Due to the advantages in safety, super life-span, long cycle life, light weight and no-pollution with ROHS, LFP batteries are widely used in EV, power tools, electric bicycles, energy storage, solar systems, etc. For now, they are mainly used as power batteries for electric vehicles. In 2014, some 12,500 tons of lithium iron phosphate were sold globally, and they were mainly sold to China, almost accounting for 75% of the total. That was mainly because Chinese electric vehicle enterprises tend to adopt lithium iron phosphate as power batteries of cathode materials. Additionally, China’s great support for new energy vehicles has promoted the rapid increase of the country’s demand for lithium iron phosphate.
Globally, the traditional lithium iron phosphate material manufacturers mainly include the U.S.-based A123 and Valence, which grasp mature mass-production technology. In recent years, however, lithium iron phosphate enterprises in China have been developing very fast, accompanied by dramatic capacity expansion and rising market position. By the end of 2014, over 80% of the world’s lithium iron phosphate originated from China.
The application of lithium iron phosphate batteries in energy storage, and communication batteries is on the rise, reflecting a huge space for development. In the field of solar street light, the batteries have obvious advantages over the traditional lead-acid batteries, hence a larger alternative space. More and more solar street light projects used LiFePO4 battery instead the lead acid batteries.