Which is more advantageous for using ternary lithium batteries or lithium iron phosphate batteries in solar street lights? Nowadays, solar energy is widely used, and solar street lights used for road lighting are rapidly developing. And in the case of sufficient sunlight, there needs to be a way to store this energy, which requires the use of batteries. So which is more advantageous for using ternary lithium batteries or lithium iron phosphate batteries for solar street lights? Below, BATTSYS Battery editor will answer for you.
What are lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries?
Lithium iron phosphate batteries refer to
lithium-ion batteries that use lithium iron phosphate as the positive electrode material. The characteristic of this type of battery is that it does not contain precious metal elements such as cobalt. In practical use, lithium iron phosphate batteries have the advantages of high temperature resistance, strong safety and stability, low cost, and better cycling performance.
A ternary lithium battery refers to a lithium battery that uses nickel cobalt manganese oxide lithium as the positive electrode material and graphite as the negative electrode material. Unlike lithium iron phosphate, ternary lithium batteries have a high voltage plateau, which means that under the same volume or weight, ternary lithium batteries have higher specific energy and power. In addition, ternary lithium batteries also have significant advantages in high rate charging and low temperature resistance.
Which is more advantageous for using ternary lithium batteries or lithium iron phosphate batteries in solar street lights?
1. Ternary lithium battery
Advantages: High energy density and better cycling performance than normal lithium cobalt oxide. The performance is less affected by temperature, resistant to low temperatures, and can be used in low temperature environments ranging from minus 15 degrees to 30 degrees. At present, with the continuous improvement of the formula and the refinement of the structure, the nominal voltage of the battery has reached 3.7V, and its capacity has reached or exceeded the level of lithium cobalt oxide batteries.
Disadvantages: Short cycle times and shorter lifespan compared to lithium iron phosphate batteries. At the same time, the safety and stability are poor, and it is easy to decompose at high temperatures. When encountering flammable electrolytes and carbon materials in the battery, it will easily ignite, resulting in detonation.
2. Lithium iron phosphate battery
Advantages: Excellent charge and discharge performance, multiple cycles, longer service life, good high-temperature stability, decomposition only begins at 700-800 ℃, and oxygen molecules will not be released in the face of impacts, punctures, short circuits, and other situations, resulting in no violent combustion and high safety performance.
Disadvantages: Performance is greatly affected by temperature, especially in low-temperature environments, where discharge capacity and capacity will be significantly reduced, and its energy density will be low.
Advantages of lithium iron phosphate batteries compared to ternary lithium batteries for use in solar street lamps
① Green and environmentally friendly: The entire battery production process, battery usage, and disposal of waste batteries do not produce harmful substances, do not pollute the environment, and comply with strict environmental requirements in North America and Europe;
② Safe and reliable: Compared to other materials of lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries have high material safety and are the choice for electric vehicles and solar energy storage batteries;
③ Lithium iron phosphate batteries have a stable discharge voltage during the discharge process, which remains basically unchanged. There is only a slight change when the discharge voltage is about to terminate, showing good discharge characteristics. The cycle life can reach more than 2000 times and can be used for 7-8 years;
④ Lithium iron phosphate batteries can be stored at zero voltage without leakage or damage even after overdischarging, and their capacity does not change significantly. After several charge discharge cycles, the capacity can be restored to its original state, which is a characteristic that other batteries do not have.
From this comparison, it can be concluded that lithium iron phosphate batteries are the best choice for solar street lights, but the price is relatively high. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are currently domestically developed energy storage batteries with mature and independent intellectual property rights. There are many manufacturers, and the usage conditions and safety protection are also well done. Therefore, using lithium iron phosphate batteries is the best choice.
Because ternary lithium materials have such safety hazards, manufacturers are also striving to suppress accidents. Based on the easy pyrolysis characteristics of ternary lithium materials, manufacturers will put a lot of effort into overcharge protection, over discharge protection, over temperature protection, and over-current protection. So the spontaneous combustion event should be considered more based on whether the manufacturer's functions in these aspects are implemented properly. At present, the technology of ternary lithium batteries in the application of solar street lights is quite mature.
In short, ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and it is difficult to conclusively determine which
Solar Street Light Battery has more advantages. So far, there has been no clear winner between them, with ternary lithium batteries having a slight advantage, but neither is a perfect solution at least at this stage. If installed in northern regions, it is recommended to use ternary lithium batteries because ternary battery cells have stronger low-temperature resistance. If it is installed in the southern region, then using lithium iron phosphate batteries for solar street lights would be more cost-effective.
