I am only now an occasional rider thanks to other commitments. I remember researching Li-ion calendar life vs Li Po4 - At the time you needed to be on the bike 4 days a week to use up the 2000 cycles in 10 yr calendar life of LiPo4, & 3 days a week over 5 yrs for the 800 cycles of Li- ion
Apart from the difficulties associated with lithium it would seem a poor choice for anyone only using the bike now and again at weekends.
I built a pack from LiPo4 pouch cells, fine when working but BMS signal wires vibrate off, pouch cells fail etc. I am honestly thinking of going back to the heavy but reliable SLA I originally used for years, as kept charged & keeping a second charger at my usual destination they served me well.
I did come across this possibility http://www.neucell.net/applications.asp They claim 500 cycles @ 80% D.O.D (same as SLA) but are half the weight of 3 x 12 Ah SLA bricks, claim to be about 60 to 70% price of Li ion (actually the price per cycle works out the same - about 12p) The killer is no doubt the shipping cost of a 6Kg batt. There was once mooted a Chengzhu to Poland express goods train, taking 5 days per 1 way journey. Not sure if this ever happened - if so ideal for many things - not least Li batts / cells. When I last spoke with Neucell they could not supply the charger. I did find a Chinese ebay supplier that could set his chargers to suit Ni Zn - he knew the cut off voltage saying this chemistry was known in China - after SLA's were 'officially' banned there, at least on new ebikes - rather than home conversions. Any thoughts ?
Apart from the difficulties associated with lithium it would seem a poor choice for anyone only using the bike now and again at weekends.
I built a pack from LiPo4 pouch cells, fine when working but BMS signal wires vibrate off, pouch cells fail etc. I am honestly thinking of going back to the heavy but reliable SLA I originally used for years, as kept charged & keeping a second charger at my usual destination they served me well.
I did come across this possibility http://www.neucell.net/applications.asp They claim 500 cycles @ 80% D.O.D (same as SLA) but are half the weight of 3 x 12 Ah SLA bricks, claim to be about 60 to 70% price of Li ion (actually the price per cycle works out the same - about 12p) The killer is no doubt the shipping cost of a 6Kg batt. There was once mooted a Chengzhu to Poland express goods train, taking 5 days per 1 way journey. Not sure if this ever happened - if so ideal for many things - not least Li batts / cells. When I last spoke with Neucell they could not supply the charger. I did find a Chinese ebay supplier that could set his chargers to suit Ni Zn - he knew the cut off voltage saying this chemistry was known in China - after SLA's were 'officially' banned there, at least on new ebikes - rather than home conversions. Any thoughts ?