Cycle life
Cycle life in the SpeicherCampus context: important for lifetime and warranty. Technically, the term is usually described as the number of charge/discharge cycles.
What does cycle life mean?
Cycle life states how many complete charge/discharge cycles a battery can perform before reaching a defined residual capacity — for instance “8,000 cycles to 80 % SOH”. Partial cycles count proportionally: two 50 % swings equal one full cycle.
The figure is only comparable together with its conditions: reference temperature, C-rate, depth of discharge and the residual-SOH threshold differ considerably between manufacturers.
What matters in practice
- derive cycles per year from the application (PV shifting ≈ 250-350/year)
- lifetime = cycle budget ÷ annual cycles — check against calendar ageing
- read the warranty small print: at which SOH threshold does the promise end?
- arbitrage and multiple daily cycles consume the budget twice as fast
Practical example
A system rated for 8,000 cycles performs 300 per year for PV shifting — a calculated 26 years of cycle budget, far more than the calendar life. Only when dynamic tariffs make a second daily cycle attractive does the budget become the relevant limit.
The SpeicherCampus perspective
SpeicherCampus relates cycle life to the planned operating strategy — it rarely limits everyday use, but often limits arbitrage fantasies.