DETROIT — Lithium iron phosphate battery supplier Our Next Energy said it has extended the range of its electric vehicle batteries, making them competitive with the range of more expensive nickel manganese cobalt cells.
The company has hit its goal of a 350-mile range on a typical EV using its Aries II LFP battery, designed for passenger vehicles. The range boost, up from 250 miles in the previous iteration of Aries II, makes the battery comparable with most nickel manganese cobalt batteries that power EVs, CEO Mujeeb Ijaz said Tuesday at an Automotive Press Association event at Our Next Energy’s headquarters in Novi, Mich.
NMC cells have been popular among automakers and battery suppliers because they typically provide a longer range, but nickel and cobalt are expensive and difficult to source. Iron is widely available and costs less. Our Next Energy said its LFP cell is 25 percent less expensive to manufacture than comparable NMC batteries, the company said.
Our Next Energy, known as ONE, said it has also reduced the weight of its battery to within 6 percent of a comparable NMC battery. Typically, LFPs are about 265 poiunds heavier than NMC batteries with a similar range.
ONE has long worked to maximize energy density in the cell. Now, the company is also enhancing battery pack architecture to cut weight.
“That is the enclosure, battery management, structure. It’s everything that is not cell that we’ve been able to further optimize,” Ijaz told Automotive News.
