The penetration rate of lithium iron phosphate batteries (lifepo4) in the field of electric vehicles soared from 17% in 2020 to 68% in 2023 (SNE Research data), and the core driving force lies in its extremely long cycle life: The cycle life of a single cell exceeds 6,000 times (capacity retention rate ≥80%), and the calendar life reaches 12 years, far exceeding the 2,000-cycle upper limit of ternary lithium batteries (NCM/NCA). Take BYD’s Blade Battery (lifepo4 technology) as an example. After 450,000 kilometers of driving, its capacity attenuation is only 10%, and it can support 1.5 million kilometers of operation throughout its entire life cycle (Tesla’s NCA battery is 800,000 kilometers). In terms of cost, lifepo4 material does not contain cobalt or nickel. By 2024, the cost of battery cells will be reduced to 75/kWh (110/kWh for ternary batteries), reducing the price of the entire vehicle’s battery pack by 25% and driving a 18% reduction in the manufacturing cost of basic models such as Tesla Model 3.
Safety performance is another key advantage: The thermal runaway temperature of lifepo4 cathode material is as high as 518℃ (while that of ternary material is only 210℃), it does not catch fire in the needle-puncture test, and the thermal diffusion failure probability is less than 0.001% (UL 2580 certification data). Statistics on European new energy vehicle fires in 2023 show that the accident rate of models equipped with lifepo4 is 0.004 per 10,000 units, which is 82.6% lower than that of models with ternary batteries (0.023 per 10,000 units). Catl has enhanced the compressive strength of the lifepo4 module to 800kN (the national standard requires 100kN) through CPT technology. The voltage fluctuation range during collision is controlled within ±0.5V, and the short-circuit current attenuation rate is as fast as 5ms.
Significant adaptability to extreme environments: lifepo4 maintains a capacity retention rate of 75% at -30℃ (while ternary batteries only maintain 55%), and its cycle life is extended by 40% at 60℃. In the winter test in Inner Mongolia, the BAIC EU5 equipped with lifepo4 saw its range decline by 31% in an environment of -35℃, while the range of the same-level ternary models decreased by 58%. In terms of fast charging performance, lifepo4 supports 4C rate charging (such as the XPeng G9), which can cover 300 kilometers in 10 minutes. When the peak power is 480kW, the cell temperature rise is ≤15℃ (the temperature rise of ternary batteries is ≥25℃), and the thermal management energy consumption is reduced by 30%.
The synergy effect of the industrial chain is accelerating its popularization: By 2024, the global lifepo4 production capacity will exceed 800GWh (accounting for 60% of the total production capacity of power batteries), and large-scale production will reduce the standard deviation of cell voltage consistency to 5mV. After the BMW iX1 adopted lifepo4, the battery pack assembly efficiency was increased to 75% (65% for ternary battery packs), the energy density reached 160Wh/kg, and the overall vehicle weight was reduced by 8%. According to Boston Consulting Group’s estimation, the carbon emissions of electric vehicles using lifepo4 throughout their life cycle are 40% lower than those of ternary batteries, and the recycling residual value rate is 15 percentage points higher (the recycling residual value rate of lifepo4 is 32% vs. that of ternary batteries is 17%).