The OP is uninformed regarding the technology. LiFePo Is the only big battery form you should consider for a
boat. All others are capable of catastrophic failure, fire. Until recently, ABYC and the
insurance industry has been equally uninformed. You should be highly critical of any other big
lithium batteries, unknown chemistry, that you bring aboard.
E bikes
E outboards
Segway
Hover board
E surfboard
E dive pod
E hookah
Small
appliances such as cell phones,
IPAD cameras have batteries small enough to be tolerated but, not without hazard. A Lufthansa flight just recently had a fire in an overhead bin caused by lithium batteries.
This is a highly informative link.
https://marinehowto.com/lifepo4-batteries-on-boats/ There are many hot links in here to amuse and educate you for days.
The following from my supplier of our LiFePo batteries:
In the press they lump all lithium batteries together.* There are really three broad types of lithium batteries, each with different risk factors.* All of them have a combustible electrolyte that is a petroleum derivative.* But, the volume of the electrolyte is small – about a quart in one of your batteries.* All of ours are lithium iron phosphate; none of ours are the more combustible and explosive lithium-cobalt, nor the nearly as combustible and explosive lithium manganese oxide.
*
LiFePO4 is a rechargeable battery chemistry, is the lowest risk factor lithium battery chemistry, and for that reason is the only chemistry we use.* It is hard to ignite, requires a very high temperature to cause vaporizing and release of its electrolyte (nearly 500F).* In a LiFePO4 battery, 3% of the weight of the battery is in the electrolyte – so only about 2 lbs in one of your 210Ah batteries, or 1 qt; and half that in one of our 105Ah batteries.* It is not a large volume of combustible material.* Note the recent letter (excerpt from the September 2022 letter from the President of the ABYC on the results of their testing on the flammability, ignitibility and explosion potential of LiFePO4 batteries).* In short they couldn’t get them to self-ignite or explode, and when placed in a fire, contributed only a small amount to the
fuel in the fire.* Our batteries are subjected to tests to try to ignite them, such as firing a rod through the batteries, direct short circuits, etc., with no ignition or explosion.* ABYC confirmed the results of these qualifying tests.
*
Another lithium type battery is a high energy density version (a lot of
power in a small package) that is a high fire and explosion risk, and that is the Lithium-Cobalt (LiCoO2), or lithium cobalt dioxide; a notable feature is the chemistry, with the oxygen in this case in a weak bond that is easily released at higher temperatures (unlike the strong bond of the oxygen in the Phosphate blend in LiFePO4).* If one had a run-away
charger that overcharged the batteries, and did not have an active BMS to terminate the charge
current, the battery would become overheated, the weakly bonded oxygen would be released and cause swelling of the pack, pushing battery plates together with resulting shrt circuit and sparks, igniting the electrolyte, and resulting in an explosion.* Li-Cobalt batteries are used widely in
computers, cell phones, and any device desiring lots of
power in a very small package.* Many of these have reached the news, such as fires in
computers, cell phones, Hoverboards, FitBit watches, e-Bikes, Boeing’s Dreamliner 787, and the early Model-S Tesla’s.* Lab tests have confirmed these actual event scenarios, so the risk is well known and understood. *Occasionally some boat manufacturers pack a lot of LiCoO2 batteries into a boat to get it to plane or move at a relatively high speed under electric power.* A runaway
charger not only starts a fire, it can be a large fire with the larger volume of electrolyte, and igniting the much larger volume (tons) of vinyl ester or polyester resins in the vessel
hull.
*
The third type of lithium battery are several lithium chemistries that do not support recharging.* These are
single use batteries used in small devices, like
security systems, motion sensors, pacemakers, small
remote controls.* They are called lithium-metal batteries or primary batteries. Often just a button-sized (small disc) battery.* If heated excessively, like thrown in a fire or consumed in a fire, they explode.* They also are susceptible to explosion from faulty
charging devices, but because they are so small, it is not usually a large or all-consuming fire.
So our LiFePO4 batteries are not the chemistry that you hear about as a fire hazard.* But, because of their small electrolyte inventory they are treated as hazardous material.*
Ours are similar to Victron, Mastervolt, Relion, Battleborn, Renogy and Lithionics batteries from a chemistry standpoint – all are LiFePO4.* Our lithium batteries differ from many others in that ours, like Victron and Mastervolt, are made with longer-lasting prismatic cells that standup better to deep cycle use.* And different from most others we have Bluetooth access to battery information, have a more robust BMS monitoring 52 parameters, conduct extensive testing and cell balancing before
delivery, and provide ready technical support.
*
Hope that helps.* I know more detailed than you may have wanted.* But, it gives you the background to have more confidence to make a summary response to someone who asks.
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White Paper 1(2) Public
Sales 2020-12-09
Comparison of Lithium-ion batteries
For rechargeable batteries, energy density,
safety, charge and discharge performance, efficiency, life cycle, cost and
maintenance issues are the points of interest when comparing different technologies. There are many types of lithium-ion batteries differed by their chemistries in active materials. Here, a brief comparison is summarized for some of the variants. Battery chemistries are identified in abbreviated letters, such as:
· Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) — LFP
· Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) — NMC
· Lithium Nickel Cobalt
Aluminum (LiNiCoAlO2) — NCA
· Lithium Manganese Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) — LMO
· Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) — LCO
LFP consists of phosphate in the cathode material. It offers higher thermal stability but moderate specific energy and a lower nominal voltage than some other types of Li-ion batteries. The key benefits are high
current rating and long cycle life, as well as enhanced safety and tolerance if abused. The cost of LFP is lowest among different types of Li-ion batteries.
NMC consists of different portions of each of nickel, manganese and cobalt in the cathode material. The advantage of NMC are that its structure can be adapted to the purpose of use, for example to obtain high capacity or high specific power. In addition, it has higher energy density compared to other variants, such as LFP and LMO. However, its thermal stability is poor compared to LFP.
NCA is a development of lithium-nickel oxide, with added
aluminum to increase stability. The specific energy density for NCA is similar or even higher than NMC. The battery is mostly used for high energy applications such as electric vehicles. Disadvantages are the safety and cost.
LMO consists manganese oxide in the cathode material. The structure of the cell provides low internal resistance, and thereby fast
charging time, as well as thermal stability. The disadvantage of the LMO is that it has both a shorter lifespan and a shorter cycling life.
LCO consists of a cobalt oxide cathode. It offers a high specific energy. The drawback of LCO is a relatively short life span, low thermal stability and limited specific power.
Print date: 2020-12-09 Template: 403FIAR0101 C.01
White Paper 2(2) Public
Sales 2020-12-09
There are some other types of Li-ion batteries not mentioned here, such as Lithium Titanate (LTO) and Li-polymer batteries. The Li-ion battery technology is continuously developed for achieving higher specific energy and specific power, such as lithium-metal and solid state lithium batteries.
Some main features of different Li-ion battery technologies are compared in figure 1. The energy density for different types of batteries are also illustrated.
Figure 1. Snapshot and energy density for different types of batteries.
Currently, the most common Li-ion batteries in telecom applications are LFP, NMC and NCA. Some of their characteristics are summarized in the following table. Lead-acid is also compared since it’s the conventional technology in telecom applications today.
Wh/kg
300 250 200 150 100
50 0
Energy density comparison
Lead-acid
LFP LMO
LCO NMC NCA
Linear Mode
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