NCA
Nickel cobalt aluminium: the highest density in the table and the most demanding charging in the cold. In Europe there is no verified residential product that uses it.
What changes for you
This entry exists because a product sheet could declare it, not because one does: as of 2026 no residential, balcony or camper storage unit sold in Europe that we have verified uses it. You find it in Panasonic and Tesla cylindrical cells and in Samsung SDI's grid-scale systems.
If you come across it, the number to watch is the charging temperature: the datasheet for the Panasonic NCR18650BF cell allows charging only from +10 °C up, the highest threshold among the chemistries in this encyclopedia, while it discharges down to −20 °C. In exchange it gives 248 Wh/kg on the bare cell, the highest value in the table.
On lifespan, the Sandia lab measured between 250 and 1,500 equivalent cycles, with strong sensitivity to depth of discharge; the JRC describes it as "less durable than NMC and less thermally stable".
The data
| Nominal cell voltage | 3.6 V |
|---|---|
| Contains lithium | yes |
| Contains cobalt | yes |
| UN number for transport | UN 3480 / 3481 |
What the products in the catalogue declare
No product in the catalogue uses this chemistry, today.
The cathode is an oxide of lithium, nickel, cobalt and aluminium; the anode graphite; 3.6 V nominal per cell. It contains significant nickel and cobalt, and was chosen for cylindrical cells where every gram counts.
Samsung SDI presented it in 2024 as one of two routes, alongside LFP, for grid-scale storage systems; its residential brochure does not declare the chemistry. The Panasonic NCR18650BF remains the technical reference: its datasheet gives the cycle curve without a number, and this entry does not invent one.
Related entries
Frequently asked questions
How many products in the catalogue use NCA?
No product in the catalogue uses this chemistry, today.