Here's my 2ยข... LiFePO4 And NMC are Both technically types of "Lithium-Ion" batteries. Neither one has pure lithium, they have ions of lithium. That being said, I agree that they shouldn't even really be in the same category. They have some shared traits and some different traits.
It is incorrect to say that LiFePO4 (aka LiFe or LFP) is "non-flammable." That being said, it is very difficult to start a LiFePO4 on fire, and it doesn't give much flame, mostly just a bunch of toxic smoke. Therefore, a LiFePO4 fire likely wouldn't spread and start a structure on fire. You can find people on youtube who do successfully get it to burn, but it's not easy. The biggest danger with LiFePO4 is the high current & arc potential. But even at that, at the same capacity, the NMC has quite a lot more available amps in an arc flash scenario. I think it's possible to have a very good safety record with NMC (like Tesla perhaps), and it's probably one bad brand that'll have a lot of fires that will ruin it for everyone else. But NMC will never be as good as LiFePO4. For one thing, a fire could start near the NMC battery and catch the battery on fire, then the battery fire is the reason that the fire spread to the rest of the building... or rather, the battery was the only reason they couldn't extinguish the fire. There are lots of videos of people trying to extinguish a fire from one of these more unstable chemistries... it rarely goes well. I don't claim that LiFePO4 is entirely safe, but it shouldn't be in the same category as NMC. Not to mention that it has about double the lifespan. Unfortunately, I doubt that insurance companies will get the difference between these two batteries, but I think that should be our big banner... they are not the same battery, and if the one fails, the other should not be identified with the one. I don't think that any one brand of LiFePO4 is significantly safer than any other because the chemistry itself is so stable, but there are other important reasons to choose quality. The biggest is BMS problems. I've had big BMS problems, and it makes me pretty picky about which brands I'll choose going forward. I have 4 brands that I currently trust... but I don't feel like I need to try to laud certain brands or badmouth others... just be sure that you use one that you trust. Thanks, Kienan Maxfield Solar maxfieldso...@hotmail.com<mailto:maxfieldso...@hotmail.com> (801) 631-5584 (Cell) ________________________________ From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org> on behalf of Dan Fink <danbo...@gmail.com> Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2022 3:41 PM To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Lithium battery fires Safer LiFePO4 vs. "lithium ion" NMC formulation for ESS is also important to carefully explain to customers--especially since the UN 3480/3481 hazmat shipping labels and regulations group them both into the same category of "Lithium Ion" and that's what stamped and placarded on the box. Ran into this with a floatplane transport situation for a remote location. Had to longline them under a heli a week later on a separate trip with the other dangerous stuff even though they were LiFePO4 and not NMC. Dan Fink Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting LLC IREC Certified Instructor for PV and Small Wind Installation NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector NABCEP PV Associate d<mailto:dan.f...@greendustrialtraining.com>anbo...@gmail.com<mailto:anbo...@gmail.com> 970-672-4342 On Sat, Mar 12, 2022 at 1:37 PM Sindelar Solar <al...@sindelarsolar.com<mailto:al...@sindelarsolar.com>> wrote: I would start by choosing my lithium technology carefully. I have only installed Blue Ion LiFP batteries, and have relied on Blue Planet's assurances that lithium ferrous sulfate technology is non-flammable and thus safe in residential applications. Allan
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