LiFePO4 in 18650 format?

[john61ct]

And A123 makes great LFP quality in cylindrical form. Not sure about K2 myself.

But prismatics are usually cheaper even if you don't value your time or per-cell monitoring.

 

[john61ct]

recent post on the subject
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2870581

 

[flippy]

No the greater relative safety of LFP over other LI chemistries is major, in fact extreme, and that is objective fact, incontrovertible and not subject to debate any more than "the earth is round" or "vaccines cause autism".

yes, LFP is a"less volatile" chemistry then regular lipo. that said: there is quite litteraly being made a million times more lipo then LFP cells.
in my business i have seen plenty of LFP cells go pop and i was called in to fix the thing. granted, most of them failed pretty dramatic but usually without ending in a big ball of fire.
that said: i have never seen a proper 18650 battery go thermal or have even seen one.
it seems that lipo factories have their manufacturing pretty much sorted. that is why most cells just wear out and get replaced well before bad things happen. on the other side i have seen LFP cells that come fresh of the factory and have considerably more variations in capacity, IR and other specs then you would ever get from a panny or samsung.
that means LFP factories still have trouble making a consistent product, even with CALB, winston/thundersky i have measured a lot more variations in "matched" cells then i would like.

considering lipo cells are much more consistent and much less prone to factory defects then LFP cells i would argue that if you want reliablitty then just grab a lipo. because they are much more consistent you can see any fault with a cells pretty much instantly and act if needed.
because LFP has the stamp of "its so safe" gives a false sense of security. people tend to take more chances or dont mind the cells as much as you would with a lipo. with a lipo people tend to spend more on a smart bms for example then with a LFP battery, because "she'ill be right" is the mantra with the so called "safe" LFP. what good is a safe cell if it cost you more and is less reliable?

recent post on the subject
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2870581

you should see what my army did with them. they litteraly drove a tank over them while on fire after shooting them didnt work. the plastic smell was horrible but nothing much happend apart from the poor soldier that had to clean the molten crap of the tank threads.

 

[john61ct]

LFP will also last many times longer cycles than the other LI chemistries.

In my use case, treated properly, decades of near daily use.

Have seen many packs at 7-8 years now full-time, zero capacity loss.

Works out to cheaper than lead banks at $1 per 12V Ah.

So a tiny fraction of the cost in Ah per year, of other LI chemistries.