3.2V 314Ah CATL LiFePO4 Prismatic Cell High Capacity Rechargeable Storage Battery

Product Overview

CL-LF314 is an original CATL 3.2 V 314 Ah LiFePO4 prismatic cell in a hard aluminium case, supplied as a Grade A part built on automotive-grade LFP material. Each cell stores roughly 1 kWh at nominal voltage, which is the block size most residential hybrid inverters and small commercial cabinets are drawn around: sixteen cells in series give a 51.2 V string, and parallel rows scale the bank upward from there.

This is a bare cell, not a finished battery. You bring the enclosure, busbars, compression plates and BMS; the cell brings the capacity, the cycle life and the electrical stability the rest of the pack is built to. That suits pack assembly businesses, ESS integrators and EPCs, solar distributors holding a standard 314 Ah format, and OEM teams building repeat packs for their own customers.

NOGI buys through long-standing relationships with CATL and the other LiFePO4 battery manufacturers on our brand list, so cells arrive with factory QR codes and batch grading data rather than through the secondary market. The same catalogue carries EVE LiFePO4 cells and other brands, which helps when a customer's bill of materials names a specific brand and the pack design is already fixed.

In service, these cells sit in cabinets and containers doing daily cycling — absorbing a solar surplus through the afternoon, discharging into the evening load, and holding a partial state of charge through a grey week. LFP is comfortable with that pattern, and the low internal resistance keeps the heat generated inside the pack modest at continuous rates.

Key Features

• Fewer parallel links for the same bank size — a 314 Ah cell does more work per unit than the 280 Ah parts many racks were drawn around, and the difference comes out at roughly 12% fewer parallel connections, which means fewer busbars, fewer joints to torque and less assembly time per pack.
• Grade A cells with factory traceability — every cell carries a QR code tied to a production batch, and the batch grading data comes with the shipment, so incoming inspection has something concrete to check against.
• Low internal resistance, cooler running — resistance inside the cell stays low, so I²R heating at continuous rates is modest, and the spread between cells in one lot stays tight enough to sort into series strings without a long balancing session.
• A flat voltage plateau — the cell holds a steady voltage across most of its discharge, so an inverter or DC bus sees fewer swings and the BMS has less work to do at the top and bottom of the curve.
• A hard case that takes clamping — the aluminium shell and welded terminal posts handle compression plates and busbar torque far better than a pouched cell of the same capacity.
• A format the supply chain has settled on — 314 Ah is the class the major lithium iron phosphate battery suppliers build in volume for stationary storage, so rack designs, BMS profiles and mounting hardware are easy to source and unlikely to disappear.

Specifications

LiFePO4 Chemistry Advantages

Thermal and chemical stability. A lithium iron phosphate battery holds its crystal structure when it gets hot, so the path to thermal runaway, fire or explosion is far less accessible than in a nickel-rich cell. In a cabinet bolted to a wall next to an inverter, that difference is what most site assessments actually hinge on.

Service life. LFP cells normally return more than 2,000 charge-discharge cycles, and well-managed packs commonly land somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000 while keeping a high share of their original capacity. That is why LFP, rather than NMC, is the default answer for a pack that has to earn its money over a ten-year tariff or a PPA.

Materials and cost. The cathode uses iron and phosphate instead of nickel and cobalt, contains no toxic heavy metals and is comparatively easy to recycle. Material cost is competitive and less exposed to cobalt and nickel price swings, which makes the long-term spare-parts position easier to predict.

Low self-discharge. Standby losses are small, so a string that sits idle for months — a seasonal cabin, a backup bank, a project waiting on commissioning — comes back close to where it was left rather than needing a full recharge before it can be trusted.

A-Grade vs B-Grade Cell Comparison

Pack Assembly & Cell Matching

1. Fix the electrical design first — series count to reach your DC bus, parallel count to reach the capacity your client asked for, and the physical envelope around both. If you are building a custom LiFePO4 battery pack, get the drawing signed off before any cell leaves its packaging.
2. Sort before you build — measure open-circuit voltage, internal resistance and, on a sample, capacity; then group the cells so each series string sits inside a narrow band rather than pairing the strongest with the weakest.
3. Dry-fit the frame, end plates and compression jig — check terminal height, busbar routing and sense-lead clearance before you torque anything down.
4. Clamp to the pressure your mechanical design specifies — prismatic cells are normally held under even compression to limit swelling over life, and a frame that pinches one edge will show up later as uneven fade across the string.
5. Torque the busbars to the terminal maker's figure, then re-check the torque after the first full charge-discharge cycle, when the joints have settled.
6. Top-balance the string, set the BMS to the working window shown in the specification table, and run one full cycle while logging voltage and temperature for every cell.
7. Record every serial — scan each QR code into the pack file alongside its measured resistance; that record is what the LiFePO4 battery manufacturers' batch data links to if a warranty question ever comes up.

Applications

• Home solar storage — retrofit and new-build residential systems where the battery sits in a garage, basement or utility cupboard and cycles once a day on a self-consumption or time-of-use profile.
• Commercial and industrial ESS — demand-charge management, peak shaving and solar shifting for factories, cold stores and office buildings, where pack count per container and lifetime cost per kilowatt-hour decide whether the project clears.
• Utility-scale and off-grid plants — containerised storage and microgrids in places where the grid is thin, and where fewer, larger cells mean fewer connections to inspect and maintain over the asset's life.
• Pack builders and OEM assembly lines — repeat builds where a stable 314 Ah supply matters more than a one-off price, which is where working with lithium iron phosphate battery suppliers who can hold a brand and a batch together pays off.
• Solar distributors and stockists — wholesalers who keep a 314 Ah LiFePO4 prismatic cell on the shelf for local installers, with datasheets and batch paperwork ready to hand over at the counter.
• Installers answering brand questions — end customers increasingly ask which LiFePO4 battery manufacturers the cells came from, and a traceable CATL part is a simpler answer than an unbranded equivalent.

Thermal Behavior & Operating Limits

Charging below freezing. The charge window starts at 0 °C, so a BMS that only watches voltage will happily push current into a cold cell and plate lithium onto the anode. Fit a temperature sensor per string, or a heater pad in the cabinet if the site regularly drops below zero, and let the BMS block charging until the cells are back inside the window.

Cold discharge. LFP cells will discharge well below freezing without harm, but usable capacity falls noticeably as the pack gets colder. Size the bank for the worst week of the year rather than the annual average, and tell your client what to expect on a January morning instead of leaving them to find out.

Heat inside the cabinet. None of this makes a lithium iron phosphate battery immune to heat. Keep racks out of direct sun, away from inverter exhaust and with enough spacing for air to move between cells; a cabinet that bakes in summer will shorten life whatever the chemistry.

Storage before assembly. Store cells at a partial state of charge rather than full, in a dry space inside the storage window, and top them up before the build starts if they have been sitting for months.

Condensation. Pallets shipped in sealed packaging into a humid climate should be left to reach room temperature before the wrap comes off, or moisture will condense straight onto the terminals and busbar faces.

Ordering & Delivery

• Quantities — there is no strict minimum order quantity. Ask your sales contact about sample quantities for testing and about current terms for the volume you have in mind.
• Custom and OEM work — we build custom LiFePO4 battery pack assemblies, modules and OEM/ODM projects from these cells, including enclosure, busbar and BMS integration. Send the drawing or the duty cycle and we will quote the pack around it.
• Shipping terms — FOB, CIF, DAP and DDP are all available for most countries. DDP, door to door with duty paid, is the option most buyers choose because it removes the customs step from their side.
• Documents — a shipment normally travels with MSDS, a UN38.3 test report, a cargo transport assessment report and the certification files required for the destination market, including CE, FCC, RoHS, IEC62133, UL and other regional marks where they apply.
• Packing — cells are packed for lithium-cell transport in the configuration agreed at quotation. Confirm pallet counts, labelling and any carrier-specific requirements for your market before the booking is made.
• Lead time and payment — both depend on quantity and destination, so they are confirmed on the quotation rather than assumed from the last order.

Customer Feedback

Most of our business comes from buyers who placed a second order. The feedback we hear most often is about consistency rather than headline numbers: strings that balance without a long sorting session, cells that measure close to the datasheet on arrival, and paperwork that reaches the customer before the container does.

Several of the pack builders we work with also run EVE LiFePO4 cells on other projects, and they tend to compare datasheets rather than brand names when a new bill of materials is open. Because we buy from the same lithium iron phosphate battery suppliers year after year, the cell a customer qualified in one quarter is still the cell they receive in the next — which matters more than most spec-sheet differences when a production line is already tooled.

Rack Fit & Cell Substitution

• The cell body measures 173.7 × 71.5 × 207.2 mm. The CATL 280 Ah part that many racks and compression frames were drawn around is 173.9 × 71.7 × 207.2 mm, so this cell is 0.2 mm narrower and 0.2 mm thinner at exactly the same height. The can itself slides into a cavity sized for a 280 Ah cell, and in most builds the frame does not need to be redesigned.
• What blocks a build is rarely the can. Check the terminal post position and height, the busbar run between posts, and the clearance your compression plates and expansion allowance need. A frame that closes cleanly on 280 Ah cells can still foul a busbar that was cut to the old post spacing.
• Each cell weighs 5.49 kg against 5.34 kg for the 280 Ah, so a 16-cell string carries roughly 2.4 kg more. Recheck shelf loading, end-plate fixings and the lifting plan for a finished module before you commit a container to that rack.
• Capacity rises from 280 Ah to 314 Ah, and that is where the roughly 12% fewer parallel connections come from: a bank of a given size needs fewer rows and shorter busbar runs. Currents move with it, so at 0.5C this cell delivers about 157 A against 140 A from the 280 Ah, and fuses, contactors and cable sizing should be recalculated rather than carried over.
• The voltage profile stays familiar. Both cells are 3.2 V nominal with a 2.5–3.65 V working window, so a 16S string still presents itself as a 51.2 V battery to the inverter. What has to change in the BMS is the capacity setting, the charge and discharge current limits and the balancing thresholds; the cell count and channel count do not.
• Thickness compounds across a stack. At 0.2 mm thinner per cell, a 16-cell string leaves about 3 mm more free play for the end plates to take up, so set compression to your mechanical design's figure and measure the assembled stack rather than a single cell.
• If the bill of materials names EVE LiFePO4 cells, compare like with like before switching. The EVE MB31 is the same 314 Ah class in a 173.7 × 71.7 × 207.2 mm case at 5.60 kg, rated ≥8000 cycles with around 330 Ah measured capacity. This CATL cell is 0.2 mm thinner, about 110 g lighter and rated ≥7000 cycles. Both are Grade A LFP cells in the same format, so the choice usually follows the brand already written into the pack file, the BMS profile and your customer's approval rather than a wide performance gap.
• If the BOM names the EVE LF304 instead, the change is larger. That part is 304 Ah with ≥4000 cycles, a 1C maximum charge rate, a discharge range down to −35 °C, and CE, RoHS and UN38.3 certification on the datasheet. Moving to this cell adds 10 Ah but narrows the cold end of the window to −30 °C, so a site that leans on the wider range should stay on the LF304.
• Send the frame drawing or the BOM line and we will check this LiFePO4 prismatic cell against it, quote CATL or EVE stock against the same drawing and ship the batch grading data with the cells. For a custom LiFePO4 battery pack programme, we can review the series and parallel layout before the first module is built.

Quality Control & Inspection

Every order is checked before it leaves us. In-depth partnerships with CATL, CALB, EVE, Farasis and other leading manufacturers give us traceable, original-brand cells, and our team runs a full inspection pass on every shipment, with sampling checks on packaging and labels. Anything that fails is held back, replaced and reported to you before dispatch. You are welcome to send your own inspector or appoint a third-party agency; we arrange access, samples and the documents they need, and the same paperwork travels with the goods.

FAQ