Lithium-ion Batteries
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) Batteries are the type of battery that you get in your smartphone or laptop. There are many companies coming to the market with Li-ion battery systems, this technology is quickly becoming the most popular technology for grid-tied systems. This is mainly due to that fact that Li-ion Batteries can be discharged deeper and have a longer lifespan than Lead Acid Batteries. They will give you around 4000-6000 cycles at 80% depth of discharge (DoD), so they can have a lifespan of around 10-15 years.
Their main drawback currently is that they are around 50% more expensive than Lead Acid Batteries for the same amount of storage capacity.
Different types of Lithium-ion Batteries
There are two different types of Lithium-ion technology; NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and LiFePO (Lithium Ion Phosphate).
NMC battery technology has high energy density that is well suited to electric vehicles, where LiFePO technology is better suited for residential storage applications. This is because LiFePO is safer and less likely to explode. NMC is currently cheaper than LiFePO.
