LMFP, Another Rising Star in EV Battery?

As an upgraded version of lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) is becoming a new hot spot in the power battery field. Whether it is an automaker, a battery manufacturer, or cathode active material manufacturer, they are all extending their footprint to this field.

According to incomplete statistics, NIO, CATL, BYD, CALB, Farasis Energy, Gotion High-Tech, Svolt Energy, Phylion, REPT BATTERO Energy, Hengchuang Nano, Dynanonic and other upstream and downstream players of the automotive industry chain are engaging in LFMP development.

Lithium manganese iron phosphate is a mixture of lithium iron phosphate and lithium manganese phosphate, and has the same structure as lithium iron phosphate. Therefore, lithium manganese iron phosphate has the same advantages of lithium iron phosphate including low cost, high safety performance, high thermal stability, no self-ignition due to acupuncture and overcharging, long cycle life, no risk of explosion, and at the same time makes up for the disadvantages of LFP.

In addition, compared with lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganese iron phosphate demonstrates better low temperature performance. According to Huajin Securities, the capacity retention rate of lithium manganese iron phosphate can reach 75% at -20°C, while that of lithium iron phosphate is 60%-70%.

In addition, the agency also pointed out that due to the abundance of manganese ore resources in the world, the cost of lithium iron manganese phosphate is only about 5%-10% higher than that of lithium iron phosphate. And considering the improvement of the energy density, the cost per watt-hour of lithium manganese iron phosphate is slightly lower than that of lithium iron phosphate with regard to installation cost of batteries, and significantly lower than that of ternary batteries.

However, lithium manganese iron phosphate is not without disadvantages. For example, after adding manganese, the dissolution of manganese will lead to shortened cycle life, and poor charge and discharge capacity.

However, this will not put an end to the large-scale commercial application of lithium iron manganese phosphate, "and as it is still improving, its performance will be between lithium iron phosphate and ternary cathode material."