Compared to Lead Acid

Commonly used in starter batteries for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles Lead Acid is normally a low-cost secondary battery, composed of a Lead-dioxide cathode, a sponge metallic Lead anode and a Sulphuric acid solution electrolyte. The heavy metal element makes Lead Acid batteries toxic and improper disposal can be hazardous to the environment.

Disadvantages of Lead Acid batteries include

• Failure between several hundred and 2,000 cycles

• Comparatively low energy density

• Long charge time

• Careful maintenance requirements

• Sudden failure

Compared to Nickel Cadmium (NiCd)

Disadvantages include:

• High rate of self-discharge at high temperature.

• Cadmium is highly toxic

• Use in batteries is controlled

• Environmental recycling issues

• Memory effect is one of the biggest disadvantages to using NiCd

Compared to LiFeMgPO4 Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) suffers from:

• Higher cost

• Relatively low specific energy compared with newer systems

• Memory effect / requires periodic full discharges

• Environmentally unfriendly; cadmium is a toxic metal and cannot be disposed of in landfills

• Poor charge retention / needs recharging after storage

Sodium (Na-NiCl2)

When not in use Sodium (Na-NiCl2) batteries typically require to be left on charge, in order to be available for use when needed.

If shut down,the reheating process lasts 24 hours, and then a normal charge process of 6-8 hours is required for a full charge.

Inefficiency due to energy consumption when not in use.

Lithium Iron Magnesium Phosphate (LiFeMgPO4) offers considerably greater energy density when compared to Lead Acid and Nickel Cadmium.

LiFeMgPO4 is considered safer when compared to lithium oxide or mixed oxide battery products. Punctured or short circuited lithium metal oxide cells will cause heating, oxygen release and the potential for thermal runaway.

Lithium Iron Magnesium Phosphate (LiFeMgPO4) also offers longer cycle life to 2800 cycles at 80% depth of discharge.

Valence Cathode Materials are prepared using a unique and versatile preparative method called Carbothermal Reduction (CTR), a process to develop lithium iron magnesium phosphate cathode powder in a very efficient, cost effective, stable and scalable way.

CTR makes Valence lithium iron magnesium phosphate powder high quality, longer-lasting, with more sustained conductivity, enhanced performance and ultimately a better cathode material that is more easily manufactured into cells.

ISO 9001 Certified manufacturing facilities ensure optimum quality in materials and products. Valence Energy Tech (VET) deploys SPC methods of manufacturing and is currently working towards TS16949 accreditation.