CALB or Winston Lithium-ion battery for Forklift application ?
The first question is: why you want to replace the cheap lead-acid battery by expensive Lithium-ion battery ?
You are probably told by Lithium-ion battery suppliers that Lithium-ion batteries have the following advantages over Lead-acid batteries:
- Dramatic cost savings
- Lower total cost of ownership
- Longer life span
- Safer operations
- Faster, more efficient charging
- No need for a battery room
- Less down time
Most of us as users, are more concern with the direct cost-saving rather than those indirect cost-saving such as operation cost, battery room cost.
There are 2 parameters battery which will affect its real cost: (1) the effective capacity under high discharge current and (2) the life span.
The effective capacity under high discharge current
Lead-acid battery’s capacity is rated at 20 hours discharge time or 0.05C. 0.05C of a 100Ah Lead-acid battery means 5A constant discharge current and the battery will be fully discharged in 20 hours.
Forklift application demands very high discharge current can be ranged from 1C to 3C.
Lead-acid battery’s effective capacity at 1C is only 60% of the rated capacity, 100Ah Lead-acid battery will only have effectively 60Ah capacity. At 3C, the effective capacity can drop to 40% of the rated capacity. (use AGM as an example)
On the other hand, Lithium-ion battery will have a very steady effective capacity even at very high discharge current from 1C to 3C. https://everspring.net/?p=81
Life Cycle
The cycle life of Lead-acid batteries only has 400 cycles at 80% D.O.D. (use AGM as an example). Most of the Lithium-ion batteries have cycle life over 2000 cycles at 80% D.O.D.
If one cycle of charge and discharge per day, the average cost per year of Lithium-ion battery will be 1/5 of the Lead-acid battery.
Conclusion
1/ Forklift application demands very high discharge current can be ranged from 1C to 3C
If the price is similar, choose the Lithium-ion battery which can handle high discharge capacity. You can use a smaller Ah capacity Lithium-ion battery to replace a larger Ah capacity Lead-acid battery.
The specification of CALB CA series with maximum discharge continuous current rating of 2C while Winston WB-LYP series with 3C.
The author believes that Winston WB-LYP contains more iron and therefore, the cell is heavier, lower internal resistance, and better discharge current handling.
2/ Unlike commerical vehicles, Forklifts are normally used for a very long time
If the price is similar, choose the Lithium-ion battery which has a longer cycle life, which means lower cost per year.
The cycle life of CALB CA series with 2,000 cycles @ 80% D.O.D while Winston WB-LYP series with 5,000.
The cycle life improvement is stemmed from the fact that Yttrium (rare earth) is added to the new series of Winston WB-LYP comparing the old series LFP.
The author has over 30 years of experience in the Lithium-ion battery industry from the laptop application, electric vehicle, to large energy storage.
To learn more about Lithium-ion batteries, please visit everspring.net