No doubt about it, practically any Lithium type will have a MUCH higher energy density than any FLA battery. But battery weight is really not that much a factor for most of us, like it is in a car. Lithium can be discharged quite deeply and has excellent cycle life, and safety has improved astonomically over the years to the point that if you have a decent BMS it no longer needs to be considered an issue at all. However it will be a long time before the monetary cost per usable kw/hr approaches my$85 220ah golf cart batteries. And my bank only weighs about 500 lbs, so I don't mind the weight. After all, I removed about 400 lbs of engine, tank, hose, wire, piping, and other junk. Li-Ion or LiFeP04 or other high tech types are worth it if you have deeper pockets than I do, and the technology is certainly worth watching, but they aren't "there" yet, economics wise, for us po working folks.
Owners who don't know how to maintain FLA batteries, though, aren't saving any money buying FLA. For them, a turnkey Lithium pack with BMS actually can make economic sense. Maintenance is the difference between FLA batts lasting 6 or 7 years, or only one or two.
At that weight, if you can find a salvaged 48v Lithium pack like you describe, it might be worthwhile to get and install one as a secondary bank. No sense throwing out a bank of perfectly good FLA until they die, though. The second bank is, after all, the weight of only one extra unwanted guest who would just drink all your beer and eat all your food, and you are already operating just fine with the heavy old fashion lead batts, right?
---In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, <jmedclay@...> wrote :
I also keep seeing cost predictions/targets of Li-Ion EV batteries, at least in this 48V MHEV format, dropping to essentially the same as lead acid units, on a useful energy availability basis. Apparently they won't need fans and will be in conveniently sized modules.
But I don't yet see any of these 48V MHEV batteries for sale. What I see are astronomically expensive batteries in more familiar formats.
My very cursory look into Li-Ion batteries suggests a mass based energy density of about 3x that of lead acid. Reducing my 520# battery bank to 175# is very attractive.
Are any of you familiar with this, or similar, technology? I'm a couple of weeks away from replacing my 8, 6v EV batteries; if the Li-Ion stuff was available at/near the target costs I'd jump, no other technical problems assumed. I have a feeling I'm a few years early.
John Clay
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