Why You Should Choose Lithium iron Phosphate Batteries
Five years ago, you wouldn’t have found many LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries on Amazon or at marine stores, but they are becoming more common these days. The LFP battery is getting popular, and for good reason! At ePropulsion we recommend the use of our E-Series LFP batteries for your electric outboard, not a bulky inefficient lead-acid battery pack and we will tell you why below with comparisons, details, and advantages.
Below we will compare two battery configurations: ePropulsion E175 battery vs West Marine AGM 12V / 92 Ah.
You may wonder why we are comparing them at different labeled capacities, the LFP battery is 175 Ah, and the lead-acid battery is 276 Ah. It’s a huge capacity gap, but in reality, they deliver the same runtime of 90 Min at full throttle for the Navy 6.0 product. The lead-acid battery has a lower usable capacity, normally around 50% at 1C discharge, while an LFP battery has almost 98%. This means the lead-acid battery requires a larger labeled capacity to deliver the same amount of runtime. It's a common mistake that buyers make when comparing the cost between the lead-acid battery and the LFP battery at the same capacity. Yes, the labeled capacity is the same or very close, but the usable capacity is what really makes the difference in performance. To learn more about the reasoning behind this and the math, visit this ePropulsion blog.
The LFP battery provides less cost, less weight, and a longer life.
Less Cost from Longer Life Cycles
The upfront costs are very similar. The purchase cost of ePropulsion E175 battery is $3,999, and twelve West Marine AGM 12V / 92 Ah costs $3,720. Don’t forget that battery protection boxes and electric wires (if required) put on an additional cost to the lead-acid battery. This makes for an almost identical upfront investment, with the added knowledge that you will be getting longer life cycles from the LFP system and lowering your long term investment.
What the LFP battery saves is the eventual replacement cost of a lead-acid system. LFP batteries have an incredibly long life. After 3,000 cycles at 80% depth of discharge, ePropulsion’s E175 remains at over 80% capacity. If you use it every day and it works continuously for over 8 years you will still have more than 80% capacity available, so it’s highly feasible to reach over 10 years of operational life, even in commercial use. Comparatively, the lead-acid battery has a short life span. For the same usage you will likely have to replace all of them every two to three years. Let’s put this scenario at three years for a full replacement, you will replace your lead-acid battery pack twice in 9 years. At the $3,720 cost of 12 West Marine AGM 12V / 92 Ah batteries, you will spend $11,160 for 9 years of operation compared to the original cost of $3,999 with the E175 LFP system.
Less Weight
An E175 battery is 191.8 lbs / 87 kg versus 12 West Marine AGM 12V / 92 Ah batteries are 756 lbs / 343 kg.
Our LFP battery has a larger energy density and a larger usable capacity than the lead-acid battery, allowing for more space and less weight in your boat.
The chart below shows the cost and weight savings based on our Navy 6.0 outboard, the LFP battery costs 64% less than the lead-acid over the span of 9 years, and it weighs much less. In addition, it’s very hard to get accurate run time information from a lead-acid battery bank. Our LFP battery is a smart system that keeps you informed of operating status, including runtime left. This makes the LFP battery a great choice for an ePropulsion outboard.
ePropulsion E-Series LFP Battery
The E-Series LFP Battery is primarily designed to lower the overall cost of electric boating. However, we realize it’s the expensive lithium battery stopping commercial clients from getting into electric boating. The No.1 selling point of ePropulsion E-Series Battery is a unit price as low as $0.50 per Wh. As the original ePropulsion battery, the E-Series Battery works best when paired with an ePropulsion outboard. Using 3rd-party batteries will result in a data discrepancy regarding remaining capacity. Based on the above data we recommend pairing your ePropulsion motor with original ePropulsion battery systems to ensure you are receiving a premier customer experience based on significant lifetime cost savings, more space on your vessel, less weight, and increased performance.
Yet another advantage for choosing the E-Series LFP battery is the flexibility to build up capacity. The E-Series battery starts from 2 kWh, so you can build 2 kWh, 4 kWh, 6 kWh and more to fit your needs.
The E-Series is available in three models, E40, E80, and E175. All are rated IP67 water-resistant.
For more information on ePropulsion and our products, please get in touch with your local dealer, we are also available via our official Facebook page.
