Batteries

As I have been working on my controller, battery choices keep on popping into my head. Lead acid flooded, AGM, Lithium, NiCad, NiMH and more. So I have been putting together a spreadsheet of all sorts of batteries I find, punch them into the caclulator and see which will do what. I am still working on it, and trying to find the best prices. I did get a qoute from LionEV for a 78 Volt 120 Ah LiFePO4 for $5,000. It's $3500 for the batteries and then $1500 for the BMS system. I found that to be a very good price and it would give me decent range. I have not fixed the sheet yet, but when it comes down to capacity from lithium vs lead, a 50 Ah lithium pack is equal to a 100 Ah lead acid pack. I have not adjusted the graph appropriately, but the LionEV pack should give me about 70 real life miles. While I don't have that kind of money right now, I hope for the prices to come down and I will be keeping this in mind, possibly as a future pack. Or a day dream...

I have also been debating on what my first pack should be. Part of me is thinking I should just get a cheap pack from Wally World and beat the crap out of them while saving for a AGM system. Lead will probably be the way I go, and ideally I would like something sealed. US Battery UB121100 is one I am seriously considering since it is 110Ah, sealed AGM and I can place it anywhere. It does cost quite a bit, the lowest price I have found so far being $189. I am open to battery ideas and choices. As this is a budget conversion, I don't want to spend a lot on batteries, but I don't want junk either. Surplus UPS sealed batteries would be decent if they are sealed and not too abused. Maybe I will get lucky and a local company will be chucking some UPS batteries.