Lithium batteries are essential to the Emergency mobile EV charging system due to their excellent performance. Understanding the characteristics of Li-ion batteries can help you better ensure the safety of battery use and extend the battery life.
What is a Lithium lron Battery?
A lithium iron battery, also known as a LiFePO4 battery, is a type of rechargeable battery that uses lithium iron phosphate as the cathode material. These batteries are known for their high energy density, long cycle life, and low self-discharge rates.
Each cell is composed of a cathode, anode, separator, electrolyte, and two current collectors (positive and negative). The anode and cathode store lithium, while the electrolytes carry positively charged lithium ions from the anode to the cathode, and vice versa, through the separator. As a result, charges accumulate on the current collector, which delivers power from the anode or cathode to the terminals. This creates a voltage potential that causes electrical current to flow from the positive terminal through your application and back onto the negative terminal.
How to maintain lithium-iron batteries?
Rechargeable LiFePO4 batteries gradually lose their ability to recharge, so they have a limited life span. Once your battery loses capacity, it is permanent. Therefore, it is essential to properly care for and maintain your lithium batteries. We also provide the appropriate after-sales service for Emergency mobile EV charging system customers.
The service life of lithium-ion batteries is about 5-10 years, depending on the use. LiFePO4 will provide up to 2000 complete charging cycles or as many as 6000 partial cycles! A complete charge cycle refers to fully discharging the battery from 100% to 0% and then fully charging it from 0% to 100%. Batteries left for a long time and unused will affect the battery’s life and may even lead to battery failure. We recommend that all lithium batteries and cells not-in-use go through at minimum one full maintenance cycle (charge to 100% SoC (state of charge), discharge to 100% DoD (depth of discharge), charge to 50% SoC) once every 6-12 months to maintain the battery’s capacity. Please check batteries and cells in storage for adequate OCV (open circuit voltage). When checking the battery voltage, you need to check if the case is intact and the terminals are corroded. If they are damaged, do not use them and replace the battery cells immediately. No matter how well you store the battery, it will continue to discharge slowly when not in use.
Charging and discharging process
To prolong the life of the battery, the number of complete charge/discharge cycles should be reduced. The healthiest state for lithium batteries is to be partially charged and completely drained. If a long-term power loss is likely in battery sulfation, crystals attached to the pole plate will block the ion channels, causing the battery capacity to drop. If complete for a long time, it will cause the internal crystals to be too active, affecting the battery life. To get the most extended battery life, you can maintain the power between 20% and 80% in actual use.
Long-term storage
- Do not directly connect the terminals with metal objects, as this will cause the batteries or cells to short circuit
- Do not store loose batteries or cells together as the batteries’ terminals may touch and cause a short circuit
- Disconnect batteries/cells when not in use
- Store batteries/cells in a non-conductive and fireproof container away from potential industrial debris
- Do not alter, puncture, impact, submerge in water or other liquid, or otherwise cause damage to the batteries or cells
- Avoid storing batteries and cells long term in extreme temperatures or direct sunlight.
Our products have been designed to consider various factors that may affect the service life and avoid them as much as possible at the hardware level. However, you need to pay attention to the maintenance and care in the actual use; this guide may help you. If you have further questions, you can contact our professional engineers now.·
