WHO WE ARE

G.F. Design SAL is a technology company working specifically on the manufacturing process of high end Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries.

GFD lithium iron batteries have exceptional quality :

Manufactured with Automotive Grade LiFePO4 cells

  1. With higher energy density
  2. More stable performance
  3. Greater power
  4. Long cycle life (10x greater than lead-acid batteries)
  5. Lightweight (1/3 of lead-acid batteries)
  6. Advanced BMS (Battery Management System) updatable software includes > 50 inverters

What are points to consider when buying a Lithium Battery?

There are many different brands of batteries on the market, although from the outside all batteries look the same there are few points to look after:

A. Case and shape: depending on your  available space, lithium batteries can be wall mounted, rack or floor mounted.

B. BMS (Battery Management System): to protect battery from overcharge, over-discharge, over-current, and short circuit with. BMS  efficiently manages charging and discharging of the battery and prevents it from overcharging, over discharging, and over heating. Our advanced BMS communicates seamlessly with more than 50 inverters on the market, it extends battery life and communicates with the inverter using both CAN and RS485 communication ports.

C. Cells: there are 2 distinct categories of cells on the market

  1. Category 1 (Automotive Grade/ Grade A cells) ie good cells
    – Good quality cells
    – Passed all tests from the factory
    – Provide between 4,000+ to 6,000+ cycles depending on different models
  2. Category 2 (Grade B, Grade C, used and fake cells) ie bad cells

Grade B cells are cells that fail factory tests due to:

–  Higher self-discharge rate
–  Capacity lower than datasheet
–  Higher internal resistance
–  Appearance ( swelling / shrinkage at different charge and discharge states)
–  Excess weight
–  Difference in voltage and capacity
–  Old production dates

With all mentioned issues, Grade B cells are very cheap and are usually sold in misleading ads to clients as Grade A cells with a claimed 6,000 cycles life. Grade B cells can usually last up to 1,500 cycle. They are not stable cells and fail you at any time.

Grade C cells are cells that have higher discharge rates or not working cells

Used cells/refurbished cells: are used cells that have been salvaged from electric cars. They might have high number of cycles, cell voltages and capacities are usually not balanced. The BMS will not be able to fully charge and discharge used cells due to this high differences. Used cells can usually last around 600 to 1,000 cycles.

Fake cells are cells that have been manipulated with to appear as brand new Grade A cells, they are Grade B cells or used cells that are given a facelift and fake QR codes.

GFD batteries uses only Grade A quality cells to ensure the highest performance.
How do lithium cells degrade with time?

Lithium cells slowly age due to several factors:

– The liquid inside the cells reacts with different electrolytes
– It slowly forms a film that dries out the liquid
– Lithium inside the cells is slowly eaten up
– Lead starts to break apart and increases cell internal resistance
– Loss of contacts blocks the flow of lithium ions 

Our cells are manufactured and tested at the laboratory before delivery based on:                

  • Capacity
  • Internal resistance
  • Self-discharge rate
  • Capacity recovery

        

Testing, balancing, and aging

Before the cells are assembled into a battery, cells are aged, balanced and matched to ensure optimum performance.
A testing phase takes place to ensure that that batteries are working at the highest level.

After sales support

Cheap batteries seam too good to be true, you can find cheaper prices online but they are not the same product.  All flashy ads on social media sound good on paper, you really get what you pay for.

Misleading marketing graphics get users confused about making the right decision, lithium batteries are a big purchase.  That is why you need to make sure that you are buying the right product from the right supplier.

For example: A10kW refurbished battery can only yield 60 to 70% of its datasheet, and you never know when it will fail.

At GFD Lithium we can help you design and build a system, and assist you up in getting the it started.

We have experience with all types of inverters in the market and how they work with our batteries. We know the right parameters for each inverter, we can program the inverter for you or send you screenshots of how it works.

Lithium is high end equipment; sometimes high end equipment is needed to test the upper limits of the batteries. We are ready to do all the testing, troubleshooting, software and firmware updates.

We also have a spare parts policy, all components inside the battery are available for any repair if the need arises.