Why doesn't anyone make custom battery packs?

dazza22345

Pedelecer
Dec 24, 2015
50
4
So upon looking for a battery pack for my new build I've discovered that the UK is seriously lacking in this department. My question is why? Are there any laws I'm missing stopping anybody building packs to sell?
Why haven't any companies in the uk started offering any of the higher rated batteries like em3ev or lunacycle
Seems a missed opportunity and open market to me.
 

trex

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2011
7,703
2,671
The market for custom packs for e-bikes is tiny, less than 1,000 packs a year. Then there are plenty of cheap offers from Hobby King. You'd be lucky to get 10 orders a month. Lithium batteries and cells are classified as dangerous goods, you can't legally manufacture packs at home as a business.
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
I had a custom battery made by them (Insat International) a couple of weeks ago. They were very fast and helpful, so I would recommend them to anyone. They have a wide range of cells to choose from too, so you can get very high power from a small battery, if you want, or you can go for high capacity and light-weight. My battery was a 30 cell 7ah one for a Brompton. They build it curved so that it followed the shape of the frame. The shape didn't cost anything extra.
 

dazza22345

Pedelecer
Dec 24, 2015
50
4
Good to hear another recommendation. Have sent him an email so just waiting to see what price he quotes me. Cheers guys, should have tried on here first really.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,789
30,369
Lithium batteries and cells are classified as dangerous goods, you can't legally manufacture packs at home as a business.
And yet for 22 years from 1973 to 1995 I held a Home Office licence to keep isotopes of Polonium 210 in my home, and did so.

You'll recall that this highly radioactive material was what was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko.
.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,785
The European Union
And yet for 22 years from 1973 to 1995 I held a Home Office licence to keep isotopes of Polonium 210 in my home, and did so.

You'll recall that this highly radioactive material was what was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko.
.
Are you the real James Bond? How did you get it in his food? We understand that you want to come out now about this to clear your conscience...

:p
 
  • Like
Reactions: flecc

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,789
30,369
Are you the real James Bond? How did you get it in his food? We understand that you want to come out now about this to clear your conscience...

:p
Conscience is clear, I didn't kill anyone. I did have to have Special Branch and the fire brigade visit randomly every year to inspect and check for obvious public safety reasons, but otherwise no problems. I'd used a loophole in the regulation of nuclear materials to achieve having them at home.

Don't take all the anti-Russian propaganda about the Litvinenko issue too seriously, Polonium 210 is a very safe material to handle, incapable of harming us externally, despite being lethal internally.

Basically all that is necessary to shield against the alpha radiation is a wafer thin sheet of tissue paper, and the layer of dead skin cells that we all have to protect ourselves against natural radiation also suffices for polonium 210 radiation. Internally our organs have no dead skin cell layer, so get irradiated and immediately develop cancerous growths.
.
 

VictoryV

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 15, 2012
310
208
77
near Biggleswade
Conscience is clear, I didn't kill anyone. I did have to have Special Branch and the fire brigade visit randomly every year to inspect and check for obvious public safety reasons, but otherwise no problems. I'd used a loophole in the regulation of nuclear materials to achieve having them at home.

Don't take all the anti-Russian propaganda about the Litvinenko issue too seriously, Polonium 210 is a very safe material to handle, incapable of harming us externally, despite being lethal internally.

Basically all that is necessary to shield against the alpha radiation is a wafer thin sheet of tissue paper, and the layer of dead skin cells that we all have to protect ourselves against natural radiation also suffices for polonium 210 radiation. Internally our organs have no dead skin cell layer, so get irradiated and immediately develop cancerous growths.
.
You have more to worry about with RADON gas, the second highest cause of lung cancer after smoking. It too is an alpha particle emitter, so cannot penetrate the skin, but if inhaled as a result of natural geological emission, it cannot escape from the body.
http://www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps
 
  • Like
Reactions: flecc

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,789
30,369
You have more to worry about with RADON gas, the second highest cause of lung cancer after smoking. It too is an alpha particle emitter, so cannot penetrate the skin, but if inhaled as a result of natural geological emission, it cannot escape from the body.
http://www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps
Indeed true. When I was young I once spent two years in Widdecombe-on-the-Moor, right in the heart of a Radon hotspot, but have probably been more at risk from the years I smoked 60+ a day.

Remarkably I've escaped the ill effects of both for four-score years, so I must have a charmed life. Either that, or my telling myself that I'm far too busy to bother with having any serious illness has a psychosomatic effect!
.
 

craiggor

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 9, 2015
498
171
I have been considering playing around with one of these. These drill packs really have come on in the last few years.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-2607336915-BOSCH-36-VOLT-4-0-AH-LI-ION-SPARE-CORDLESS-DRILL-BATTERY-PACK-/281609533099?hash=item41913c76ab:g:YdsAAMXQeW5TX8FA

Jerry
Thread on here "small battery bargain" is about using the MacAllister 34v4ah power tool battery.video on you tube "36v4ah battery pietkaify"pietkaify opens one up.On Robert Llewellyn's you tube channel. there is a video about bosch lawn mowers.Twin 48v 6ah batteries."Bosch pro electric lawnmower fully charged"
 

jerrysimon

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 27, 2009
3,292
112
Cambridge, UK
Yep I was doing that 5 years ago with Dewalt A123 packs.

PS Good video link, I enjoyed :)

Jerry
 
  • Like
Reactions: craiggor