3 Thermal Runaway and Temperature Characteristics

Thermal runaway is the catastrophic failure of a battery that can damage the battery and can lead to a violent explosion. Thermal runaway can be caused by battery penetration, over charge, over current, and excessive thermal abuse. Li-ion batteries are of particular concern because they are not as stable as other options, which is why they have so many shipping restrictions. This is why protection circuitry is needed to prevent overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage, and others.

LiFePO4 batteries have a stable chemistry composition which make it less prone to thermal runaway. The thermal runaway temperature for LiFePO4 batteries is much higher than Li-ion batteries and it is very hard to enter this fail mode. Because of this, LiFePO4 batteries perform well in higher ambient temperature applications and can typically handle higher discharge currents. Additionally, protection circuitry can be added to have an additional layer of security, but it does not necessarily require protection circuitry.

Aside from thermal runaway, higher temperatures can degrade the capacity of the battery. But, with LiFePO4’s characteristics, they typically experience less degradation at higher temperatures compared to Li-ion batteries.