Group Purchase? Lithium Batteries

Do It Yourself (DIY)
1

So i found out that there is a lot of money to be saved when purchasing batteries in bulk. So here are the prices of THunder sky batteries are the best for EV conversion…

Nominal Nominal Max Discharge Cycle Life Dimension Weight List Price
Voltage capacity Current (80%DOD) (mm) (Kg) US$
@ 0.3C (Continuous)

TS-LFP40AHA 3.2V 40AH 120A 1000 190x116x46 1.5kg $80

TS-LFP60AHA 3.2V 60AH 180A 1000 215x115x61 2.5kg $120

TS-LFP90AHA 3.2V 90AH 270A 1000 220x145x68 3.0kg $180

TS-LFP160AHA 3.2V 160AH 480A 1000 285x182x71 5.6kg $320

TS-LFP200AHA 3.2V 200AH 600A 1000 285x182x100 7.6kg $400

TS-LFP400AHA 3.2V 400AH 800A 1000 452x288x71 13kg $800

TS-LFP800AHA 3.2V 800AH 800A 1000 850x288x71 25kg $2000

The discount goes:

Volume (Ah) Discount on List Price

 Per Order Discount %
 less than AH  
 200 0.00%
 1,000 5.00%
 3,000 7.00%
 5,000 10.00%
 10,000 15.00%
 15,000 20.00%
 20,000 25.00%
 40,000 28.00%
 60,000 30.00%
 80,000 30.00%
 100,000 32.00%
 200,000 33.00%
 400,000 34.00%
 600,000 36.00%
 800,000 38.00%
 1,000,000 40.00%

So since I am getting 48x 400AH packs, thats $19,200, so i am only saving 20% I am hoping to get to 1,000,000 AH. But i think that is unlikely. So if anyone would like to go in on a group purchase, let me know. I will be placing the order within a year.

Other links:
Thundersky webpage: http://www.thunder-sky.com/products_en.asp?fid=66&fid2=70
Supplier: http://www.everspring.net/txt/product-battery-pricing.htm

-Leif

1 Like
2

very nice! this is an EASY way to encourage people to want to do some EV conversions and all. I might just take you up on this and join in on the GB with in the next year.

3

I would be interested to buy within a year. But here is the confusion!! Is good Battery management system and charger available for LI batteries?

4

I’m very interested. I posted somewhere here a list of lithium battery suppliers, have a look, I think they’re less expensive. We would need minimum 1000 packs usually, so that should be around 5 people I think?
Anywo, I think I need 40Ah packs, if not 60Ah and high voltage (somewhere around 300v for my AC conversion), so a VERY rough estimate would be ~90 * 40Ah = 3’600 Ah or 90 * 60 = 5’400 Ah.

5

Yes, Metricmind.com has an amazing system that is fairly inexpensive in regards to the pack cost.

This is what the display looks like, very nice!!

6

[QUOTE=Craig;1026]I’m very interested. I posted somewhere here a list of lithium battery suppliers, have a look, I think they’re less expensive. We would need minimum 1000 packs usually, so that should be around 5 people I think?
Anywo, I think I need 40Ah packs, if not 60Ah and high voltage (somewhere around 300v for my AC conversion), so a VERY rough estimate would be ~90 * 40Ah = 3’600 Ah or 90 * 60 = 5’400 Ah.[/QUOTE]

The $1500 a pack one? That is way more $$ than theses packs. I would be spending at least $60,000 on one of those to get to my specs, whereas i woudl only have to drop like $20,000 for these thundersky cells. Just keep in mind that the lower AH you go, the lower your current becomes. These cells are only rated for 3C. This means that the 40AH packs have a continuous discharge of only 120 A! this is fine if your car cruises under 120, but for me that is highly underpowered. I am installing at least 90AH packs, or even 160AH packs! I will be incorperating an ultracapacitor pack to feed my amp thirsty Dual Warp 9" motors.

7

please correct me if I’m wrong, but with AC the voltage is about double that of DC motors, and overall they’re slightly more efficient. So it stands to reason that the current draw is much lower. I doubt I’ll need more than 3C continuous, since the worst conditions would be a slight uphill motorway, and that’s for 5min maybe. The rest will be flat motorway, or slow mountain road driving.
For the moment the pack would cost about 8000$. I’ll see if I can find some more people for an order, 40% discount would be nice :smiley:
Oh and about the BMS, does anyone know of one that can be connected to a computer? And do you know what the charge current is? [I]edit (again) I found it, it’s 20A for the 60Ah packs[/I]
Edit: I wasn’t very clear in my last post, but I obviously miscalculated…the thundersky batteries are the least expensive (including ~30% discount), so never mind about the other thread

8

[QUOTE=Craig;1057]Oh and about the BMS, does anyone know of one that can be connected to a computer?[/QUOTE]

That one that i showed you can be connected to a computer.

9

Here is the link. this picture shows the round mountable display, it talks about where you can connect it to a computer…

http://www.metricmind.com/evision.htm

10

So to start calculating the discount this is what I am purchasing, i have since changed plans for my car. (and taking out a loan for!!): 100x 160 AH packs, thats 16,000 AH’s Is anyone else close enought to calculate how many AH they will be needing?? I really want to push this to arrive at a point where we will be able to purchase by next year. I am posting info on other sites so hopefully we will get a few more people…

11

[QUOTE=Lectrol;1062]So to start calculating the discount this is what I am purchasing, i have since changed plans for my car. (and taking out a loan for!!): 100x 160 AH packs, thats 16,000 AH’s Is anyone else close enought to calculate how many AH they will be needing?? I really want to push this to arrive at a point where we will be able to purchase by next year. I am posting info on other sites so hopefully we will get a few more people…[/QUOTE]

I haven’t completely figured out how much I would need. I will let you know soon. If we buy bulk how will distribute it among ourself? I live in NJ.

12

If we buy bulk how will distribute it among ourself? I live in NJ.

And I in Switzerland (just to make things more complicated to organize :rolleyes: )
How about shipping everything to lectrol (since he’s organizing the purchase), and then send on the batteries to the others. I doubt ThunderSky will want to ship one bulk order to several people :smiley:

13

[QUOTE=Craig;1083]I doubt ThunderSky will want to ship one bulk order to several people :D[/QUOTE]

Seeing as that would defeat the point of a group purchase. Anywhos. I was thinking the person that lives the closest to the thundersky distributer will recieve the bulk, and forward the rest out to other people. But i am completly okay with being the hub if that person does not want to be. We will discuss that as it comes closer to the purchase date.

14

[QUOTE=vpillay;1079]I haven’t completely figured out how much I would need. I will let you know soon. If we buy bulk how will distribute it among ourself? I live in NJ.[/QUOTE]

I am thinking of reverting back on my plan for LI battery to Lead-Acid Battery. Cost is prohibitive with lithium even with a group purchase. Sorry folks, I am out.

15

So we are down to:
Lectrol
Craig
FEUS

Anybody else have an interest?? This is something you have time to save up for/think about. The more people we get, the more savings we will get.

16

I am interested, but am very “young” in working toward my first conversion project - I am still looking for that first magical “perfect” donor vehicle. It will be a small compact, preferably a hatch (although I have not absolutely ruled out a small 4dr sedan if a suitable one appears) - I just have not yet made a firm decision to go with a lead-acid battery pack, or something more exotic, on this initial project.

Steve

17

I want this:
http://www.beepscom.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=KI-22-96-144&CartID=1

Could I get away with the TS-LFP90AHA 3.2V 90AH x 45 for 144 volts?
How far would it get a 1.5ton car? Maybe I need more amps?

Possibly TS-LFP160AHA 3.2V 160AH? If I got 45 of those, it would be an extra 7200 AH. Dunno if we’d reach a million. I’d only be getting these if we could get the 40% discount.

Are there any cheaper places to find these? And will they actually work and not leave us thousands out of pocket after the first year…?

18

How do I subscribe to a thread :frowning:

19

go to “thread tools” at the top of the thread, and go to SUBSCRIBE…

good luck

20

time for a stupid question: will these blow up? I haven’t found anything about the chemistry, and unless it’s lithium iron (LiFePO4) (or some other “safe” chemistry I’m unaware of), they’ll explode if damaged… I wouldn’t want to see my car go up in flames if another one bumps into me =/