What is the best battery for forklifts?
The short answer to this question is lithium-ion batteries because they are simply more efficient. You deserve to know why that is, and first, to understand this, you need to know the terms: battery efficiency, coulombic efficiency, and voltage efficiency.
Battery efficiency refers to the amount of energy you can get out of a battery compared to how much energy you put into it. All batteries require that you put in more than you get out, but different things affect this. These items are:
• Battery age
• Temperature
• Charge current
• State of charge
• And Internal Resistance
There are two ways to measure each of these items, so before we explain what each of them does, we’ll explain how battery efficiency is determined. Using the two measurement systems, coulombic efficiency, and voltage efficiency, you can determine how well a battery works.
Columbic efficiency (CE) is calculated to measure the transfer of electrons during the charge and discharge. The higher this number is, the lower the electron loss and increases the battery life overall.
Voltage efficiency finds the over-potential of a battery by finding the difference of voltage between a charging battery and the discharging.
Now that we know how to determine the most efficient battery, we can now dive into the five individual factors that affect it.
1. Battery Age: It’s no question that the older the battery, the less efficient it is. This is because batteries contain liquid electrolytes that will dry up over time, and a layer of lithium ions will build upon the electrodes. Things that affect the battery age are: overcharging, deep cycling, and extreme temperatures.
2. Battery Temperature: speaking of temperatures, your lithium-ion battery’s performance can still perform well at higher temperatures, but this exposure does still shorten their lifespan. This is because high temperatures cause cathode electrolyte oxidation, leading to a loss of capacity. Charging at low temperatures will cause a buildup, therefore damaging the battery and reducing its capacity.
3. Charge Current: Now that we’ve talked about charging and discharging, let’s explain the process. During the charging process, the internal chemistry changes. When this changes at high currents, there is a lower lifespan. Lithium-ion batteries are better options because the current is controlled, thus maximizing the lifespan and efficiency.
4. State of Charge: Think of a fuel gauge of a car here. The level of charge is relative to the capacity of the battery at any given moment.
5. Internal Resistance: Another reason lithium-ion battery is the best choice for you is that they have low internal resistance. This is because the SEI layer in the battery blocking the interaction with graphite. This increases the internal resistance over time, and manufacturers prevent the film from being too restrictive.
When looking to get the most out of your forklift battery manufacturer, be sure to ask about how they improve their internal resistance and what they do to provide and maintain the most efficient battery.
OneCharge is a high quality lithium ion battery manufacturer.
lithium battery manufacturer