Phylion Tour: The History and Innovation of The Battery Cell Giant

Much like the mid-drive or hub motor in any quality e-bike, it’s likely the average rider doesn’t give a whole lot of thought to the battery unit that powers the bike. More often than not it’s simply a case of charging the battery, riding the bike, and regularly repeating the process.

But these days – especially with e-bike battery quality being such a hot topic – it’s worth taking a closer look at just what goes into creating that all-important energy cell.

During a recent trip to China one of the fascinating highlights was a visit to two Phylion factories, the company being one of the major global lithium-ion battery cell manufacturers and specialising in the booming e-bike, light electric vehicle and portable power pack markets.

While we saw a large number of big brand e-bikes on show at their impressive Suzhou factory and test centre, we can’t mention the names the company builds batteries for. Suffice to say they are brands we know and trust.

E-bike batteries being assembled at Phylion’s Suzhou production facility.

Founded in 2003, Phylion emerged from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their initial focus was on lithium-ion batteries and particularly LFP, lithium iron phosphate power packs.

Developing and expanding over the years, a key focus was technology, efficiency and ultimately safer, longer-lasting more thermally stable batteries. Morphing into a key leader in energy storage systems, Phylion made significant advancements in battery management systems, fast charging, energy density, and the lifecycle of batteries. In more recent times they have placed greater emphasis on sustainability, the use of recyclable materials, longer battery life and lower production emissions.

In 2023, Phylion upgraded its former Overseas Business Unit into a wholly owned subsidiary, Joycube Battery, which now operates independently and focuses on the mid-to-high-end markets in Europe, North America and Australia, with applications in eBikes, light electrical vehicles, and energy storage. They are also actively developing solutions for other emerging fields such as marine applications.

200,000 Cells A Day

Making an astonishing 200,000 battery cells per day, Phylion have undertaken partnerships with some major European OEMs, and several major bike brands we all know and regularly ride and these were evident during the fascinating factory tours.

Spending time at two of the company’s factories – and seeing first-hand how a giant bunker bag of raw lithium plus an enormous roll of copper foil sheeting are ultimately morphed into thousands of world-class e-bike batteries – was an eye-opening experience.

One of the key takeaways was continual testing – quality control is the highest priority at the Phylion manufacturing facility.

At the first location, we witnessed the complete production line process – raw materials being blended into a slurry and thinly and precisely applied to copper foil using high-volume automated production lines.

The process is tightly sealed to prevent contamination, improving energy density, and consistency. Prior to entering different sections, we had to be fitted with anti-static gowns, wear face masks and pass through various anti-static discharge rooms.

We watched on in awe as die-cutting machines sliced millimetre-perfect electrode sheets – the whole production process undertaken with surgical precision.

Moisture was another factor heavily controlled – sealed lamination and state-of-the-art formation processes further protecting the cells from potentially problematic environmental factors. Nothing is left to chance in this factory, attention to detail is second to none, pass rates in the endless testing is over 99.9%, and the whole complex process runs like Swiss clockwork.

Factory tour highlights included

Testing, testing and more testing. The level of stringent testing and quality control was absolutely astounding. The focus and concentration of those working right across the production line – from guiding that initial bulker bag of raw lithium through to technicians with oscilloscopes checking and re-checking batteries – was phenomenal.

So impressed with the quality and attention to detail across the expansive factory, I photographed a ‘JoyCube’ branded portable lithium power station on display in the showroom. Previously dubious about the quality of Chinese-made power packs, I now have absolutely no hesitation in purchasing or using anything out of the Phylion factory – whether a battery for an e-bike or JoyCube power pack for the boat. While their core offerings remain in light electric vehicle lithium battery solutions, primarily for eBikes, electric three-wheelers and electric four-wheelers, they’re certainly owning the ever-expanding lithium battery cell space.

A small selection of the battery cells made by Phylion.

The other highlight I’ll never forget was the physical product testing. From piercing a juiced-up battery with a steel spike, to fully immersing a substantially sized and fully charged e-bike battery in a metre of water for half an hour, well that said it all.

Three other fascinating tests performed on random samples taken from the production line were –

The Overcharge Test

E-bike batteries are put on a special test charger where they are given a standard, then a double then close to a triple charge. One of the major issues with lesser quality batteries and chargers – and the cause of potentially deadly fires – the Phylion’s preset threshold inside the unit’s Battery Management System automatically cut off the power. This was closely monitored and live-logged on the laptop.

The Pierce Test

A fully charged battery is placed in a jig, a button is pressed, and then a 6-inch steel pin is hydraulically driven through the battery. Straight through the positive and negative plates, but without shorting the battery.

The Drop Test

Risen to a metre above a concrete floor, a test machine releases the e-bike battery where it drops to the floor. We watched on as a battery was put through this hellish cycle three times – to no ill effect other than a few marks and scratches.

Summing Up

From seeing scooter and LEV (light electric vehicle) power cells being made from scratch in the Chuzhou factory, to the e-bike-specific production line at Phylion’s Suzhou facility, it was an absolutely fascinating experience.

Fast Phylion Facts

In 1994 the fledgling company commenced research on electric vehicle batteries with funding from the Ford Foundation.
Phylion developed the domestic electric bicycle market and became the leading brand of lithium batteries for electric bicycles
In 2008 they built the batteries for 26 Volkswagen Passat hybrid vehicles used at the Beijing Olympic Games. They also presented then US President Barack Obama with a Phylion powered e-bike.
In 2011 they provided 3000 batteries to a French EV maker
In 2021 they sold an astonishing 21 million lithium batteries for light electric vehicles (LEVs)
The company now have four major production facilities around the world, they’re active in 30 countries and regions, and have cumulative sales of more than 30 million lithium batteries.
Phylion have now led the world in power cell shipments for six consecutive years and power over 300,000 electric vehicles per annum.

A big thanks to Phylion for opening their facilities to Ride On, and to (Hyperlink) E-Cycle Electric and the (hyperlink) Light Electric Vehicle Association for making the trip possible.

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