Battery Trends in Light EVS

Danillo Aguiar, Engineer, Vammo

Battery technology is one of the core forces driving electric vehicles forward. In light EVs, particularly mopeds and scooters, the evolution has moved from widespread lead-acid packs (still common in parts of China, though declining) to lithium-ion chemistries. Over the past decade, many higher-priced models standardized on Nickel, Manganese and Cobalt (NMC), helped in part by China’s 2015–2020 subsidy structure that favored that chemistry. NMC offered the expected lithium-ion advantages: high specific energy, strong power capability and compact packaging.

Beginning in the early 2020s, however, the light-EV market became far more competitive. Tighter margins and stronger cost discipline pushed manufacturers to revisit their chemistry choices.

Lithium Ferro Phosphate’s (LFP) appeal is clear. It provides robust safety, long cycle life and relies on abundant materials such as lithium, iron and phosphate, reducing exposure to nickel and cobalt.

LFP’s traditional challenge in light EVs was energy density, since packs were heavier and bulkier for the same range and harder to fit into small frames.

Advances in packaging, thermal management and battery-management systems improved usable energy, but the major shift came with Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate’s (LMFP) mainstream launch in 2024. As the industry scaled lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate, a variant that raises the cell’s operating voltage, a noticeable jump in performance followed. Classic LFP cells sit around 3.2 to 3.3 volts nominal (about 3.6 to 3.65 volts maximum).

“The industry’s center of gravity is moving toward LFP and LMFP, chemistries that are safer, more cost-stable and sufficiently energy-dense to make today’s rides cheaper, safer and easier to live with.”

LMFP moves closer to 3.7 to 3.8 volts nominal (about 4.1 to 4.2 volts maximum). That increase delivers higher watt-hours per kilogram without losing LFP’s safety profile. In practice, designs that once reached about 160 to 180 Wh/kg now achieve roughly 220 to 240 Wh/kg, approaching many mainstream NMC cells while still keeping LFP’s cost and safety advantages.

Cost dynamics reinforce this direction. Iron- and phosphate-based chemistries help stabilize cost per kilowatt-hour by reducing exposure to nickel and cobalt price swings. Combined with LFP and LMFP’s high-temperature tolerance and benign failure characteristics, the 

business case becomes strong, especially for urban vehicles that prioritise safety, predictable cost and “good enough” energy density.

This is not a single-chemistry future. NMC remains compelling where maximum energy density and coldweather performance matter most, and premium applications will continue to value it. For the core use case, however, daily urban mobility in moderate climates, the balance increasingly favors the LFP family.

There are also promising chemistries on the horizon. Sodium-ion, lithium-air and several others continue to draw attention.

Adoption, however, depends on manufacturing maturity, durability, temperature behaviour and supply-chain readiness. LFP’s own history illustrates this. A chemistry once considered mature or even outdated can return to prominence when manufacturing scales, pack engineering improves and market needs shift. LFP dominated parts of China’s medium-vehicle market before 2016, lost ground to NMC as incentives changed and is now surging again.

In light EVs, that shift is already visible on the street. The industry’s center of gravity is moving toward LFP and LMFP, chemistries that are safer, more cost-stable and sufficiently energy-dense to make today’s rides cheaper, safer and easier to live with.