Choosing a Reliable Lithium-ion Battery Pack Supplier

Environmental-consciousness is slowly but surely gaining ground, and with it comes the introduction of newer concepts. Any new product or concept always poses the natural question: How do we choose the best from among the rest? After all a new concept does not have the advantage of tried and tested experience. However, there are other considerations that can help in our quest for the best, which is what this blog will highlight.

Our focus of attention will be on Lithium-ion battery packs – the result of a search for a more environment-friendly power solution, which is the burning need of the hour. These batteries are taking their rightful place in a wide variety of applications including Electric Vehicles, Golf Carts, Forklifts, Marine Batteries, Portable Devices, UPS, Telecommunication, Solar Energy Storage Systems, etc.

To help you zero in on the Lithium-ion battery pack that best suits your needs, let’s take a two pronged approach, reviewing the following:

1. Technical Essentials: To know what to expect in a good Lithium-ion Battery Pack.

2. Supplier Essentials: To narrow down on a reliable Lithium-ion Battery Supplier.

Let’s begin by understanding the ‘must-know’ technical terms of lithium-ion batteries.

Voltage

The Voltage of a battery has an inverse relationship with the level of energy losses within the system. Thus higher the voltage, lower will be the energy loss. Care should also be taken to match the voltage of your inverter. Voltage of home solar or backup installations is generally 48 Volts (V).

Capacity

The Capacity of a battery indicates how much electricity it can store, and is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) or Ampere-hour (Ah). Battery capacities indicated in Ah can easily be converted to Wh, which is the product of the battery Voltage and the Ah rating i.e. Wh = V x Ah.

To determine how long a battery will last, for a defined purpose, the expected load is to be multiplied with the duration for which the load is to be run i.e. If a load of 1 kW (1,000 Watts) is to be run for 2 hours, the battery’s useable capacity should be 2 kWh for uninterrupted power supply i.e. kW x Time (hours) = kWh

C-rate – Charge / Discharge Rate

The C-rate conveys how much power a battery can provide at a given moment, or how quickly the battery can be charged or discharged, and is calculated as follows:

C-rate = Maximum Charge or Discharge Rate (Ah) / Battery Capacity (Ah)

The C-rate charge or discharge time changes in relation to the rating. C-rate of 1C indicates that the battery is fully charged and discharged within one hour; 0.5C equates to 2 hours; and a 2C rating is equal to 30 minutes.

While a battery with a high capacity and a low C-rate supplies a low amount of electricity that can run a few critical appliances for a long time; a battery with low capacity and a high C-rate can power an entire household, but only for a few hours.

Depth of Discharge (DoD)

The battery’s DoD is indicative of the amount of its capacity that has been used. Care should be taken not to exceed the maximum DoD specified by the manufacturer for optimal performance. A 10 kWh battery with maximum specified DoD of 90% should not be used beyond 9 kWh before recharging it. Though the battery may still run up-to 100%, it will cut down its cycle life and might affect warranties. The specified DoD and life span are important points to take note of when shortlisting batteries.

Having browsed through the technical essentials, let’s move on to the crux of this blog: Narrowing down on a reliable Lithium-ion Battery Pack Supplier.

Here are the important considerations to keep in mind:

Thermal Management – Efficiency and Battery Life

Meticulous thermal management is extremely critical for the efficiency and life of lithium-ion batteries, and the products they power. Batteries used in Electric Vehicles perform best in a defined temperature range. It is therefore important to ensure that the manufacturer has a built-in system that regulates cell temperature, to prevent thermal runaway caused by a lithium-ion cell entering an uncontrollable, self-heating state. The systems should be equipped with the required fail-safe mechanisms to prevent risks like ejection of gas, shrapnel and/or particulates (violent cell venting); extremely high temperatures; smoke; and fire. Ensure that the manufacturer builds the thermal management system from the base i.e. from the component cells themselves, and pays special attention to the needs of the applications for which the battery pack is to be used.

Safety through Advanced Battery Management Systems (BMS)

BMS is an electronic system that manages a rechargeable battery cell or battery pack, and aims at protecting the battery from operating outside its safe operating area. It monitors the battery state; calculates secondary data; reports that data; controls the battery environment; authenticates it and / or balances it. Customization of BMS to the target environment is therefore vital for the safe, reliable and enduring operation of any battery-powered application. Choose a supplier who is well experienced in building and safely modifying BMS designs.

Expandability

Expandability is also a feature to look out for as it means that you can add multiple batteries to your Solar Energy Systems, Electric Vehicles, or other applications – to get extra powering capacity. This flexibility can help you expand your system at any given future time. Hence ensure that the supplier includes this important feature.

Testing and Validation

Testing and Validation are very crucial for the safety of lithium-ion battery packs; the products they power; and the safety of the users too. Testing needs to certify well balanced cells and modules to ensure that during application operation, energy is delivered synchronously while mitigating differential temperature rise. This ensures battery longevity and overall safety. Choose a supplier that takes Testing and Validation seriously, going beyond the obvious where safety is concerned.

Modular Design – Customization

Customization is the key to getting a battery pack that best suits your needs. Hence ensure that your lithium-ion battery pack supplier has the technical capability to safely customize your battery pack. Choose a supplier that engages you in the process at every stage and is adept at modifying existing BMS designs to fully support your needs – without any compromise on safety and security. Efficient modular construction should ensure effective heat flow to improve battery longevity and serviceability.

Life-span and Warranty

The life-span and warranty that the supplier offers provides an indication of the expected battery performance. Confirm that these are at least in line with the industry standards, and also ensure that there are no adverse terms and conditions. The life-span may be stated in terms of years, or in number of cycles (of charge and discharge). The warranty generally guarantees the stated number of cycles and/or years of useful life, often for a certain maximum DoD (as explained earlier). Remember to check the battery’s specification, for the DoD along-with the life-span and remaining capacity.

Back-up Support

Back-up support, is yet another important consideration. Opt for a supplier that provides local support rather than one where the unit has to be sent to a far-off location for repair. On this front locally assembled batteries score better than imported ones, as a bad cell can be easily exchanged in a much shorter timeframe when local back-up support is available, which means your unit won’t remain out of action for days or weeks.

If you are looking for a good lithium-ion battery pack supplier, Battrixx is a safe bet as it is consistently ahead of the safety curve. Being customer-centric, our battery packs are designed for safety, performance excellence, longevity, efficiency, and serviceability. But don’t just take our word for it… Check out our certifications!

Battrixx is one of the first leading EV battery manufacturers to receive the ARAI Certification under AIS 156 Amendment III Phase 2 for our battery packs. This confirms that we meet the highest global standard requirements for designing, constructing, and testing battery packs.

Battrixx scores well on the lithium-ion battery pack supplier market, as its batteries come with every important checkbox ticked:

✔ State-of-the-art Manufacturing and R&D Facilities.

✔ Highly engineered and efficient Thermal Management.

✔ BMS: Over a decade’s experience in building and effectively modifying BMS.

✔ Expandable batteries which are scalable in terms of capacity, voltage, and BMS.

✔ Testing and Validation via highly automated, computerized, precision measuring systems.

✔ Life-span and Warranty at par with the best in the industry.

✔ Back-up support locally available.

✔ Modular Design which offers customization to perfectly suit customer’s needs.

Browse through our website battrixx.com to explore our range of green, clean, energy systems that power the full range of Electric Vehicles which include Electric Cars, Passenger Vehicles, Light Commercial Vehicles, Electric Tractors, Electric Bikes, Electric 2 Wheelers, and Electric 3 Wheelers. We also offer customized solutions for E-Golf Carts, E-Forklifts, and Marine Batteries. Check out our Energy Storage Solutions for Homes, Solar Energy Storage Systems, UPS, Telecommunication and more…

You can’t go wrong with Battrixx because our battery packs are built on the rock-solid foundations of integrity, innovation, commitment, empowerment, transparency and trust.