Battery choices for buggy hybrid project

3003 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by brian_, Jun 13, 2021

GE11

Discussion Starter · Jun 5, 2021

Hey everyone

I’m trying to find the best way to get a Battery or (batteries) for my hybrid project. I started off looking at Nissan Leaf cells but now I can’t seem to find anything for sale for decent price. I am presently looking at a couple of lifepo4 options at battery hookup. I need a 16S and at least 200ah. This will be a series hybrid project on a VW dune buggy frame..
Any suggestions or ideas for batteries welcomed...

thanks

Save

1 - 11 of 11 Posts

NwCali6

· #2 · Jun 5, 2021

I'm lost as to why the Solar people are picking up all the leaf batteries given that you can buy new "power walls" prebuilt for less than you can for the Leaf Batteries now a days....

It sure does hurt those of us that actually need the slightly higher voltage leaf battery.

Hey, maybe buy those power walls and use them in a EV? Only downside is I think the EV packs will put out more current/amps, which you might need/want in a EV (versus solar)

Save

GE11

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 5, 2021

Yeah that’s kinda the thing I’m trying to figure out... a lot of these batteries for sale are not for high current applications. But it seems one of the best routes is to reuse batteries from an ev

Save

Zenith Li

· #4 · Jun 10, 2021

GE11 said:
Hey everyone

I’m trying to find the best way to get a Battery or (batteries) for my hybrid project. I started off looking at Nissan Leaf cells but now I can’t seem to find anything for sale for decent price. I am presently looking at a couple of lifepo4 options at battery hookup. I need a 16S and at least 200ah. This will be a series hybrid project on a VW dune buggy frame..
Any suggestions or ideas for batteries welcomed...

thanks

see this lifepo4 battery, BATTERY CELL FE100A – Narada (nrd-usa.com) ,
https://nrd-usa.com/?product=fe105c-series,
same size, more efficiency. hope it is helpful.

Save

Electric Land Cruiser

· #5 · Jun 11, 2021

Yeah that's why I bought a whole LEAF instead of just the battery. Cost was the same

I have sold about $1500 worth of stuff off the LEAF already; body panels and interior parts. I may end up with a free battery and motor if this keeps going.

Save

Swing

· #6 · Jun 11, 2021

Well why don't you find a plugin hybrid battery?
Like a Chevy Volt? Or recently I saw a Volvo XC90 battery which was almost 10kWh and probably deliver the power. Don't know if you have that in US market.

Save

Reactions: 1

brian_

· #7 · Jun 12, 2021

Swing said:
... Or recently I saw a Volvo XC90 battery which was almost 10kWh and probably deliver the power. Don't know if you have that in US market.

Yes, while the Volt has been by far the most popular plug-in hybrid in North America, there have been several others, from Ford, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and perhaps others.

In the Ford C-Max, the plug-in version was called "Energi", but they don't use that term anymore.
In Toyota hybrids, the plug-in version gets "Prime" on the end of the model name.

Save

Swing

· #8 · Jun 12, 2021

I find the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV battery every once in a while, and it is good value, it is also one of the most bulky ones.

By the way, I recently built a 15s battery pack with Jaguar I pace modules and that was like 13kWh at 60 kg, pretty nice.
So if you can find those battery modules seperately it would be a nice option.

Save

brian_

· #9 · Jun 13, 2021

Swing said:
By the way, I recently built a 15s battery pack with Jaguar I pace modules and that was like 13kWh at 60 kg, pretty nice.
So if you can find those battery modules seperately it would be a nice option.

That would be 5 of the I-Pace modules in series, making a 15S4P battery (5 of the car's 36 modules, or 14% of the total). The I-Pace is pretty rare here, so salvage modules would be hard to find. Zero EV sells the same module, as the LG 4P3S Battery Module 2.6KWh, but they're in the UK, and it is unknown how long their supply will last.

Save

Swing

· #10 · Jun 13, 2021

brian_ said:
That would be 5 of the I-Pace modules in series, making a 15S4P battery (5 of the car's 36 modules, or 14% of the total). The I-Pace is pretty rare here, so salvage modules would be hard to find. Zero EV sells the same module, as the LG 4P3S Battery Module 2.6KWh, but they're in the UK, and it is unknown how long their supply will last.

By the way, Audi E-tron modules are pretty much the same as the Ipace modules, so that gives another source.
Here in Europe there are some sources (which I think Zero EV is also using) that have a lot of these modules from factory where a batch is not approved or something.
Anyway, they are working nicely, and they are a nice form factor. No slave boards to reuse though, so just a seperate BMS.
I guess in the US it is maybe not that easy to get them. But they would be well suited.

Save

Reactions: 1

brian_

· #11 · Jun 13, 2021

Swing said:
By the way, Audi E-tron modules are pretty much the same as the Ipace modules, so that gives another source.
Here in Europe there are some sources (which I think Zero EV is also using) that have a lot of these modules from factory where a batch is not approved or something.
Anyway, they are working nicely, and they are a nice form factor. No slave boards to reuse though, so just a seperate BMS.
I guess in the US it is maybe not that easy to get them. But they would be well suited.

These appear to be the VDA 355 format (size and shape) standard, but it's not a widely adopted standard so few production EVs (at least in North America or Europe) use it. Yes, both the I-Pace and any VW/Audi EV are less common in North America than they would be in Europe.

Zero EV also offers modules in this size from CALB, but in both 6S2P and 4S3P so fewer modules (and less energy capacity) would be used for the same nominal voltage... only two 6S2P modules for 4.4 kWh, or four 4S3P modules for 8.8 kWh. Even 8.8 kWh wouldn't meet the stated requirement for "16S and at least 200ah" (11.8 kWh @33.7 V/cell); in addition to the lower module count, these modules are rated lower in capacity than the same-size LG Chem modules in the I-Pace (and e-tron).

Electric GT offers OX Drive modules, and the Energy line are also in this VDA 355 format, in 6S2P and 4S3P just like the CALBs from Zero EV so they still wouldn't add up to enough capacity... and they may actual be the CALB modules.

The VW e-Golf has used this format (and a half-sized variant) as well, but again they're 4S3P, versus the 3S4P modules of the I-Pace and e-tron.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 1

1 - 11 of 11 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month