Lithium Productivity

Randy Anderson, National Technical Sales & Training Manager

In our ongoing series on lithium batteries, our topic today is lithium productivity.

One of the advantages to lithium is reduced charge times. So, we are able to recharge a lithium battery in as little as a C-1 rate. Now, depending on the size of the battery and the charger or power supply capability, this could mean recharging the battery completely in as little as one hour. Opportunity charging would be another feature. Opportunity charging is when we take the opportunity on any down time to charge a battery. So it might mean stopping for a coffee break, or a lunch break, and plugging in to recharge the battery. They're not affected by depth of discharge, like we would find let's say, in lead acid.

Lower energy use during recharge, approximately 30% less energy is used recharging a lithium battery because of the chemistry, and they're more efficient. This would result in some power savings.

Increased cycle life would be a huge advantage in a lithium product, over, let's say, lead acid. We're talking about thousands of cycles in a lithium battery, versus a lead acid battery where we may get only hundreds. You know, a thousand on the high side of a lead acid, where depth of discharge is 50%. So huge cycle life advantages.

Finally work cycle and operator tracking. Because there's a lot of brains and technology in there with the BMS, we're able to track a lot of the information going on there; How the machine's been used, how it's been discharged, how it's been recharged, depth of discharge, who the operators are, and a lot of times these will be interactive with the panel on the machine that it's running. So some huge opportunity and advantages over lithium as far as productivity goes.

For more information on lithium, or any other battery technologies, please feel free to contact us!

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