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Nio's Hybrid Ternary Lithium-Iron Phosphate Battery Offers Balanced Performance
Nio, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has introduced a new hybrid ternary lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery, marking a step towards more sustainable and reliable energy storage solutions.
The new battery, with a capacity of 75kWh, is a blend of ternary lithium and LFP batteries. This hybrid approach offers several advantages over traditional lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries.
Advantages of the LFP hybrid ternary battery:
- Cobalt-free composition: The absence of cobalt, a metal associated with ethical, environmental, and cost concerns, enhances the battery's sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and chemical stability.
- Longer cycle life: LFP cells typically last much longer, increasing battery longevity and reducing replacement needs.
- Better thermal and chemical stability: LFP batteries are more resistant to overheating and thermal runaway risks, improving safety and performance reliability.
- Improved low-temperature performance: Though not explicitly detailed for Nio’s hybrid battery, LFP chemistry is known to have stable performance across broader temperature ranges, and hybridization can further improve cold-temperature behavior.
- State of charge (SOC) estimation: The hybrid ternary battery design integrates features to improve SOC estimation capability, potentially outperforming pure LFP or pure NMC designs in this area.
Disadvantages compared to NMC batteries:
- Lower energy density: LFP batteries generally have energy densities of about 160-190 Wh/kg, while NMC batteries range from 200 to 280 Wh/kg. This means NMC batteries can store more energy for the same weight or volume, allowing longer vehicle ranges or smaller battery packs.
- Higher weight and size: Due to lower energy density, LFP-based batteries tend to be about 10-15% heavier for the same capacity, impacting vehicle weight and packaging.
- Cold temperature performance: Pure LFP batteries can have reduced performance in very low temperatures compared to NMC chemistries, though a hybrid ternary approach can partially mitigate this disadvantage.
Nio's new battery also boasts several innovative features. It is the world's first dual system power estimation, with ten patents and patent applications. The new insulation design in the ternary lithium-iron battery pack minimizes the low-temperature endurance loss by 25%. The state of charge estimation system of the new ternary lithium-iron battery pack developed by Nio reduces the SOC estimation error to less than 3%.
The new battery applies the new generation CTP (cell to pack) technology. Nio's Firefly EV will start deliveries in Norway and the Netherlands on August 14. This hybrid solution from Nio and its supplier CATL seems like a temporary one until LFP batteries are good enough for flagship models.
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[2] Battery University. (2021). Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) Battery. [online] Available at: https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lithium_nickel_manganese_cobalt_oxide
[3] Electrive. (2021). Nio’s 75 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery: A Look at the Numbers. [online] Available at: https://electrive.com/2021/05/24/nios-75-kwh-lithium-iron-phosphate-battery-a-look-at-the-numbers/
[4] Electrek. (2021). Nio’s new LFP battery packs could have a competitive edge over Tesla’s. [online] Available at: https://electrek.co/2021/05/20/nios-new-lfp-battery-packs-could-have-a-competitive-edge-over-teslas/
[5] Insideevs. (2021). Nio’s LFP Battery: A Look At The Numbers. [online] Available at: https://insideevs.com/news/527987/nios-lfp-battery-a-look-at-the-numbers/
- The LFP-hybrid ternary battery in Nio's new electric vehicle, with its cobalt-free composition, longer cycle life, and improved thermal and chemical stability, could revolutionize the industry's approach to sustainable and reliable energy storage in electric vehicles.
- Despite the LFP-hybrid ternary battery's advantages over traditional NMC batteries, such as enhanced sustainability and safety, it may still lag behind in terms of energy density, leading to larger battery packs and potentially shorter vehicle ranges compared to vehicles using NMC batteries.
