Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries already power the majority of electric vehicles in the Chinese market, but they are just starting to make inroads in North America. They aren’t actuall new, having been invented here, but until recently automakers selling EVs here have eschewed them because car buyers wanted more range than they could reasonably deliver. That’s all in the process of changing and we’ll be seeing a lot more LFP here in the coming years with the performance gap expected to close thanks to companies like Our Next Energy (ONE) and Mitra Chem.
Almost all of the EVs sold in North America use lithium ion batteries with cathodes comprising some variation of nickel-cobalt chemistry. These batteries have offered the best combination of range, power and size, but that comes at a high price. Nickel and cobalt are currently at more than double the price they were in 2021 following major price spikes in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increased demand for EVs. Nickel-cobalt chemistries are also somewhat prone to thermal runaway if they are physically damaged or have manufacturing defects which has led to six different recalls in the last three years including the Chevrolet Bolt.
The thermal runaway is caused by the presence of oxygen in the nickel-cobalt mixtures which gets released when the cell suffers an internal short circuit and heats up. Since fires require fuel, oxygen and an ignition source, robbing the fire of any of these will put it out. Smothering a fire with water or foam is designed to starve the fire of oxygen to extinguish it. However, once a fire starts in a nickel-cobalt battery, it produces its own oxygen which is why these fires are so difficult to extinguish.