Why Use Lithium Ion Battery?

First, take a look at how Lithium-Ion invented. The first try to make Lithium battery starts in 1912 by G.N. Lewis. The first commercially non-rechargeable lithium battery is available in 1970. The lithium is light in weight and has higher electrochemical potential and provides high energy density. There were lots of attempts failed to make rechargeable due to an instability of lithium metal during charging. Then researchers concentrate on non-metallic lithium battery with lithium ion. The slightly lower in energy density than lithium the lithium ion is safe and there are some instructions have to follow when charging and discharging.

The first rechargeable lithium-ion battery introduced by Sony Corporation in 1991 and after that, it is available from different manufacturers. The Lithium Ion batteries are better than conventional Lead Acid batteries. The Li-ion batteries charge fast and have a longer lifespan. The Battery life and lifespan are different ones stand for the vehicle runs on a single charge and other is the time of the battery is replaced lasts. The high energy density is the main advantage of lithium-ion battery. The higher energy density is used in e-vehicles and power tools. With the batteries, self-discharging is always a problem. The batteries are self-discharge over the time and it may reduce battery lifespan.

The discharging time of Li-ion is much lower than conventional ones like Ni-Cad and NiMH. The Lithium Ion cells don’t require priming before the first charge. The Lithium-Ion battery doesn’t require regular maintenance. Like Ni-Cad cell required discharge time to time for constant performance. This discharge process is not required for Li-ion cells. Sometimes you have to store a Lithium-Ion battery for a long time without use, so the question is how to store it without damage to the battery.

Well, there are two factors that affect the battery most are temperature and how much charging is required before storing. Instead of full charge, charge around 50%. If you store a battery in discharge condition, the battery goes to discharge state which decreases the capacity of holding a charge. If you full charge battery and store for a longer period it reduces the battery life. You have to charge it 50% after every six months if you want it to store for a longer time.

After coming from storage the battery is in low battery state and it required charging to use it again. There are various kinds of uses of Lithium-Ion battery.  The use depends on where to use the battery. Like the lithium-ion batteries are ideal for mobile phones which have a high current density. The applications like power tools and electric vehicles required higher current density. The disadvantage of a Lithium-Ion battery is aging.

The aging process depends on charge and discharge cycles. Most of the batteries last for 500 to 1000 cycles. The number is increasing with continuous research in this technology for a longer lifespan. Another is the cost. The manufacturing of lithium-ion battery is 40% costly than Nickel Cadmium cell. The Tunwal E-Vehicle PVT LTD uses Lithium-Ion battery for all their electric bikes in India.


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