Ionic Lithium 12V Group 31 3000 CA LiFePO4 Heavy Duty Battery

I'm very interested but haven't pulled the trigger. Got good batteries now. Weight savings would be cool, about 200 lbs per bank of four over SLA or AGM.

86scotty over in the volvo forum has some experience with LiPo4's in a truck environment...

21 VNL860 upgrades, mini split/battery APU

 

Yep, Siinman and I have talked. My AGM chassis batteries are still kicking after almost 3 years and I'm not sure what my next move will be (on truck batteries). I have learned a little about lithium in a few applications but I haven't tried lithium starter batteries yet.

Mostly what i know about lithiums is that they don't like extreme heat and cold. The better ones come with internal heaters using their own power to keep the temp up in winter but that doesn't do anything for summer of course.

I'd love to know how these work out for trucks.

 

Wonder if extreme temps effect the voltage of a potato ? Spud batteries , my new startup , anyone want in on the ground floor ?

 

The problem with LiFePo is cold. We had them on a few of the trucks last year to test, they would shut down when we had -5ºF, even with the internal heaters. The spcs give it as -4ºF at the bottom limit and if the truck sits for more than a day or two in anything under 5ºF, the BMS will drain enough of the battery to keep it heated that it won't start and can be able to charge.

I had the trucks moved to the Maxwell starting module except for one truck that the driver runs it in the south west and it is doing well with the heat, it will be in Texas for the next week and I will see how it preforms in extreme heat.

 

I'd probably just wait.

Sodium is lithiums replacement.

 

Sodium should be but they have sunk so much into lithium that I don't know that sodium will make it, there is trillions of dollars stuck into lithium development and mining at this point and I don't think we get out of it that easy

 

A DC to DC charger should solve that. It regulates the proper voltage from any battery bank to any battery bank. Mostly they are used like I used one in my mini split thread, to charge a lithium house bank from a chassis bank. I'm 99% sure it will work fine but I'd definitely talk to some experts before you spend the money.