The lithium iron phosphate battery offers an alternative in the electric vehicle market. It could diversify battery manufacturing, supply chains and EV sales in North America and Europe. China dominates over 80% of total battery, but also ~95% of LFP production.
Last April, Tesla announced that nearly half of the electric vehicles it produced in its first quarter of 2022 were equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, a cheaper rival to the nickel-and-cobalt based cells that dominate in the West. The lithium iron phosphate battery offers an alternative in the electric vehicle market.
From the global development of NEVs, the cathode material of the battery mainly includes lead–acid batteries, lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) batteries, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) batteries . For a long time, lead–acid batteries were commonly used in the NEV industry.
According to incomplete statistics, its proportion can reach 35%. From the global development of NEVs, the cathode material of the battery mainly includes lead–acid batteries, lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) batteries, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) batteries .
Then there might be improved lithium-ion batteries, maybe using silicon anodes or rocksalt cathodes, for mid-range vehicles, or perhaps solid-state lithium batteries will take over that class. Then there might be LiS or even lithium–air cells for high-end cars — or flying taxis. But there’s a lot of work yet to be done.
Today, most electric cars run on some variant of a lithium-ion battery. Lithium is the third-lightest element in the periodic table and has a reactive outer electron, making its ions great energy carriers.