Lithium vs Lead-Acid
Lithium batteries really are superior to Lead-Acid, here’s why.
We have done the research, and here are some of the most important technical details related to Lithium-performance. Read-on and get in touch with any further questions you may have.
Tech Sheet #1: Better Performance in Colder Temperatures
Lithium batteries are more efficient, and maintain their original capacity with temperature significantly better than Lead-Acid Batteries for your golf cart, RV or Boat. At room temperature, a Lithium battery is almost 100% efficient (97/98%!), whereas even the best Lead-Acid is only 90%. At 0 C, the capacity of Trojan T-875s is down to 70% while RoyPow Lithium batteries still retain over 90% of their capacity. This makes a big difference on those colder days (or nights, for an RV), especially when you consider that the life of even “deep-cycle” Lead-Acid batteries goes down dramatically the more they are drained. See the next Tech Sheet for more on this!
Tech Sheet #2: Lithium Battery Longevity and Depth of Discharge.
(Original source: GWL Power)
What this graph represents is crucial for electric golf carts, boats and RVs, as they require power for an extended period of time. For Flooded Lead-Acid, the total lifetime drops dramatically the more you use them (how much they are discharged between charges, “DoD”). This is shown as the number of years they will last in a golf cart used 165 days a year, at room-temperature (vertical-axis). Industry-Standard 170-ish Ah Trojan Deep-Cycle T-875 FLAs are way oversized for this reason, and still last only 3-7 years under real-world conditions. An equivalent RoyPow Lithium battery is only 56Ah, and although it will give you a bit less range in the first year (but still more than 2 rounds), this soon changes for Lead-Acid, especially if you end-up discharging your battery below 50% (or store it improperly over the winter). Start with a smaller Lithium Battery, run it down to 20% (or less won’t hurt if you don’t do it often), and it will still last 4.5 TIMES AS LONG (2,200 cycles vs. 500). The situation is even worse for real-life operating currents.
LEAD-ACID IS JUST THE WRONG TYPE OF BATTERY. They are great for automotive-starting purposes (where only a few percent of capacity is required), but that is ALL. It’s time for Lithium!
Tech Sheet #3: Comparing the Efficiency of Lead vs. Lithium With Load
A battery is only as good at it’s ability to delivery power. Lithium batteries provide a higher, and more stable voltage-output (and therefore power) across a wide range of current demands, also known as load (a lower voltage also damages the motor). These graphs are also kind-of a best-case scenario too: the data only goes to 20A, but this is a very low load, and the situation is much worse for real-world situations, where currents are up to 120A (it is just harder to measure in a Lab, where these graphs were made). The reduction in efficiency is even more dramatic when the temperature drops below 20 C (see Tech Sheet #1, above). Over the 5-year life of a Lead-Acid battery, you can expect to pay about $80 more for the electricity required to operate it.
PS: Although for only a single test, this graph (below) actually over-states how well Lead-Acid does. There should be two separate graphs - the blue (Lead-Acid) curves are for a 7Ah battery, whereas the Lithium was only 4.6Ah. The main thing to note here is how performance is affected by current, which is still well-demonstrated.