Once considered as the next generation of power battery cathode material - lithium manganese phosphate LMFP, because of the price, performance and production problems, after a period of silence, recently by a number of battery manufacturers began to pay attention to.
With the recent cobalt price rose USD28/kg (2016/10/17) USD55.5/kg (2017/4/4), rose to three yuan (523) materials from 150 thousand / ton rose to 200 thousand / ton, the author thinks that the short term, the price of cobalt did not decline reason, increased demand, reducing the supply of three yuan, is not up, so LMFP is relatively the cheap, three yuan mixed LMFP and become the industry development focus.
As for the LMFP manufacturer, Dow Chemical (from abroad 2 years ago has been out of the market), Sumitomo Osaka cement, Phostech, cathode materials plant in China has also been inked. But there is only a real production shipments Dow Chemical, and then the manufacturer is Taiwan Wang Chen battery materials (Yuan Hong Lai technology). At present, in order to mass production standards, Wang Chen has shipped nearly a hundred tons, the development of a new generation of LMFP is also about to complete.
On the application of cathode materials, three yuan of material used in automobile, with clear lithium iron in the bus situation, but three yuan is bound to high energy density high nickel anode three yuan, high energy often represents high risk, LMFP mixed three yuan has been at home and abroad including Denso (Denso), in Airlines that lithium can effectively solve three yuan material safety from the material on the nature of the problem. Lithium iron battery with 150wh/kg has to exhaust all the skills close to the theoretical value, almost no space to go up again, then three yuan (622) plus LMFP can easily do more than 200wh/kg, so the future of lithium iron can stand on the bus's application, also cast the variable.
A new generation of ISS (idle start stop system) the development of the cathode material is LMFP, in 2015, 2016 of Japan's year-end Battery Conference, Denso and Toshiba has published a number of LMFP to replace the LMO ISS application on the absolute superiority of the report.
LMFP with a high voltage, high safety and other advantages of mixed and three yuan, plus the manufacturing cost and lithium iron close, if the performance further improved (I believe it's only a matter of time), will be able to achieve goals and requirements of electric vehicle factory: safety, and high energy density. LMFP can occupy a space for one person in the power battery industry of the The red sun rises in sky. this answer seems to be completely bared there and then.