
LiFePO4 Vs Lithium Ion – Which Should I Choose?
Thinking about a portable power station for camping? You probably have a lot of questions. We’re going to discuss the differences (and similarities!) between the LiFePO4 (Lithium Phosphate Iron) and Li-ion (Lithium-ion ) batteries.
If you said: “Okay, but which one is right for me?” Well, you’re off to a roaring start. If so, one thing you should know about is battery chemistry.
First, you have to know about this: We can’t tell you which you should choose. There’s a good reason for that. We don’t know what you’re going to use it for. To be fair, at this point, neither do you.
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So we can’t do that.
What we can do is tell you all that we think you need to know to make an informed decision based on what you think your needs are going to be. We do have a piece of advice. You are always going to need more power. (In our experience, our power needs have only expanded and never diminished. Just keep that in mind.)
First: There are two prominent types of batteries that will form the heart of your portable power station: Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) and Lithium-ion. (This last one can be split into three basic varieties: lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), and a third type nickel–lithium battery (Ni–Li).
We’ll try our best to help you understand what you need to know in our patented Goldilocks approach.
Table of Contents: Batteries – LiFePO4 Vs Lithium Ion
- Batteries: Lithium Ion Vs LiFePo4: Does it Matter?
- Batteries: Why Should We Trust You?
- Battery Research 101
- Batteries: How They Work
- Lithium-Ion and LiFePO4 Batteries: What’s the Difference?
- Lithium-Ion and LiFePO4 Batteries: What Are They?
- Lithium-Ion
- LiFePO4
- Capacity Vs Price
- Capacity Vs Usable Capacity
- Conclusion
Batteries – Lithium Ion Vs LiFePo4: Does it Matter?
Well, we’ve certainly come to think so. At first, we honestly had no idea. We began to get interested in Portable Power Stations, (which is simply just a large, rechargeable battery) and we began to do some research. The information we found on batteries was either too technical to be useful, or too simple, which left us with too many unanswered questions.
We decided to share our research here. We hope we can help you to understand the differences and more importantly: why it’s important.
Read on if this sounds like something you might be interested in.
Why Should We Trust Your Opinion on Batteries: Portable Power Stations?

We’re glad you asked. A few years back, we camped at a small music festival in Uchiumi, Kyushu, Japan. Our neighbours had a small Lithium-Ion Jackery battery. It was several years old and looked to have been through the wars. However, it was more than up to the task of charging their phones (two), running a small IBM lamp, and charging their camera batteries. I think they had an iPad or something, too. It all seemed to work fine. We guessed that the battery was about 4 or 5 years old, and since it powered all their stuff, we thought: “Hm, that makes it a pretty good investment”.
Battery Research – 101
Once we began looking, we discovered that Batteries are just like everything else when it comes to outdoor gear, meaning that every year the manufacturers compete for who will make the best products at a certain price point, vs performance. Great! We thought! Let’s do a bunch of research and write a blog on this. Whoa, there, Nellie. Whooooaaaaa, there girl.
Nothing is ever simple, is it? It turns out that there are different kinds of batteries, with very different ways to evaluate them.
For example, one consideration is the life of the battery. All battery lives are measured in cycles. We are writing this on a MacBook Air, and if we check the battery ( apple menu>system report>power>cycle count ) we find that the cycle count is represented by a number. ( Windows folks have to work a little harder, but it’s no big deal:
- Open the Start menu, then search for Command Prompt
- Run Command Prompt in administrator mode
- Type powercfg /batteryreport /output “C:\battery_report.html” and press enter
- Navigate to the “C:\battery_report.html” file on your C drive
- Click the html link to view the battery report
)
That number (Cycles) represents the number of times the battery can be fully charged and fully run down. (Well, not fully run down. But that’s close enough for now. You probably don’t need us to tell you that running these things down completely is not very good for them. They like to keep a little power set aside for stuff like the Battery Management System (the BMS basically protects the battery) and other things. This is why your phone gives you a warning at 20% left. But let’s not get distracted, here.)
This process of charging and discharging is called “cycles”, and it’s a good way of measuring battery life. A higher number of cycles are obviously better than fewer. (Yes, we’re simplifying, here, but not too much, and that’s not a bad way to think of it. Besides, you’re here to learn about LiFePO4 vs. lithium-ion Batteries, are we right?)
Batteries – How They Work (Rechargeable Ones)
These batteries all have three essential components: a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte.
We know what you’re thinking. “Is this gonna be on the test?”
Don’t worry, it turns out it’s really straightforward.
Both the Cathode and the Anode store Lithium, and release Lithium-ions. (The Cathode does this during charging, and the Anode does this during discharging.) An Electrolyte is a liquid that acts as a facilitator (a helper or enabler, if you will) of movement for said Lithium-ions. It’s really no more complicated than that.
Visual learner?
There’s a pretty cool animation on the U.S. Government Energy page. Just make sure to hit the back button and come on back, okay? We’ll wait. (Drums fingers. Actually, that takes us back to the mid 90’s using Pro-Tools, and every time you wanted to do some processing, the mouse pointer would turn into a hand with drumming fingers. Good times.)
Okay?
Okay. Welcome back. Squints. “You look smarter.”
One of the first useful things we learned is that in general, both LiFePO4 and Lithium-ion batteries work in basically the same way. This is not a surprise, since they perform the same tasks. In fact, you can think of the LiFePO4 batteries as just a refinement of the Lithium-Ion chemistry.
The electrolyte for these batteries is lithium salt and the anode is carbon. The cathode is one of various lithium metal oxides for which each type is named. (Put a pin in that, it’s important, and we’ll circle back to it later.)
The charging and discharging processes are the same for all these types. Remember what we saw in the animation? As the lithium ions move from the cathode to the anode, the electrons migrate in the opposite direction. This movement creates an electrical current, which we can use to either charge our device’s batteries or power our devices.
LiFePO4 and Lithium-Ion Batteries: What’s The Difference?
When we first started seriously looking at portable power stations, the type of battery that forms the heart of these devices didn’t seem all that important. To the average consumer, both the LiFePo4 and Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) batteries are rechargeable batteries. Both perform the same tasks. On the other hand, there are non-trivial differences to think about.

For example, Lithium-ion batteries have a higher battery density than LiFePO4 batteries. Additionally, the Lithium-ion is an older technology. I just bought a new one for my antique camera! They are less expensive, although this is changing as the scale of manufacturing for the LiFePO4 ramps up.
We kind of stopped there for a while. “What the heck?”, we thought. “They’re not that much different. They both store and release power that we can use to power or charge our devices. Both use lithium ions to do this”.
You’d think that was the end of our search. You’d be wrong, though.
Of course, there are important ways in which they differ. More on this later. First, we know that they are somewhat similar. On the other hand, how are they different?
“What the heck are LiFePO4 and Lithium Ion Batteries?”
We know, Lordy, we know. It can be pretty darn confusing. It’s no mean feat to find straight-up information available for LiFePO4 and Lithium-ion batteries on the web, at least at the time of this writing. (Year of our Lord, 2024, June 13th.) It’s better now than it was, but it’s still more confusing than it needs to be.
We aim to remedy that.
A portable power station (which is just a large battery) can be used to power our devices or charge the batteries that power our devices. Once they run down to about 20% or so (each one is different, so be sure to check your manual, but 20% is a pretty good rule of thumb) you have to charge them back up.
One other fun fact:You’ve probably noticed that when you’re charging your phone it starts off charging up pretty fast, but that last 5% is slow.
That is not just you. That is a matter of fact. It’s quite likely to mention that in the manual. You can check many manuals online, which is super handy if you’re getting ready to make up your mind, but we found that all products mention this. (By the way, we have another Goldilocks zone article which should help you to make up your mind as far as figuring out how much capacity you need. Batteries: How do I choose a portable power station?)
We wrote that because for reasons that have never been made clear to us, when we first started our research journey we were pretty non-plussed. On the whole, what we found was either too simple to be useful, or not easy to follow.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We figured, “Heck, we can explain this better!”. All we need to do is to get into the Goldilocks zone. If you remember your children’s literature, that’s when Goldilocks breaks into the Three Bears house, and finds everything either too much this way, or too much that way.
On the other hand, after she pokes aroound with everything, she finds something that’s juuuuuuu-st right.
Therefore, what we’re aiming to do is to explain stuff in a way that is not so difficult that you need a PhD in electrical engineering to understand it, but not so simple as to be useless.
Additionally, you have to remember that like almost everything for the last several years, the technology has been changing and improving, in terms of ease of use, battery density, and design. So you have to check back.
In any event, let’s have a quick look at each.
Batteries – Lithium-Ion
First, like pizza, not all Lithium-ion batteries are created equal.
There is a small variety of chemical compositions, under the Lithium-ion umbrella. These include lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), and a third type: nickel–lithium battery (Ni–Li). (You may encounter more exotic flavours, but these are the big three.) You probably noticed that all of those have the word “lithium” and a different kind of metal.
In addition, Lithium-ion batteries have a higher energy density than LiFePO4 s. (Sometimes LiFePO4s are called LFPs. Also, it’s important to note that if the battery type is not listed, it’s more often than not the Li-ion battery type.)
In any event, the energy density of a battery is measured as a ratio of how much energy it can store per unit of volume or weight. Li-ion batteries can store more power per volume or weight unit than LFPs. (This is called higher energy density).
So, that’s a good thing.
That’s an important distinction. Here’s another:
Lithium Ion batteries contain metallic lithium and composite cathode materials like cobalt, nickel, or manganese, making them highly energy-dense and efficient. (They are often cheaper, too.)
“Sold!”, we hear you shout. “Patience, young grasshopper”, we wisely reply. (A reference that really dates us. You young whippersnappers can use your googles if you’re curious.)
Remember when we put a pin in the metal oxides? Here’s where we talk about that.
The fact is that we have a bit of an issue with both cobalt and nickel. With the coming of smartphones, the demand for these metals skyrocketed. That they are also used in batteries found in laptops, tablets, cameras, and so on only made a bad situation worse. As a result, this has led to human rights concerns with the sourcing of cobalt, and nickel gives us pause, too.
Maybe that don’t cut no ice with you. Keep your fork, Duke, there’s pie. (That’s an old Nova Scotian saying that means that I’m going to explain in more detail.) There are some other reasons to consider. With this in mind, we’re gonna get to those other reasons.
Portable Power Stations are an investment. We wanted to know this stuff so that we could make the right decision. You’ll be glad you learned a little about this stuff, too.
LiFePO4 Batteries: Chemistry
As we have seen, both LiFePO4 and Lithium-ion batteries work in the same basic way. Here is where we get to the important difference, and that difference is chemistry. With the exception of my grandmother’s bread and butter pickles, everything gets refined, and hopefully, improved. Batteries and their technologies are no different. One such important refinement is the change in chemistry.
LiFePO4 batteries do not use either cobalt or nickel. This makes them more stable and safe. You’ll remember that we had a problem with both cobalt and nickel. We don’t really mind manganese, but we can do without them if there is a better solution at hand. We believe that a better solution is at hand. This is an example of a small LiFePo4 battery: The Anker 521 Portable Power Station Upgraded with LiFePO4 Battery. You can also visit the Anker Web Site. We think it’s currently on sale.

LiFePO4 batteries are composed of lithium, iron, and phosphate ions. This simple change makes a big difference for us for 3 simple reasons:
- Battery life
- Safety
- Toxicity
Battery Life
Perhaps you recall when we had a look at our cycles? Even if you don’t care about the problems with nickel and cobalt, this ought to cause you to think. Lithium-ion batteries are rated for between 500 to 800 cycles. For the price, that may sound pretty good to most people. Remember our friends at the festival in Uchiumi? With the little Jackery? Well, given its age and brand, (most small Jackery’s used exclusively lithium-ion batteries) it will be getting up there in cycles. It may have a lot of life in it yet. It’s hard to say, not knowing. (Jackery’s have a reputation for toughness and durability – they’ve been around for a while.)
Battery life really depends on a variety of factors, including the amount of use, storage considerations, and battery maintenance. This modern Jackery Explorer240 doesn’t list its battery type, so that tends to mean Lithium-ion. That’s not always true, but since it’s generally agreed that the LiFePO4 is a superior battery technology, it’s usually listed. (By the way, that first link goes to Amazon, but it is often cheaper at the Jackery site. There’s a big coupon thing going on now. Additionally, it never hurts to check, even if you’re just curious, to get an idea of the costs, and so on.)
Here’s the thing: LiFePO4 batteries (sometimes referred to as LFP) are rated for 3000 to 4000 cycles. That’s about 6 times more cycles. That makes them a better environmental choice. So there’s that. This Bluetti AC180, for example, has a LiFePO4 battery in it. Now, the Bluetti AC180 that can be had at Amazon is currently about twice as much money as the Jackery, and it could be on sale. We think it’s usually a lot more than that. (You can check at the Bluetti company’s site, if you like.) But remember that if you look after it, it will last about 6 times longer.
Safety
All batteries are safe, but electricity must be treated with respect. However, though rare, they have been known to experience calamitous failure. Additionally, it’s just a good practice to be prepared in the event of a catastrophic event.
- Buttercup: We’ll never succeed. We may as well die here.
- Westley: No, no. We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurt – no problem. There’s a popping sound preceding each; we can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand, which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.
- Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.’s?
- Westley: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.
- [Immediately, an R.O.U.S. attacks him]
We love The Princess Bride. But seriously. There’s nothing like being prepared.
Of course, as we have noted – all batteries are safe. On the other hand, all batteries have the potential for bad things to happen.
We have a confession to make: this has never happened to us. (Knocks wood.) Be that as it may, the point is that it’s not unheard of. Consequently, it’s worth considering the way in which these two battery technologies respond in these situations.
Lithium-Ion batteries have been known to explode into flames. (It’s extremely rare, but it’s something to think about. On the other hand, as we’ve mentioned, LiFePO4 batteries, (also known as lithium iron phosphate, or LFP) are composed of lithium, iron, and phosphate ions, which makes them more stable and safer in the event of something bad happening. Because of the new chemistry, they do not burst into fire and they do not explode. Apparently, they smoke a little, but there is no potential for an explosive tire and the fumes are far less toxic.
Fortunately, we have not had that experience ( knocks on wood again,) nevertheless, it makes sense to be aware of that. YMMV.
Toxicity
It gets worse. The metals in the Lithium-Ion, in that admittedly rare event of a failure, are a lot more dangerous than the LiFePO4. (Basically, the LiFePO4 has no nickel or cobalt. That makes them more stable.)
If there is a fire, the fumes are much worse with the Lithium-Ion. The nickel, cobalt and manganese produce toxic fumes. The LiFePO4 batteries won’t smell like a spring rose, but it won’t be that bad. (Or so we’ve been told. As we mentioned, we’ve never had a battery of either type go bad on us.) (Touches wood, again. Sorry to be so superstitious.)
Power Capacity Vs Price (LiFePO4 Vs Lithium Ion Batteries)
As a general rule, most Lithium-ion Batteries can be had for a little less money, have a slightly higher battery capacity, are often lighter and smaller, and at first blush, they can seem like the way to go. In addition, there is the higher energy density.
“ACCCCKcellent!” You thinks to yourself. “Sold! Start de truck, Marge!”. And maybe you’d be right. Certainly our neighbours made that call. And lots of folks swear by these batteries. Almost all of the smaller Jackery Batteries have the Lithium-Ion batteries at their hearts. (The pricier, higher-end ones (Jackerys) tend to have LiFePO4 batteries.)
As we noted above, our camp neighbour’s unit has served them well lo these many years, and we hope it continues to do so. So, if all you’re really interested in is capacity vs. price, and you can’t see yourself using them all that often, then they may well work for you. They have pretty good ads.

Batteries: Capacity Vs Usable Capacity:
Here are some things to keep in mind before we get to that. There is Capacity and there is Usable Capacity. It’s not trickery or creative marketing. Batteries have to hold some power back for things like the Battery Management System (BMS) which basically protects the battery. Also, things like the process of changing the DC power to AC power (for your appliances, and so on. AC is what comes out of the wall at home. DC is what you need for the battery in your phone, laptop, or camera.) This process of change is inevitably lossy.
So as a general rule of thumb, only about 80 – 85% of the unit’s stated capacity is available to us. The good news is that you can expect that to last until the number of cycles is reached. At this point, you can expect the capacity to gradually reduce. At that point, you’ll usually have about 80% of the original capacity.
Furthermore, there are a number of other factors to consider, too. For example, you can damage the battery by letting it run all the way down, or running the output at above 80% for extended periods. The sweet spot is about 50 to 70%.
Moreover, extreme temperatures – particularly heat, are not good. (By the way, we have a blog article that helps you to figure out exactly how much capacity you need, and the math you need to figure that out. We worked very hard to Goldilocks zone that one.)
We may well be in the minority, but we think that the size and weight of small portable power stations doesn’t really make a lot of difference. A couple of kilograms or a little heft, pfft. YMMV. But here’s where the rubber meets the road:
The Lithium-Ion batteries have a battery life of about 500 to 800 charge cycles. That means that we can charge them, use them, and then charge ’em again for about that number of times while still retaining about 80% of their capacity. The cost is less than the LiFePO4 type batteries but this is changing every year. The important point is that the LiFePO4 type batteries can be charged almost 6 times more. (3000-4000 charge cycles.)
We guess if you’re just a casual camper or outdoors person, the difference in cost may not be all that important to you. Our neighbours seemed pretty pleased. It’s a big difference to us, though. (We also believe in spending a little more to get stuff that lasts. A cheaper battery is only cheaper until you have to buy another one. This philosophy has served us well.
Conclusion:
We hope we have helped you better understand batteries and portable power stations. They are truly convenient, and possibly could save your life. ( That’s not hyperbole. Think of a GPS system, or the ability to use your phone to call for help.) It’s great to have your camera battery charged up to get your video or still photos to preserve your adventures.
Here are some other related articles that you might enjoy: