Cylindrical vs. Prismatic vs. Li-Po Battery: Key Differences
Curious about battery types? Learn how cylindrical, prismatic, and lithium polymer batteries stack up against each other. Make the best choice!
Lithium polymer batteries are currently the least used battery form in electric vehicles. But in fact, we are not unfamiliar with it. Most of the batteries in mobile phones are lithium polymer batteries. The biggest difference between lithium polymer, cylindrical, and prismatic batteries is that their outer casing is made of aluminum-plastic film.
The cylindrical battery is convenient for the combination of various forms and is suitable for the full layout of electric vehicle space design. Cylindrical batteries, however, are usually made of steel or aluminum, which are heavy and have relatively low specific energy.
There are three main mainstream lithium battery packaging forms, namely cylindrical, prismatic, and lithium polymer. The three shapes of lithium batteries will eventually become cylindrical batteries, prismatic batteries and lithium polymer batteries through cylindrical winding, prismatic winding, and prismatic lamination.
The advantage of cylindrical batteries is that their energy density per unit is higher than that of prismatic hard-shell batteries. The energy density of the 21700 battery cell currently used in the Tesla Model 3 is as high as 300Wh/kg. This is a level that other battery formats cannot achieve in a short period.
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