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I can not post pricing on public lists, but 145 dollar for a 100AH CALB CA
series is too high, even including shipping costs.
When you consider everything there is quite a difference.
Even if you forget about all the damage from acid. Jeff just did a
beautiful restoration on the New Idea EGT-150. If you look at the pictures he
put a lot of effort in removing the damage from acid. Many would have just
parted it out or at the most welded in reinforcements.
To compare value its not that simple as adding up the initial costs.
The CALB 100AH cell has 114AH of capacity. This would be taking the cell to
2.5 volts which I don't recommend. If you only go down to 3 volts a
cell, you will still have 100AH of capacity and less then a 90% discharge.
For long life a 80% DOD would be better, about 3.1 volts to
provide about 2000 cycles until your capacity is around 90AH.
When a battery is no longer able to provide 80% of its rated capacity most
use this as the end of its service life. Myself I would not replace a
90AH battery.
I have not been able to find the data sheets on the T35 that provide
much cycle life information.
It would appear about 600 cycles in the T35GEL if used at 80% SOC. They do
not state what the end of cycle life capacity is. I have seen some lead
manufacturers use 60% for end of service life. I have never seen very high
lead cycle life, with deep discharges, or heavy loads.
If your using lead under cold conditions your not going to have any where
near the rated capacity. At 40 degrees (F) your useable capacity is 80% at 20
degrees it drops to 60%. As your useable capacity drops your loads have a much
greater impact on cycle life. If your in a warm area with lead you will
have more capacity but less cycle and calendar life.
Also flooded lead has a much higher self discharge rate. So your
maintenance is also greater when not in use.
Need more information but I would expect at least a 4X improvement in
LiFePo4 cycle life over lead. So your 1200 dollar lead pack in the long
run is really 4800 dollars. In time, using lead, you far exceed the
cost of LiFePo4.
As far as recycling. Yes right now since LiFePo4 has such a long service
life there is not going to be a lot of recycling. However with all the cell
phones, lap tops and all the other portable electronics. There is going to be a
lot of lithium recycled. Not that you should throw it away but lithium
batteries are not as hazardous as lead acid.
On hazards I would be careful as not all lithium is safe. We had painted
the OSU solar car and provided a pack of A123 cells all at no cost. The next
year they wanted more capacity so they did not use LiFePo4 cells. I advised them
at the time this is a great risk.
Here are the results
Since then A123 became a sponsor of them. We did refinish their replacement
car at no charge. I was glad to see no one was killed in an EV.
Don Blazer
In a message dated 8/16/2013 6:53:31 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
roberttroll hotmail com writes:
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