What the formula leaves out
Lithium iron phosphate, called LFP, is the one lithium ion battery chemistry used in electric vehicles today whose own chemical formula, LiFePO4, contains no cobalt and no nickel at all, according to a technical report from the European Commission Joint Research Centre. Cobalt and nickel are metals used inside a cathode, the part of a battery that stores energy while the battery charges. A nickel manganese cobalt cathode, called NMC, carries 10% to 30% cobalt by weight depending on the exact mix of metals used that year, and a nickel cobalt aluminium cathode, called NCA, carries 10% to 15%. LFP carries none, a finding the Cobalt Institute, a trade group representing companies that mine and sell the metal, confirms in its own market report.
NMC is nickel manganese cobalt oxide, the numbers after it show the ratio of those 3 metals used that year. NCA is nickel cobalt aluminium oxide. LMO is lithium manganese oxide. LFP is lithium iron phosphate, explained in the body text.
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| NMC 111 | 30 |
| NMC 433 | 27 |
| NMC 532 | 18 |
| NCA | 14 |
| LMO | 0 |
| LFP | 0 |
What the absence costs in range
That absence costs energy density, meaning how much energy a battery can pack into a given weight. A peer reviewed calculation published in the journal Small Science found an LFP cathode delivers about 265 watt hours of energy for every kilogram it weighs at the cell level, against 283 for a lithium cobalt oxide cathode and 315 for NMC 811, the highest energy nickel rich chemistry sold today, about 16% less energy per kilogram than that top chemistry, a MAOWCE calculation from those 2 figures. The gap shows up on the road. The Environmental Protection Agency rated a 2020 Tesla Model 3 built with LFP cells for 272 miles per charge, and the same model built that year with nickel cells for 363 miles, about 25% less range for the LFP version, a MAOWCE calculation from those 2 figures in a peer reviewed paper in the journal Applied Energy that used actual measured figures from the 2 trims rather than a model.
LCO is lithium cobalt oxide. NMC 811 is a nickel manganese cobalt cathode with 8 parts nickel to 1 part each of manganese and cobalt, the highest energy nickel rich chemistry sold today.
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| LFP | 265 |
| LCO | 283 |
| NMC 811 | 315 |
What it gives back in lifespan
What a driver gets back is lifespan, meaning how much of a battery original capacity remains after years of use. The same Applied Energy modelling found an LFP pack still held 89% of its original capacity after 17 years of typical use, against 79% for a nickel manganese cobalt pack and 70% for a nickel cobalt aluminium pack over the same period. The paper predicts an LFP pack lasts around 35 years, or about 1,600 full charge and discharge cycles, before it reaches 80% of its original capacity.
NMC 622 is a nickel manganese cobalt cathode with 6 parts nickel to 2 parts manganese and 2 parts cobalt. NCA is nickel cobalt aluminium oxide, both explained in the body text.
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| LFP | 89 |
| NMC 622 | 79 |
| NCA | 70 |
Why carmakers want it anyway
The trade off is deliberate, the Cobalt Institute states. Carmakers choose LFP for safety, cost and cycle life, meaning how many times a battery can be charged and discharged before it wears out, not for energy density, and the report names Tesla, Volkswagen, Stellantis and Ford as automakers that have said in public they want LFP for standard range electric vehicles. A supply chain paper coauthored by staff at United States national laboratories projects LFP will supply 37% of the 6.2 terawatt hours, a unit for very large amounts of energy, of electric vehicle battery demand the world is expected to need by 2045, requiring 4.7 million tonnes of finished LFP material, an amount the paper says would need only 0.11% of current global iron production for steel to supply the iron needed to make it.