4 ms·

Honestly after a quick google search I'm not convinced LTO Cells are applicable for that use case. Best I found on a quick search is 80wh/kg and at a low voltag

by dtx1 2y ago

Honestly after a quick google search I'm not convinced LTO Cells are applicable for that use case. Best I found on a quick search is 80wh/kg and at a low voltage and good enough but not great discharge capacity. Even in the electrical bicycle range that's just not enough to be practical, let alone competitive. LFP at it's peak gets you there but it's also not a great experience. The Battery needs to be too large to get you enough current to be enjoyable. That's why the 10x (even a 3x would do it) in discharge capacity is what get's me excited. That's enough that you can use only a few cells but with enough output to be a nice experience, just with short range.

addaon 2y ago
80 Wh/kg beats the 70 Wh/kg of the cells discussed in the article, which was the benchmark for your proposal. Voltage doesn't really matter at all for this; you just end up with a few more cells in series (though it's admittedly awkward if you're targeting ~56 V max as the top of SELV where most single-chip BMS ICs top out at 18s). And even though most common LTOs are only rated for 10C, they're rated to do that below 0°C, in which domain they absolutely crush the ratings of LFP cells -- for LFP, you end up sizing for temperature unless you're looking at summer riding only. Admittedly you're not going to match 40 C LFP and NMC pouch cells with a cylindrical cell, and I'm not aware of anyone currently making LTO pouch cells; but I do think it seems unlikely that the sodium cells that are the subject of this article bring any really new capabilities to the domain of ebikes.