The Benefits of LiFePO4 batteries
LiFePO4 has many advantages over other lithium-ion battery designs and older lead-acid (LA) batteries. They weigh less, they require zero maintenance, they have better charge and discharge characteristics and they have a much longer life, making them one of the best value electric propulsion solutions for boats.
Other key benefits of LiFePO4 include high current rating, longer cycle life, zero leak and fire risk and a tolerance to sub-optimal charging and discharging cycles.
High Efficiency
Why are LiFePO4 batteries so efficient? In a like-for-like comparison with systems that use other lithium ion or lead acid batteries, lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) offers a superior combination of characteristics, especially for propulsion in leisure boats and small commercial vessels.
LiFePO4 battery designs have improved discharge and charge efficiency and the ability to deep cycle while maintaining performance, something that LA chemistries and other designs of lithium battery cannot match.
Better Performance from the keel up
The combination of long life, slow self-discharge rates and low weight with high battery capacity make lithium iron phosphate batteries (LiFePO4) the ideal starting point for electric leisure boats.
LiFePO4 has a longer life span
In boats with petrol or diesel propulsion systems, boat owners don’t expect to change their motor every two or three years. So, it feels a little disingenuous to expect electric boat owners to have to regularly update their entire battery pack, which would be likely for boats with lead acid installations.
This punitive maintenance regime would make it very difficult to justify an electric propulsion option if using LA batteries. However, Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery packs can now out-perform fossil fuel systems.
Faster Charging process
Battery charging time for LiFePO4 batteries is quicker than for lead acid or other lithium batteries, Typically LiFePO4 units have four times the energy density and charge five times faster than lead acid batteries.
Cycle life for a LiFePO4 battery is up to five times the cycle life of some lithium ion batteries, often reaching up to 5000 cycles without any significant drop in performance.
LiFePO4 battery packs can also run down to 100% DOD (depth of discharge) without any damage or drop in performance.
LiFePO4 is lightweight
Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4 or LFP) chemistries deliver about 50% more useable electrical capacity with up to 70% less weight than lead-acid batteries. LiFePO4 units are also lighter than some lithium ion batteries, around half the weight of lithium manganese oxide (LMO) batteries.
The superior power-to-weight ratio of LiFePO4 results in smaller battery packs, less wasted space and lower propulsion system weight, which improves boat performance, electrical efficiency, overall boat range and increases interior layout options.
More weight-savings
Further weight-savings are realised when you consider that a comparative lead acid battery installation will require battery boxes and lots more wiring for terminal connections compared to a LiFePO4 battery installation.
Environmentally Friendly to make
Unlike a lithium battery and lead acid batteries, LiFePO4 batteries do not contain toxic, heavy or rare earth metals like cobalt, nickel or lead. LiFePO4 is composed of common materials like graphite, iron and copper.
These materials are cheaper to source, more abundant and also require less energy to mine and process, representing a greener choice for boat owners looking for green electric boat propulsion solutions.
Better performance at high and low temperatures
Fortunately, LiFePO4 batteries are tolerant of a wide range of temperatures without any drop in performance at either end of their temperature range.
Typically operating at full capacity in temperatures from -20°C to 70°C, makes LiFePO4 batteries a great option for almost all real-world leisure boating and commercial boat applications.
Zero maintenance
Unlike a lead acid battery, a lithium iron phosphate battery does not require any servicing to prolong its service life. LiFePO4 batteries also do not suffer from any memory effect from incomplete discharge before re-charging.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of lithium iron phosphate battery?
Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery differ from Lithium-ion battery which using phosphate as anode material. It is popular use to motive batteries, such as electric bikes, motorcycles, light electric vehicles and pure electric vehicle.
LiFePO4 battery advantages:
Longer cycle life - LiFePO4 batteries offers a longer cycle life than Lithium-ion batteries and Lithium-ion Polymer batteries. Qualified LiFePO4 cells should remain 80% DOD after 2000 cycles of charging and discharging.
Safety and stability - LiFePO4 batteries has one key advantage over other Lithium-ion batteries is the superior thermal and chemical stability, which provides better safety characteristics than Lithium-ion batteries with other cathode materials.
Constant output power - Unlike other Lithium-ion batteries, LiFePO4 batteries have a very constant discharge voltage. Voltage stays close to 3.2 V during discharge until the cell is exhausted. This allows the cell to deliver virtually full power until it is discharged.
Environmentally friendly - LiFePO4 batteries are non-toxic, non-contaminating and contain no rare earth metals, making them an environmentally conscious choice. The use of LiFePO4 also reduces the cost and environmental concerns of Lithium Cobalt cells, particularly in regards of cobalt entering the environment through improper disposal.
There are also other advantages same as Lithium-ion battery:
Low self-discharge
Non memory effect
Quick Charging
Low maintenance
No requirement for priming
LiFePO4 battery disadvantages:
Lower energy density - The energy density of LiFePO4 battery is lower than Lithium-ion batteries, e.g. the highest capacity of LiFePO4 18650 battery is 1800mAh, but the highest Lithium-ion 18650 battery can be 3600mAh(Made by Panasonic).
Poor performance under low temperature - LiFePO4 batteries has poor performance when discharging at -20℃. However, low temperature Lithium-ion or Lithium Polymer batteries can discharge at -40℃ and output 70-80% DOD.
Low tap density - Tap density of LiFePO4 batteries only 0.8-1.3, that makes them lost the condition to use on small portable devices like mobile phone. So most of LiFePO4 batteries are using as power batteries for electric bikes, LEV or EV.
Other disadvantages are similar to Lithium-ion battery:
Protection required
Aging effect
Transportation problems
Deep discharge