Why choose lithium LiFePO4 battery for the solar application?

The lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, also called LFP battery (with "LFP" standing for "lithium ferrophosphate"), once compared to If we compare lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery to lead acid batteries, offer significant advantages, including improved discharge efficiency, longer life span and the ability to deep cycle while maintaining performance. Indeed they are often more expensive than lead acid batteries but the minimal maintenance and infrequent replacement makes lithium LiFePO4 battery a valuable investment and smart long-term solution. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are not new, however latest developments and improvements are making this type of battery natural choice for many applications, including solar industry. Below we will mention several reasons why we believe that lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery is the best solution for the solar application

Safety

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are best known for their strong safety profile, the result of extremely stable chemistry. When subjected to hazardous events, such as collision or short-circuiting, they won’t explode or catch fire, significantly reducing any chance of harm. Useable capacity In contrary to lead-acid batteries 100% of the nominal capacity of LiFePO4 batteries can be used. When you take a 100Ah battery you can use between 30Ah to 50Ah with a Lead-Acid battery, opposed to 100Ah with a LiFePO4 battery.

Performance

LiFePO4 batteries have much longer life span than lead acid batteries and they can work perfectly for the period of 5-7 years and cycle life can be up to 2500 cycles. A slower rate of capacity loss compared to other formulations might offset the trade off to some degree. After a year, a LiFePO4 cell typically has approximately the same energy density as a LiCoO2 lithium ion cell. Battery charging time is also considerably reduced, another convenient performance perk.

Climate resistance.

Both lead-acid batteries and LiFePO4 batteries lose capacity in cold environments. The loss of energy with LiFePO4 batteries is minimal. It will still have 80% of capacity at a temperature of -20˚C, compared to 30 percent when using an AGM battery. For many locations with extreme cold or hot weather the LiFePO4 battery is the best choice.

Light Weight

Comparing to lead acid batteries, LiFePO4 batteries are almost four times lighter. For example, one 150ah lead acid battery is around 50kg /110lbs in weight, on the other side LiFePO4 battery is only 15kg/30lbs. For many solar applications this presents huge benefit that can lower installation cost and speed up the project execution.

Fast charging

LiFePO4 batteries can be charged fast to the full 100 %. A lead-acid battery must be charged with an absorption phase to charge the final 20 percent.

There are many more benefits of the LiFePO4 battery that we will present in our blog posts.

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