I am pausing production of Charge Warning Lights (CWLs) suitable for Lithium batteries while I look into a few concerns I have about Lithiums.

In the meantime, I would strongly advise against the use of Li-Ion batteries. A customer using one found that it disconnected itself from his bike's electrical system when the battery voltage was 14.7V. His bike engine kept running with the battery disconnected but it is very likely other bikes would stop.

The consensus is that Li-Ion batteries are much more likely to catch fire than LiFePO4 when overcharged. The customer's battery disconnecting itself appears to be a way of avoiding a fire. A Li-Ion that does not disconnect when overcharged may catch fire and destroy the bike. Either outcome is really bad.

Another customer kindly forwarded me a response he'd got from Shorai who confirmed that their Lithiums only disconnect at overdischarge and never at overcharge. Hopefully this means they are as predictable as lead-acid batteries but with the extra benefit of not allowing the battery to be damaged by leaving lights or ignition on when you park the bike.

Terminology is annoyingly confusing when it comes to Lithiums. Li-Ion is very different to Li-Iron. Shorai refer to their batteries as Li-Iron which I think people take as meaning LifePO4 (generally regarded as the safest Lithium for motorcycles). But are Li-Iron and LifePO4 the same?

And there is conflicting information about what voltage to charge Lithiums at.


So, still quite a few questions needing answers.