1. Poor Quality
2. Financial Exposure
3. Unforeseen Costs
4. Delayed Delivery
5. Shipping Issues
6. Labeling and Paperwork Mistakes
7. Warranty Replacements
Seven Pitfalls to
Avoid When Buying Lithium Batteries
Please read before you
commit to a purchase.
Lithium is a rare earth metal that is only found in a few countries
in the world. The largest concentration
is in Bolivia. However, years ago the
President of Bolivia made an agreement with the President of Iran, not a
friendly country to most of the free non-Muslim world, to sell all of Bolivia’s
lithium to Iran. The next biggest
commercial deposits come from China.
Thus, if you want to purchase anything with lithium in it you will
probably have to deal with the Chinese.
That is not necessarily a bad thing.
I have discovered that there are many good Chinese capitalistic
companies that are anxious to sell their products in the free world. However there are some lithium companies in
China that are owned by the Chinese Government and have been formed for two
purposes: To make money and to give people work. People who work for these Government entities
are like civil servants. They know that
it is difficult to fire them so, in my opinion; it is human nature that they
will not pay as close attention to things as a company whose existence depends
on keeping the customers happy.
My
Experience with Shoddy Battery Factories
About 10 years ago I read an article written by a man from
the USA who was in China on a business trip that was unrelated to batteries. He
had been contemplating buying a lithium battery pack and had been corresponding
to several candidates that proposed to sell him the batteries that he needed.
Since he had some spare time he decided to visit some of these factories who
had sent him glossy descriptions of their abilities to supply him their
batteries. What he discovered on these visits was shocking. He said that some
companies were manufacturing batteries in small facilities no bigger than
garages while squatting on the floor with only basic tools. There was no quality control testing. Fortunately most of the industry has made
great progress since those early days.
When I went into the lithium battery business in 2008, and in
spite of this advance warning, I felt that I could determine who was a
legitimate supplier and who were fraudulent or made poor quality cells. It turned out that even with my best efforts
to evaluate the Chinese lithium battery suppliers I still had some experiences
that cost our company a loss in reputation and a large amount of money. Finally I decided that the only way I could
really evaluate some of the companies that made us some good offers was to go
to China and do plant surveys. It was an
eye opening experience. As a result I now
routinely go to China to try to stay abreast of the latest technology and most
advanced manufacturing techniques. I try
to visit up to 5 factories on each trip.
These China trips have paid off because we now know about many companies
that might have caused us pain. There
are literally hundreds of companies who make lithium batteries. Eventually the market cannot support them all
and there will be a winnowing out of their ranks and only the efficient will
succeed. As they struggle and in their
desperate effort to survive they are tempted to lower the purity of the
chemicals in their cells and take other shortcuts in an effort to lower prices
and stay competitive.
Lithium
Battery Chemistries – Why We Prefer LiFePO4 Cells
There are a number of different chemistries available in a
lithium battery. These chemistries were
created to address specific needs for a particular application. There is lithium cobalt, which happens to
have a high energy density but can be unstable and might spontaneously combust
into flames under certain conditions.
The lithium manganese chemistry is more stable but not completely out of
the woods as far as spontaneous combustion.
In most countries including the United States both of these chemistries
are considered to be hazardous materials and by International Law have to be
shipped and disposed of in a proscribed fashion. Lithium Iron Phosphate is considered to be
non-hazardous and is very stable.
Because of its stability the LiFePO4, (lithium Iron Phosphate) chemistry
is the one most people including myself prefer.
1. Poor Quality:
Lithium is a precious and rare metal which is difficult to
refine. There are many different grades
of refined lithium available to the battery manufacturer. Often, in order to become more competitive and
lower costs, the manufacturer will buy a lesser purity lithium in order to be
more competitive. Raw Low grade
lithium can be as much as 220% lower in cost than high grade refined lithium. Naturally the finished battery quality will
be reflected in the purity of the lithium that is the most active
component. A lower quality lithium
battery will not perform as well and will heat up more than the higher purity
cell resulting in a shorter battery life.
The internals of a Prismatic lithium battery contain a large
number of plates which are stacked one on top of another. Larger prismatic battery sizes often
encounter a problem that is often overlooked by the buyer because of the
convenience of interconnecting the cells and the fact that they normally cost
less than packs made up of pouch cells or a large quantity of cylindrical cells
stacked together. The difficulty lies
in the fact that the innermost plates in a prismatic battery have a difficult
time dissipating the heat that is generated when the cell is operating under a
heavy load. Very often this problem can
be averted by using a large quantity of smaller thin pouch cells that have no
insulating case around each cell. These
thin un-insulated pouch cells and cylindrical cells in a pack exhibit a
characteristic of being able to dissipate the heat much faster. Thus the cylindrical cells and the pouch
cells usually have a higher C rating than prismatic batteries. Pouch and cylindrical packs have a great deal
of flexibility to meet physical dimensions and are usually a little lighter in
weight than the equivalent prismatic cell.
The factories will generally assemble these packs to their customer’s
electrical and physical parameters for no extra charge.
2. Financial
Exposure:
Whenever a person sends money into a foreign country to
purchase a product made in that country they become exposed to all sorts of
difficulties that have nothing to do with the end product itself. Things like language barriers, foreign
standards, dealing with foreign freight companies, and a myriad of other things
can make the transaction have a less than satisfactory outcome. This especially applies to purchasing
expensive lithium batteries or battery packs.
Resolving some of these often unexpected issues can be financially
painful and can delay the transaction.
3.
Unforeseen Costs:
The cost of a lithium ion battery is usually the primary
consideration for many buyers. This factor
is often a trap that the unwary fall into because they do not know that the
first cost is often not the total cost.
Shipping transportation costs are often left off the bid price and left
to the buyer to figure out. The simple
fact is this. You will probably get what
you pay for. Since lithium costs are so
high the battery longevity must be taken into consideration. This is not easy to determine without an
experienced track record for the manufacturer.
4. Delayed Delivery:
From experience I have concluded that lying is a perfected
art form and a way of survival in China.
Except for pricing most Chinese will tell you what you want to
hear …. Which is often far from the facts.
Over the years our company has developed contacts with individuals in
China who have high ethical standards and will not lie to us.
5. Shipping
Issues:
Getting the rechargeable lithium batteries from the factory to your doorstep can be a
vexing problem. Air Freight is the
fastest and easiest but also the most expensive. Traditionally we figure the air shipping
costs will be about $3.50 to $4.00 a pound for batteries shipped into a North
American International airport on most small shipments of up to 500 pounds. Air
shipments by FedEx, UPS or DHL usually occur with a minimum of difficulty. Air transit time is generally less than five
days. On all shipments into North
America our company typically will bid our battery cells delivered to your
doorstep so that the customer does not have to deal with any shipping costs or
other unknowns.
Conversely ocean shipping is much cheaper but many times more
complicated. Shipping in 20’ or 40’
containers may be simple by comparison.
Smaller shipments almost become a nuisance to shipping companies that
will transfer over 500 container loads in one boat load. Getting the shipments from the factory dock
to the shipping dock and then safely stowed onboard the ship can be froth with
problems. Dock workers openly accept
bribes. Ocean transit time is generally
ten to twelve days. Getting the cargo
off the ship and through United States Customs is problematic. Every document has to be letter perfect and
exactly match the label on the boxes. This
is often difficult to do with a Chinese shipping clerk who does not read,
understand or write English. There are
seven hurdles that need to be cleared in the process of getting the products to
the customer’s doorstep when shipping by boat.
Ocean shipping traditionally will take about 4 to 6 weeks from the time
the products leave the factory’s dock.
6. Labeling
and Paperwork Mistakes:
All too often a well-meaning Chinese person who does not
understand English will label the box, packing slip or commercial invoice incorrectly
leaving the shipment languishing in a warehouse and gathering storage charges
while the miscommunication paperwork is worked out. At times the person who sorts the different
shipments that came in on the same boat will misdirect a package to the wrong
customer causing confusion, delays and additional shipping costs.
7. Warranty
Replacements:
Again, The Chinese companies will tell you what you want to
hear. Usually the warranty period is two
years on LiFePO4 batteries. Some of these warrantees are similar to a
lead acid battery which is prorated. If the
battery fails the factory will only give you back a portion of your money. My experience is that most Chinese companies
do not send money back easily. They will
not just accept the customer’s word that his battery failed or is weak. Before they pay off they insist that electrical
measurements be taken of the battery and/or pictures to prove that the battery
failed. Even then getting a refund is
like pulling teeth. Many manufacturers
will insist that an accepted BMS system be installed on the battery and proof
must be shown that you have not overcharged and over-discharged the
batteries. Our company only deals with
Chinese manufacturers who give a full replacement on any battery that fails
within the two year period. I have
heard some real horror stories about some Chinese factories, which we do not
sell, giving their customers a terrible run around until the customer eventually
gives up and finally drops the whole matter and never collects the refund
amount that they rightfully deserve.
The Electric Car Parts Company does
its level best to help our customers avoid all of these pitfalls!
