A battery following lithium iron phosphate design principles, has a lithium iron phosphate cathode. This combines with a graphitic carbon anode to produce an electric vehicle battery with superior range, power, and size. Even though this comes at a higher price, Forbes reports that China has taken the lead with commercializing the design, while the West is catching up.
Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries Help Save Trees
The lithium iron phosphate design does not include nickel or cobalt metals. This makes it superior to its lithium-ion contemporary, in terms of its impact on the natural environment.
Most of nickel and cobalt reserves lie beneath vast rain forests. Nickel comes primarily from Indonesia, while Democratic Republic of Congo has the largest cobalt reserves. Extracting these metals from Earth’s crust involves destroying large areas of ancient trees.
This destruction really matters, because these trees convert carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to oxygen and carbon. In this context, trees help preserve us, and our natural atmospheric shield, from the devastating heat that is our sun.
Adopting This Chemistry Would Be Good News for Trees
We’ve heard that almost half the new electric cars in China, leave their factories with this new breed of lithium iron phosphate battery. Climate Change News reports “This is good news for the world’s forests. Since these batteries rely on materials such as iron, which does not generally sit under tropical forests.”
Moreover, they add, “if all new electric vehicles used these batteries, then deforestation would drop by 43% by 2050, compared with business as usual”.
There has been increasing push-back against cobalt and nickel mining over the past ten years. We have heard persistent stories of cobalt mining in Democratic of Congo continuing under conditions we would not tolerate in North America.
We should also remember how large-scale deforestation destroys the lives, the livelihoods, and the cultures of indigenous people living there. The lithium iron phosphate design is non-flammable too, although Asia currently produces over 90% of its materials.
More Information
Different Types of Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Particles
