Lithium iron phosphate (chemical formula LiFePO4) refers to the chemistry, so we have the silliness of three ways of naming lithium batteries!
Perhaps a more accurate way to identify is by the principal cathode material, for example: lithium-ion cobalt, lithium-ion manganese and lithium-ion iron, but that last name is very confusing and the position is being made more complicated by modern cathodes being complex compounds of numerous elements.
One day there'll be one dominant type and life will get simpler.
.
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