On 29 May 2015 at 16:56, Gail Lucas via EV wrote: > One of our local EV gurus suggested money could be saved by using some > from Sam's Club where they can be purchased for under $90.00.
As far as quality and longevity, it's a crapshoot. Sam's Club and similar private-brand retail outlets buy from whatever battery manufacturer bids lowest. You might get junk. Or you might get Trojan or US Battery brand, but even then, it's hard to tell whether what you're getting is equal to their regular line battery. You just don't know how good the ones at your local store are until you try them, and then the next batch you get may be completely different! OTOH, the advantage of buying something cheap for your first EV battery is that if you commit "battricide," you haven't lost as much. > Please offer opinions, but not to upgrade to lithium. That would be > overkill for a C-Car. I wouldn't suggest lithium for him, but not because it's overkill for the car - more because it might be overkill for him. Chinese LiFePO4 goes pretty cheap, but that's not the end of it. He'd also need at least a BMS, and probably a new charger. (With some electronics background, he might be able to hack up a way for the BMS to control the C- car charger.) Then, to take good advantage of the reduced vehicle weight, he'd probably want to tweak the suspension. Lower curb weight might help those marginal brakes cope better, though. You know him better than I do, so you're in a better position to judge whether he'd want to get into all that effort and expense. Regardless, as I said above, I think it's better to start with the cheapest battery that can manage your transportation needs, so you don't lose too much if you damage it. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
