What are the advantages of using lithium-ion batteries compared to other battery cell types and how do they stack up against the disadvantages?
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Lithium-ion batteries are known for being lightweight. But their use comes with certain limitations that can weigh heavily on your shoulders, if they’re not used responsibly.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to utilising lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries within your operations. Key to safely adopting them (or not) is getting your head around what those advantages and disadvantages are and whether your operations can shoulder them.
Read on to find out the benefits of using Li-ion batteries, as well as the risks involved, so you can make a confident choice, an informed choice, and the right decision for your operations.
Click to download your copy of our four-step risk assessment checklist for Li-ion batteries.
Li-ion batteries offer numerous advantages over traditional types of batteries.
Firstly, Li-ion batteries are incredibly lightweight and compact, making them ideal for use in portable devices such as smartphones and laptops.
If you make use of small, hand-held devices across your operations, it’s likely they will be powered by Li-ion batteries. If they’re not, switching to makes or models that are could extend their lifespan and improve the efficiency of your operations overnight.
Li-ion batteries also have a high energy density, meaning they can store a lot of energy in a small space. This translates to longer battery life and faster charging times compared to many more traditional battery types, with obvious benefits for your operations.
Li-ion batteries are often promoted as an eco-friendly solution to power our devices and vehicles.
In some ways, at least, this is true. They don’t contain harmful heavy metals like lead or cadmium, and your ability to recharge the battery, coupled with their relatively long lifecycle, means less wastage and less of an impact on the environment.
However, there is a flipside to this. While they do offer significant advantages over traditional batteries, the production process involved and the minerals used mean they’re not entirely environmentally friendly (see ‘Environmental concerns’, below).
Read more about the environmental impacts of using Li-ion batteries in your operations.
A little reliability goes a long way — especially when the clock is ticking or you’ve a big production target to hit. In this area, Li-ion batteries excel. In particular, modern makes have a low self-discharge rate, which means they can hold their charge for longer periods of time, and a long lifespan supporting five years plus of use before they should need to be replaced.
Overall, the advantages of using Li-ion batteries make them an excellent choice for a wide range of applications — but there are downsides to Li-ion technology you should consider.
Despite their many benefits, lithium-ion batteries also have some downsides that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Front of mind for many is cost and compared to other battery types, Li-ion batteries are on the more expensive side. For many businesses, this can be a significant barrier to adoption. One of the main reasons for their expense is itself the high cost of the materials used in their construction. The complexity of the manufacturing process is also a factor.
As demand for Li-ion batteries continues to grow, manufacturers are working to make them more affordable by improving efficiency, reducing waste, and developing new materials that can be produced at a lower cost. So if Li-ion batteries aren’t a possibility with your existing budget, you could build them into your future strategies when they’re more affordable.
If cost is often the first barrier, perhaps the most widely known (even infamous) is the fire risks associated with Li-ion batteries (and lithium batteries in general).
Thermal runaway can happen when the cell becomes unstable, triggering a chain of chemical reactions that rapidly heat up the battery and can start a fire. Due to the nature of the materials involved, these fires can become very hot, very quickly, and are incredibly difficult to extinguish with traditional methods.
All this means that as well as the increased risk of fire, there are usually additional costs incurred in the form of suppression systems, specialist storage, and health and safety training.
Specialist storage is critical for protecting your people, your premises, and the environment. Find out which storage types your Li-ion batteries need.
Li-ion batteries are rechargeable, but they won’t go on forever. While it’s true you should get many years of good use out of your batteries, there will come a point where they become worn out, so to speak. The longer you continue to use them, the more their performance will deteriorate and the greater the risks of a battery’s integrity becoming compromised.
As we said above, a well-cared for Li-ion battery should give you at least five years of solid, reliable use these days, but this does depend on your team handling and maintaining it properly. If it’s not become clear by now, Li-ion batteries can be temperamental when it comes to temperature sensitivity and how long they are left charging.
If you take nothing else away, remember not to overcharge your Li-ion batteries. Follow the advice set out in the manufacturer’s guidelines to the letter.
Finally, the extraction of lithium and other rare earth metals used in their manufacture can have negative environmental impacts.
Specifically, the production process for Li-ion batteries involves mining and processing materials like lithium and cobalt, which can have negative impacts on the environment and the health of communities near these mines.
Additionally, when Li-ion batteries reach their end of life, they can release toxic chemicals into the environment if not properly disposed of. While Li-ion technology is a step in the right direction, it’s important to consider the full lifecycle impact of these batteries.
So there you have it — the pros and the cons of using Li-ion batteries to power your operations. How are the scales tipping? Some businesses will be able to shoulder the risks, challenges, and costs of Li-ion technology in favour of the many operational benefits it brings. For others, those benefits won’t outweigh the potential disadvantages they would need to consider and in some cases account for to keep their operations running.
Ultimately, the answer comes down to your site and what kind of setup you operate. In either case, we hope this article takes some of the weight off, so whether you choose to invest in Li-ion batteries or not, you’re lighter in your shoulders and more confident in your decision.
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Lithium Ion Battery Includes:
Li-ion technology
Types of lithium ion battery
Lithium polymer battery
Li-ion charging
Li-ion advantages & disadvantages
How to preserve lifetime of lithium ion batteries
Battery Technology Includes:
Battery technology overview
Battery definitions & terms
Zinc carbon
Alkaline
Zinc air cells
NiCad
NiMH
Li-ion
Lead acid
The use of lithium ion, li-ion batteries has grown significantly in recent years. They offer some distinct advantages and improvements over other forms of battery technology including nickel metal hydride, lead acid batteries and of course nickel cadmium batteries.
However, like all technologies, lithium ion batteries have their advantages and disadvantages.
To gain the best from the li-ion battery technology, it is necessary to understand not only the advantages, but also the limitations or disadvantages of the technology. In this way they can be used in a manner that plays to their strengths in the best way.
With lithium ion battery technology advancing at a very swift rate, the disadvantages are being addressed and the overall technology is being improved.
Because of their attributes, lithium ion batteries and cells are more suitable for some applications than others. They provide high levels of charge than other battery technologies, and they have a higher voltage, and can often cost more than some of other types. This makes them more applicable to some electronic circuit designs than other types of battery technology, or in other cases it may make them less suiable.
Also modern lithium ion batteries are paired with battery management systems or circuitry. This helps ensure that the battery is run within its capability and provides the best performance.
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There are many advantages to using a li-ion cell of battery. As a result the technology is being used increasingly for a huge number of widely varying applications. Everything from small electronic devices, through smartphones and laptops to vehicles and many other applications.
When selecting a lithium ion battery over another technology such as a lead acid battery or a nickel metal hydride battery (NiMH battery), it is necessary to look at the advantages.
The advantages of Li-ion technology mean that these batteries are finding an increasing number of applications, and as a result a huge amount of development is being invested into them.
The li-ion battery advantages include:
High energy density: The high energy density is one of the chief advantages of lithium ion battery technology. With electronic equipment such as mobile phones needing to operate longer between charges while still consuming more power, there is always a need to batteries with a much higher energy density.
For example, NiMH batteries would not be able to provide the charge capacity required for a modern smartphone. Using Nickel Metal Hydride battery technology a smartphone would not last long enough, especially if the battery needed to keep within the same size constraints.
In addition to this, there are many power applications from power tools to electric vehicles. The much higher power density offered by lithium ion batteries is a distinct advantage. Electric vehicles also need a battery technology that has a high energy density.
Low maintenance: One major lithium ion battery advantage is that they do not require and maintenance to ensure their performance.
Ni-Cad cells required a periodic discharge to ensure that they did not exhibit the memory effect. As this does not affect lithium ion batteries and cells. This process or other similar maintenance procedures are not required.
Likewise lead acid cells require maintenance, some needing the battery acid to be topped up periodically.
Fortunately one of the advantages of lithium ion batteries is that there is no active maintenance required.
For some applications there may be other advantages of using lithium ion batteries and cells. With a cell voltage of just over 3 volts, a single cell may be sufficient for many applications. Most mobile phones use a single cell.
Other applications may have their own parameters that may mean a lithium ion battery or cell is use for use within the electronic circuit design, or for an electrical application.
The advantages of lithium ion cells and batteries mean that they are beng used increasingly in many areas from low power applications like their inclusion in small, low power electronic designs, to much larger and higher current applications such as for use are electric vehicle batteries or batteries for PV systems - i.e. solar panel systems.
As greater reliance of batteries is only going to increase as electric power is needed for mobile systems, lithium ion batteries are set to help meet this need.
Today nickel cadmium cells and batteries and not used because of their environmental impact and nickel metal hydride cannot provide the levels of charge needed for many applications.
Like the use of any technology, there are some disadvantages that need to be balanced against the benefits. Nothing in life is perfect, and so lithium ion batteries and cells have some drawbacks.
Although lithium ion battery technology does have its disadvantages, this does not mean these cannot be overcome or at least mitigated and excellent performance obtained.
Knowing the disadvantages means that work arounds can often be included in the electronic design or electrical system, etc to reduce the effects of the shortcomings.
The li-ion battery disadvantages include:
Protection / battery management system required: Lithium ion cells and batteries are not as robust as some other rechargeable technologies. They require protection from being over charged and discharged too far. In addition to this, they need to have the current maintained within safe limits. Accordingly one lithium ion battery disadvantage is that they require protection circuitry incorporated to ensure they are kept within their safe operating limits.
Fortunately with modern integrated circuit technology, this can be relatively easily incorporated into the battery, or within the equipment if the battery is not interchangeable. Incorporation of the battery management circuitry enables li-ion batteries to be used without any special knowledge. They can be left on charge and after the battery is fully charged the charger will cut the supply to it.
The battery management system built into lithium ion batteries monitors a number of aspects of their operation. The protection circuit limits the peak voltage of each cell during charge as excessive voltage can damage the cells. They are typically charged in series as there is normally only one connection for a battery and therefore as different cells may require different levels of charge there is a possibility of one cell experiencing a higher than required voltage.
Also the battery management or protection circuitry prevents the cell voltage from dropping too low on discharge. Again this can happen if one cell can store less charge than others on the battery and its charge becomes exhausted before the others.
A further aspect of the battery management system is that the cell temperature is monitored to prevent temperature extremes. The maximum charge and discharge current on most packs is limited to between 1°C and 2°C. That said, some do become a little warm on occasions when fast charging.
Ageing: One of the major lithium ion battery disadvantages for consumer electronics is that lithium ion batteries suffer from ageing. Not only is this time or calendar dependent, but it is also dependent upon the number of charge discharge cycles that the battery has undergone.
Often batteries will only be able to withstand 500 - charge discharge cycles before their capacity falls. With the development of li-ion technology, this figure is increasing, but after a while batteries may need replacing and this can be an issue if they are embedded in the equipment.
Lithium ion batteries also age whether they are in use or not. Despite the usage there is also a time related element to the reduction in capacity.
When a typical consumer lithium cobalt oxide, LCO battery or cell needs to be stored it should be partially charged - around 40% to 50% and kept in a cool storage area. Storage under these conditions will help increase the life.
For air travellers, lithium ion batteries often need to be in carry-on luggage, although with the security position, this may change from time to time. But the number of batteries may be limited. Any lithium ion batteries carried separately must be protected against short circuits by protective covers, etc. It is particularly important where some of the large lithium ion batteries like those used in large power banks.
It is necessary to check before flying whether a large power bank can be carried or not. Sadly the guidance is not always particularly clear.
Although not necessarily an advantage or disadvantage, it is probably worth mentioning that lithium ion batteries should be stored in a cool place. This slows the ageing process of lithium-ion (and other chemistries). Manufacturers recommend storage temperatures of around 15°C. In addition, the battery should be partially charged during storage. Manufacturers typically recommend a charge level of around 40% to 50%.
To gain the best from lithium ion cells and batteries, it is wise not to fully charge or discharge the cells and batteries. Running the cells and batteries between about 20 and 80% has been quoted as being the optim regime. Some battery management systems may ensure that the cells are never fully charged or discharged - the levels they indicate may already have this taken into account.
Lithium ion cells and batteries do not like being fully discharged, and they also do not like being fully charged. This is because in either state, all the lithium ions will be removed from one electrode or the other and this causes the electrode to disintegrate more quickly.
Li-ion battery technology has very many distinct advantages. Accordingly the technology is widely used, and this is only set to increase. Understanding the advantages as well as the disadvantages or limitations enables the best use to be made of the battery technology.
Written by Ian Poole .
Experienced electronics engineer and author.
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