Benzimidazolone
New Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2020
- Messages
- 47
How much actual lithium (or more correctly, lithium monohydrate - LiOH, aka lithium hydroxide) is used to make an LiFePO4 battery? The cost a year ago for LiOH was over $80/tonne and now it is down to about $22/tonne. The product is now traded on the London Metal Exchange (as of this past May) so it is easy to track. A typical 48V, 100ah battery that weighs about 100 lbs was selling for about $1600-$1800 a year ago and is now selling for about $1300 - $1400. Some of the LiOH price drop has just happened in the last month or two so I suspect those prices will drop a bit more. If a 45kg (100 lb) battery has 10kg of LiOH. The LiOH cost component a year ago would be about $800 out of $1600 so the rest of the components cost $800. Now that the cost of the LiOH is $22/kg, the cost of the battery should be $220 plus $800 or $1020 (or should be at that level soon). Obviously, the cost calculation is much more complicated.
