This content explains the fundamental electrochemical principles of lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, highlighting the key differences that make lithium-ion batteries superior in terms of safety, longevity, weight, and reliability.
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to really understand where we are as a
company and where we're headed in terms
of the technology let's take a step back
and talk about the fundamentals of
lithium-ion batteries
a lithium-ion battery is an
electrochemical cell that consists of a
cathode and an anode
the cathode is a piece of aluminum foil
with some type of lithium compound on
top of it
in our case this lithium compound is
lithium iron phosphate or lifepo4
the anode which is the negative side of
the battery is comprised of a piece of
copper foil with graphite coated on it
graphite is c6
in between there's a thin plastic
separator typically polyethylene
polypropylene and this entire structure
is filled in with a liquid
this liquid electrolyte has a lot of
lithium ions inside of it li plus
now when you charge this for the very
first time you're basically pumping
electrons from the cathode to the anode
and when the electron comes off of the
cathode the lithium iron phosphate
becomes a lithium ion plus the electron
that gets pumped out plus iron phosphate
and that's what's left behind on the cathode
cathode
the lithium ion that came out basically
migrates through the electrolyte towards
the anode or the graphite on the
negative side and recombines with the
electron that's been pumped through the
charger and now the lithium ion plus the
electron reacts with the graphite to
form a lithiated graphite
and when this cycle is complete
then the battery is fully charged
as the battery discharges the reverse
reaction happens
a lead acid battery is also an
electrochemical cell
in its discharged state both the anode
and the cathode are composed of lead
sulfate and the electrolyte is sulfuric
acid and within the electrolyte protons
or hydrogen ions are allowed to move
back and forth between the electrodes
as the battery is charged
we're pumping once again electrons from
one side to the other and on the cathode
what's formed is lead oxide and on the
anode pure lead metal is formed and the
electrolyte becomes very rich in
sulfuric acid
so you can see that in a lead acid
battery there's quite a bit of both lead
and sulfuric acid that are required in
order for this electrochemical cell to function
function
well lead is highly toxic and sulfuric
acid is highly corrosive
there's a couple of fundamental
differences between how a lithium ion
battery works and how a lead acid
battery works even though they're both
electrochemical cells
for example in a lead acid battery the
electrolyte is sulfuric acid which
actually is water with sulfate and
hydrogen ions dissolved in it
one thing to note is if you have a high
charge on water you can cause
electrolysis of water which can react to
form hydrogen and oxygen of course
that's an explosive mixture and that's
why it's important that lead acid
batteries are vented in the lithium ion
case we have an organic electrolyte we
actually don't require venting and the
cells are all individually completely
sealed and that's why we're able to
mount lithium-ion battery packs in
unvented compartments
another fundamental difference is just
the weight
obviously in a lead acid battery there's
a lot of lead lead is a very heavy
element and in a lithium ion battery the
lithium itself is extremely light but
the other components the graphite and
the iron phosphate in a lithium iron
phosphate battery by comparison in terms
of energy they deliver are much lighter
than the lead acid electrochemical cell
a third thing that can happen in a lead
acid cell is you get what's called sulfation
sulfation
where you get sulfate crystals forming
on the electrodes of a lead acid battery
and that significantly increases the
impedance of the battery which makes it
difficult to even get any power out of
it in that situation
it's also a very difficult situation to
resolve if even at all possible and that
sort of sulfation phenomenon does not
exist in a lithium-ion battery
so because of these fundamental
differences between our lithium-ion
batteries and lead acid batteries our
batteries are safer longer lasting
lighter more reliable
and that's why we say for deep cycle
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