[JRP3]

http://www.calibpower.com/index.aspx
Website is really slow and no prices but it looks to be a CALB offshoot here in the US. Something to keep an eye on.

 

[DIYguy]

Hey JRP... thanks. I was looking at them also. There is a link from the China web site to the US one also. It is a self described US "child" of the CALB (old Sky Energy) company. I did send them some correspondence... we'll see what the deal is. (ur right on the web site also.... it sucks! lol)

Gary

 

[Powered By DC]

The parent company of CALB wants to establish a US warehouse from what I've been told. Calib Power is going to be that us warehouse. From what I was told months ago they will be selling to distributors here so the lead time is shorter. From what I've been told by my rep at CALB they are not stocking inventory yet. I plan to contact them directly next week to see when they plan to start stocking cells.

Dave Kois
Current EV Tech, LLC
http://www.currentevtech.com
253-988-5020
Skype dkoisii

 

[JRP3]

I'm sort of surprised they don't sell direct. Since they are going to stock cells here in the US why ship them to another distributor who then ships them to the customers?

 

[Powered By DC]

I would thinks so as well, and they may well do that. I just posted what my contact at CALB told me several months ago. I havent contacted them yet because every time I ask CALB if they are stocking the US warehouse yet they tell me no. I do plan to contact them this next week just to hear from them when they plan to stock and if they are going to sell direct.

Dave Kois
Current EV Tech, LLC
http://www.currentevtech.com
253-988-5020
Skypr dkoisii

 

[DIYguy]

Hi guys... here's the latest from Calib.... a quote from email...

Hello Gary,
Sorry for late reply to you as I just returned from a business trip. Let me reply to your questions below:

We, Calib Power, is the exclusively direct sale company in the US of CALB. In other words, we're usually called CALB representive office in the US. So you know who we are.
Our company was registrated in April of this year and started the business from May. I came from CALB, China headquarter to our LA office, responsible for the sales.
We have a 25,000 square feet warehouse with offices in Pomona, CA (Los Angeles area), and we have all popular models of CALB batteries in stock for customers. But most of those batteries are for the confirmed orders and continuously delivery contacts. The normal delivery lead time is 2 months ARO.

Quote for 60 units of 180AH: FOB LA warehouse $1.26/AH. Two years warranty.

Please feel free to contact if anything we can help.

Best regards,


Keegan Han
Sales Manager
[email protected]
Tel: 909-865-8809
Cell: 626-383-2957

 

[LithiumStorage]

I met Keegan Han at CALB's booth at this year's San Jose Plug-In Expo and the email you posted closely matches his conversation with me.

CALB starting a US subsidiary will make things interesting for those of us importing and re-selling CALB products. I wonder how long it will be before Thunder Sky does the same thing...

 

[JRP3]

Hopefully it will mean lower prices for consumers and less wait time, though from the email that may not be the case. Existing vendors may need to concentrate on other aspects of EV's besides batteries, or maybe they can offer batteries in stock with no waiting for added value. Matched cells would be another possible added value opportunity.

 

[JRoque]

You guy can band together to make a large purchase and differentiate yourself from the other based on service offering, lower shipping or simply availability. Or become distributors of the local office with a region assigned to each. I'm sure they rather have you deal with us plebe. For now keep the price war up until I buy my pack

JR

 

[JRP3]

They can't get lower prices than the factory is offering, and shipping is going to cost basically the same per mile whether it's shipped from Calib or a vendor.

 

[JRoque]

I doubt the factory will sell at their cost and not include the expense of supporting end-users like us. A large purchase will get a better price and they hand off the customer support issue. But who knows, maybe they're willing to 'insource' that - wouldn't that be ironic...

JR

 

[JRP3]

How much customer support is needed when selling only a battery?

 

[LithiumStorage]

There's a suprising amount of customer support needed, both pre-sales and after. Especially the customers who've never converted a car before, only know enough about electricity to be dangerous, and haven't really visited any online forums. The first thing we do is refer them to this website.

As far as CALIB is concerned, that was a great point about holding inventory as an advantage. Smaller Litium importers like my company and Dave Kois' will also always have an advantage in lower overhead costs, unless the Chinese employ a communist business model and subsidize CALIB's overhead expenses and battery costs. Otherwise CALIB has the cost of a 25,000sqft warehouse in CA, more employees, and any profits needed to be remitted back to CALB. At $1.26/Ah, I doubt CALIB is paying their own overhead.

But competition is a good thing for society and business; it'll be fun to see where this goes.

 

[JRP3]

There's a suprising amount of customer support needed, both pre-sales and after.

For just the batteries? Not talking about chargers, or BMS or anything else, just the cells.

 

[LithiumStorage]

Yup. It's the minority of customers that require the majority help/time. But that's just part of the business and we try to give each customer the same level of appreciation. I should point out that some of the (newest noobs? greenist greenies?) learn quickly and build out some impressive EVs.

On a side note (but referring to the BMS comment), we're also impressed with how many folks build out thier own BMS. Some of these we wish we could commercially carry (if only our hobbyist-customers would let us). It's like the wild west of BMS out there.

 

[rmay635703]

At $1.26/Ah, I doubt CALIB is paying their own overhead.

Depends on volume, I wonder what the going bottom basement cost per watt hour is these days on chinese lithium? It seems like they were cheaper a few years ago.

Ah well.

 

[JRP3]

Indeed. I think they have more room to play with then they are letting on. I doubt the cells have gotten more expensive to build, and CALB charges more than TS and HiPower because of their slightly higher C rates, but probably don't cost any more to make.