LFP Battery Regulations Around the World

Before replacing a sailboat’s lead-acid bank with LiFePO4, understand the standards that affect battery selection, short-circuit protection, certification, and resale.

By
Stephen Burnage
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When installing a new LiFePO4 battery setup onboard, ensure that the battery pack has been tested at both the cell and battery pack level, which prepares you for potential regulation changes on the horizon. (Photo/ Eric Andrew Wallace)

If you are thinking of converting your sailboat over to lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP or LiFePO4), whether for propulsion or house needs, there are some laws, standards, regulations, and other requirements that you need to be aware of. Some of these are global, some are regional or national, and others are industry- or user-specific. This article aims to provide a high-level summary of such laws and regulations, as they may affect you.

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Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage is a full-time cruiser, having retired in 2017. He left Vancouver, Canada and headed south for warmer climates, on his 1975 Cal 34 sailboat “Moonrise”, in 2018. Since then, Stephen, Moonrise and occasionally his wife Anita, have cruised the West Coast of North and Central America. They are presently in Boca Chica, Panama. Stephen originally trained in the UK as an Electrical Technician Engineer and then proceeded to have a forty-year career, managing high voltage electrical systems around the world. Career highlights include building new power infrastructure on six continents; writing a comprehensive paper on how the North American Power Grid operates (and needs to be rebuilt) and; later, owning and operating his own renewable energy business. Stephen is a joint Canadian and British national and a resident of Chile, with an extended family across the world.

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