First and foremost, change is usually viewed with skepticism. Lead-acid has been the go-to for overflow 150 years. the bulk of industries abhor the changes and upgrades needed to adapt to new & changing technology. But, because the saying goes- the one thing that's constant is change. it's time to end lead-acid with its weight, dangerous acid-base, and outdated efficiency.
One of the foremost important characteristics for a corporation that uses batteries in its forklift fleet is that the lifetime of the battery. How long the battery lasts while in use plays a critical role during a company’s operations. When it involves a business’s bottom line, efficiency matters. lithium-ion-vs-lead-acid-battery-life
When weighing whether lithium-ion or lead-acid accumulator life may be a better fit a fleet, here are a number of the most differences between the 2 .
Usage Times
Between lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, there's a stark difference within the lifetime of the battery during day-to-day operations.
Lead Acid Battery Downsides
1) Limited “Useable” Capacity:
It is typically considered knowing use just 30% – 50% of the rated capacity of typical lead-acid “Deep Cycle” batteries. this suggests that a 600 amp hour battery bank in practice only provides, at best, 300 amp hours of real capacity.
If you even occasionally drain the batteries quite this their life are going to be drastically curtail .
2) Limited Cycle Life
Even if you're going easy on your batteries and are careful to never overly drain them, even the simplest deep cycle lead-acid batteries are typically only good for 500-1000 cycles. If you're frequently tapping into your battery bank, this might mean that your batteries may have replacement after but 2 years use.
3) Slow & Inefficient Charging
A typical charge and use cycle for a lead-acid accumulator is 8 hours of use, 8 hours of charging, and eight hours of rest or calm down . this suggests a lead-acid accumulator can only be used for one shift per day. If a corporation employs workers to hide two or three shifts, lead-acid batteries must be swapped out. meaning per vehicle or piece of kit , two to 3 batteries are needed (one per shift).
Just like a software development project, the ultimate 20% of the work can find yourself taking 80% of the time.
This isn’t an enormous deal if you're charging plugged in overnight, but it's an enormous issue if you've got to go away your generator running for hours (which are often rather noisy and expensive to run). And if you're counting on solar and therefore the sun sets before that final 20% has been topped off, you'll easily find yourself with batteries that never actually get fully charged.
Not fully charging the ultimate few percents wouldn't be much of a drag in practice, if it wasn’t for the very fact that a failure to regularly fully charge lead-acid batteries prematurely ages them.
4) Wasted Energy
In addition to all or any that wasted generator time, lead-acid batteries suffer another efficiency issue – they waste the maximum amount as 15% of the energy put into them via inherent charging inefficiency. So if you provide 100 amps of power, you’ve only storing 85 amp-hours.
This can be especially frustrating when charging via solar once you try to squeeze the maximum amount efficiency out of each amp as possible before the sun goes down or gets covered up by clouds.
5)Placement issues
Flooded lead-acid batteries release noxious acidic gas while they're charging, and must be contained during a sealed battery box that's vented to the surface . They also must be stored upright, to avoid battery acid spills.
AGM batteries don't have these constraints and may be placed in unventilated areas – even inside your lebensraum . this is often one among the explanations that AGM batteries became so fashionable sailors.
6) Maintenance Requirements
Flooded lead-acid batteries must be periodically topped off with water , which may be a cumbersome maintenance chore if your battery bays are difficult to urge to.
AGM and gel cells though are truly maintenance-free. Being maintenance free comes with a downside though – a flooded cell battery that's accidentally overcharged can often be salvaged by replacing the water that boiled off. A gel or AGM battery that's overcharged is usually irreversibly destroyed.
7) Peukert’s Losses & Voltage Sag
A fully charged 48-volt lead-acid accumulator starts off around 51.2 volts, but because it is drained the voltage drops steadily. The voltage drops below 48 volts when the battery still has 35% of its total capacity remaining, but some electronics may fail to work with but a full 48 volt supply. This “sag” effect also can cause lights dimming.
Lithium-ion batteries are at the forefront of today's energy solutions. Want to understand more about this evolving technology?
1) Superior “Useable” Capacity
Unlike with lead-acid batteries, it's considered practical to regularly use 85% or more of the rated capacity of a lithium battery bank, and infrequently more. Consider a 100 amp hour battery – if it had been lead-acid you'd be knowing use just 30 to 50 amp hours of juice, but with lithium, you'll tap into 85 amp-hours or more.
2) Extended Cycle Life
Laboratory results indicate that you simply could expect to ascertain 2000 to 5000 cycles out of a well cared for LiFePO4 battery bank. These are theoretical results but recent measurement shows that A battery will still deliver quite 75% of its capacity after 2000 cycles.
In contrast, even the simplest deep cycle lead-acid batteries are typically only good for 500-1000 cycles.
3) Fast & Efficient Charging
Lithium-ion batteries are often “fast” charged to 100% of capacity. Unlike lead-acid, there's no need for an absorption phase to urge the ultimate 20% stored. And, if your charger is powerful enough, lithium batteries also can be charged insanely fast. If you'll provide enough charging amps – you'll actually fully charge a lithium-ion battery just half-hour .
But albeit you don’t manage to completely refill to 100%, no worries – unlike with lead-acid, a failure to regularly fully charge Lithium-Ion batteries doesn't damage the batteries.
This gives you tons of flexibility to tap into energy sources whenever you'll get them without fear about wanting to do a full charge regularly. Several partly cloudy days together with your solar system? No problem that you simply can’t refill before the sun goes down, as long as you’re keeping on top of your needs. With lithium, you'll agitate what you'll and not fret about leaving your battery bank perpetually undercharged.
4) little or no Wasted Energy
Lead-acid batteries are less efficient at storing power than lithium-ion batteries. Lithium batteries charge at nearly 100% efficiency, compared to the 85% efficiency of most lead-acid batteries.
This can be especially important when charging via solar once you try to squeeze the maximum amount efficiency out of each amp as possible before the sun goes down or gets covered up by clouds. Theoretically, with lithium nearly every drop of sun, you’re ready to collect goes into your batteries. With limited roof & space for storing for panels, this becomes vital in optimizing every sq in of wattage you’re ready to mount.
5) Climate Resistance
Lead-acid batteries and lithium lose their capacity in cold environments. As you'll see within the diagram below, Lithium-ion batteries are far more efficient at low temperatures. Moreover, the discharge rate affects the performance of lead-acid batteries. At -20°C, a Lithium battery that delivers a 1C current (one time its capacity), can deliver quite 80% of its energy when the AGM battery will deliver 30% of its capacity. For harsh environments (hot and cold), Lithium-Ion is that the technological choice.
6) Fewer Placement Issues
Lithium-ion batteries don't got to be stored upright or during a vented battery compartment. they will also fairly easily be assembled into odd shapes – a plus if you're trying to squeeze the maximum amount power as possible into alittle compartment. this is often especially useful if you've got an existing battery bay that's limited in size, but you would like or need more capacity than lead-acid is currently ready to provide.
7) Little Maintenance Requirements
Lithium-Ion batteries are fairly maintenance free. A “balancing” process to form sure all the cells during a battery bank are equally charged is automatically achieved by the BMS (Battery Management System). Just charge your battery and you're good to travel .
8) Peukert’s Losses & Voltage Sag Virtually Non Existent
The discharge curve of lithium batteries (especially relative to steer acid) is actually flat – meaning that a 20% charged battery are going to be providing nearly an equivalent output voltage as an 80% charged battery. This prevents any issues caused by the “voltage sag” common to lead-acid as they discharge, but does mean that any battery monitor or generator auto-start dependent upon voltage levels will likely not work well in the least when monitoring a lithium bank.
On the flip side, once lithium batteries are fully discharged, their voltage takes a nose-dive quickly – which is that the BMS role to guard the batteries to completely never let this happen. Completely discharging a lithium-ion bank, even once, can render your entire pack permanently dead.
Another huge advantage of lithium batteries is that Peukert’s losses are essentially non-existent. this suggests that Lithium-Ion batteries can deliver their full rated capacity, even at high currents. Whereas lead acid can see the maximum amount as a 40% loss of capacity at high loads. In practice, this suggests that Lithium-Ion battery banks are alright suited to powering high current loads like an air conditioning , a microwave, or an induction cooktop.
9) Size & Weight Advantages
On average Lithium-Ion batteries weigh 40%- 60% but your standard LAB. That alone can save large percentages on fuel-efficient or drag co-efficient ratings in almost any application.
1) Weight: Lithium-ion batteries are one-third the load of lead acid batteries.
2) Efficiency: Lithium-ion batteries are nearly 100% efficient in both charge and discharge, allowing an equivalent amp hours both in and out. Lead acid batteries’ inefficiency results in a loss of 15 amps while charging and rapid discharging drops voltage quickly and reduces the batteries’ capacity.
3) Discharge: Lithium-ion batteries are discharged 100% versus but 80% for lead acid. Most lead acid batteries don't recommend quite 50% depth of discharge.
4) Cycle Life: Lithium-ion batteries cycle 5000 times or more compared to only 400-500 cycles in lead acid. Cycle life is greatly suffering from higher levels of discharge in lead acid, versus only slightly affected in lithium-ion batteries.
5) Voltage: Lithium-ion batteries maintain their voltage throughout the whole discharge cycle. this enables for greater and longer-lasting efficiency of electrical components. Lead acid voltage drops consistently throughout the discharge cycle.
6) Cost: Despite the upper upfront cost of lithium-ion batteries, truth cost of ownership is way but lead acid when considering lifetime and performance.
7) Environmental Impact: Lithium-ion batteries are a way cleaner technology and are safer for the environment.
Purchasing batteries for a fleet may be a significant investment. The lifetime of each battery directly impacts the efficiency of a company’s operations and its workers.
One of the best advantages a lithium-ion battery provides is its long lifespan and extended battery life during day-to-day operations. With a brief downtime for charging, lithium-ion batteries are especially beneficial in multi-shift locations, like in warehouse operations.
One battery can provide a source of power for 3 shifts. A lead-acid accumulator , on the opposite hand, can only provide power for one shift of eight hours before it requires a charging and cooldown period. this needs one battery per shift for every vehicle, which costs companies significantly more within the future .
