3 ms·

Slightly off topic, but I wish some company with capability in volume production of battery packs would develop a modular system of safe, reliable, light and ec

by marvin 6y ago

Slightly off topic, but I wish some company with capability in volume production of battery packs would develop a modular system of safe, reliable, light and economical battery packs. There's so much potential for various products that would benefit from having multi-kWh storage capacity available, and this potential will only increase as the cost per kWh drops further. As a case in point, this Slovenian company makes sustainer systems for sailplanes, which is awesome, but their system is limited to two battery packs. I imagine that pack design, form factor and availability is a big limiting factor in projects such as these. http://www.front-electric-sustainer.com/technology.php http://www.front-electric-sustainer.com/technology.php

ed25519FUUU 6y ago
I think most people interested in this already string together their own packs with 18650 cells. Apart from that, I wouldn’t feel comfortable creating packs that could be fire hazards if the users do things like mix cell types or quality or capacity.
- marvin 6y ago
  You don't want to string together a homemade pack of 18650 cells and put them in the wing of an aircraft, or anywhere else a fire will be particularly dangerous. My point is, I'm sure there's a market for modular battery packs that have actually made these considerations, along with charging/discharging management, power electronics, insulation/cooling/heating and so on.
smattiso 6y ago
YES! I have been toying around with this concept and there are no good solutions right now. There are few providers doing something similar (Vruzend off the top of my head), but they all have huge downsides. What I would love is: 1.) Integrated high quality BMS. 2.) Modular design so that I can add capacity or voltage simply without welding. 3.) High amp discharge capability. 4.) SAFETY! Can be used in electric mountain bikes, eFoils, electric paramotors, whatever. Vibration, drops, etc. do not disturb the cells or the pack. If you could accomplish this then you would unlock so many cool features. 1.) Construct your own packs regardless of voltage or size requirements. 2.) Travel on airplanes with your batteries! Deconstruct the pack simply and store in <100Wh battery blocks or as 18650 cells and you can take theoretically an unlimited amount of lithium across oceans (likely limited somehow). 3.) No vendor lock in. 4.) When your BMS tells you that a certain subpack has failed just pop the cells out easily and replace the one that is busted. 5.) Because of #4 far better for the environment and cheaper. Does anybody have any thoughts about how to bring this to fruition? The Vruzend thing works but is clunky, has low amperage capacity because of the bus bars, and the BMS is not integrated. If anybody has thoughts I would VERY much appreciate it.
- marvin 6y ago
  There must be a startup working on this. If not, it sounds like a ripe thing to try out.
- jbay808 6y ago
  Seems like you're describing this product exactly: https://ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/ligo-batteries.html https://ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/ligo-batteries.... By the way, the company that makes this, Grin Technologies, is really great. I've toured their facility and met the owner. (I don't have any sort of stake in them, though).
  - smattiso 6y ago
    Only 36V, each pack has a BMS. It's basically spot welded 96 wh packs @ 36V with individual BMS. Works OK I guess but lots of wasted space and weight.

by marvin 6y ago

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

I think most people interested in this already string together their own packs with 18650 cells. Apart from that, I wouldn’t feel comfortable creating packs that could be fire hazards if the users do things like mix cell types or quality or capacity.

marvin 6y ago
You don't want to string together a homemade pack of 18650 cells and put them in the wing of an aircraft, or anywhere else a fire will be particularly dangerous. My point is, I'm sure there's a market for modular battery packs that have actually made these considerations, along with charging/discharging management, power electronics, insulation/cooling/heating and so on.

smattiso 6y ago

YES! I have been toying around with this concept and there are no good solutions right now. There are few providers doing something similar (Vruzend off the top of my head), but they all have huge downsides. What I would love is: 1.) Integrated high quality BMS. 2.) Modular design so that I can add capacity or voltage simply without welding. 3.) High amp discharge capability. 4.) SAFETY! Can be used in electric mountain bikes, eFoils, electric paramotors, whatever. Vibration, drops, etc. do not disturb the cells or the pack. If you could accomplish this then you would unlock so many cool features. 1.) Construct your own packs regardless of voltage or size requirements. 2.) Travel on airplanes with your batteries! Deconstruct the pack simply and store in <100Wh battery blocks or as 18650 cells and you can take theoretically an unlimited amount of lithium across oceans (likely limited somehow). 3.) No vendor lock in. 4.) When your BMS tells you that a certain subpack has failed just pop the cells out easily and replace the one that is busted. 5.) Because of #4 far better for the environment and cheaper. Does anybody have any thoughts about how to bring this to fruition? The Vruzend thing works but is clunky, has low amperage capacity because of the bus bars, and the BMS is not integrated. If anybody has thoughts I would VERY much appreciate it.

marvin 6y ago
There must be a startup working on this. If not, it sounds like a ripe thing to try out.
jbay808 6y ago
Seems like you're describing this product exactly: https://ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/ligo-batteries.html https://ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/ligo-batteries.... By the way, the company that makes this, Grin Technologies, is really great. I've toured their facility and met the owner. (I don't have any sort of stake in them, though).
- smattiso 6y ago
  Only 36V, each pack has a BMS. It's basically spot welded 96 wh packs @ 36V with individual BMS. Works OK I guess but lots of wasted space and weight.