How to calculate the lithium content in a battery

If you intend to ship or travel with lithium cells, batteries or battery packs, you will need to know their lithium content. See our Lithium content calculator for quick answers.

This applies to lithium metal batteries (disposable) and lithium ion batteries (rechargeable).

When considering ‘lithium content’, this does not necessarily mean how much lithium metal is in the battery.  Technological advances have come up with new alloys to substitute for lithium, making them a ‘lithium equivalent’, therefore falling under the same rules and guidelines as lithium.

The amount of lithium (or lithium equivalent) content in a battery or battery pack can be worked out as 0.3 x amp hour capacity. So a 2Ah battery has 0.6 grams of lithium (2 x 0.3) and a typical laptop battery pack with eight 2Ah cells has 4.8 grams (8 units x (0.3 x 2Ah))

Declaring lithium content is usually required for lithium metal (disposable) units.

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2 Comments

  1. Arty Pote

    “The amount of lithium (or lithium equivalent) content in a battery or battery pack can be worked out as 0.3 x amp hour capacity. So a 2Ah battery has 0.6 grams of lithium” Where does this information come from? Can you provide reliable external sources for your information, because so far the “Lithium content calculator” and “How to calculate the lithium content in a battery” article are a loop.

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