171–180 of 264 posts
so another inaccurate and unscientific claims that investors love throwing their money at because it's a startup. Techcrunch is like the tabloids for questionable startups and it's really hurt the perceived quality. I've built a filter mechanism for TC since a few years ago when they just became a dvertising platform rather than a serious journalism
(1) Those nasty things inside car batteries are easily recycled and in fact are recycled more often than not (like 95%+) (2) Car batteries do not last only 3-4 years as per the OP. Car batteries can last decades. There are many variables, but the car in my battery is far older than 4 years. (lol) (3) Replacing an easily-recyclable product with a less-recyclable one is no step forwards. (4) XX addressed by OP comment,…
Oh, one other thing I wanted to add: The 3-4 year lifetime of lead acid batteries is the average lifetime. There are certainly outliers, but if you go to the store and buy a lead acid today, the warranty is about 3 years. The BMW thing is interesting. The reason they do that little "ritual" is because they want to program the ECU to use a particular charging profile for your battery, and it needs to know the age of t…
(1) Those nasty things inside car batteries are easily recycled and in fact are recycled more often than not (like 95%+) (2) Car batteries do not last only 3-4 years as per the OP. Car batteries can last decades. There are many variables, but the car in my battery is far older than 4 years. (lol) (3) Replacing an easily-recyclable product with a less-recyclable one is no step forwards. (4) XX addressed by OP comment,…
If you look at this purely from the standpoint of the benefit to a consumer, it doesn't seem like a great deal. You gain: * Auto-shutoff when your battery gets too low. * Possibly some increased lifespan * ~34lbs in weight reduction, which might deliver a small performance increase. You lose: * 78% of your battery capacity * $20-$150 on the purchase price of the battery Personally, I don't like the idea of paying mor…
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivit...
LiFePO4 batteries for cars are not new. You can even buy them on Ebay right now. EV Power is just one of several companies that have been making them for years.
How does the Ohm battery handle extended cold conditions? I lived in a cold climate for a number of years in grad school, cold but not block-warmer cold. My experience was that I had to pay close attention to the cold-cranking amps rating of replacement batteries, so they'd still be able to start my car under the long-duress of winter. Likewise, I found that car batteries seemed to be consumables relative to my warm-…
@Founders: Any data comparing it to Optima batteries?
Coming in the near future! Anything in particular you want to see? I can make sure it's included.
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Hi Hunter, is there any regulation or certification process to make and sell car batteries ?
The DOT regulates your ability to physically ship batteries through the mail, but there's actually no formal stamp of approval that the DOT gives car batteries. They do have approval processes for other car parts, including electric car batteries though. We've been doing our own temperature and lifecycle testing so far, but we're still having 3rd party labs repeat all of that and also do destructive safety tests.
I'm trying to understand what the barriers are.
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If you look at this purely from the standpoint of the benefit to a consumer, it doesn't seem like a great deal. You gain: * Auto-shutoff when your battery gets too low. * Possibly some increased lifespan * ~34lbs in weight reduction, which might deliver a small performance increase. You lose: * 78% of your battery capacity * $20-$150 on the purchase price of the battery Personally, I don't like the idea of paying mor…
I leave my lights on and kill my battery once every few months, so this is easily worth it for me, but I'm probably an outlier[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivit...
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You're right! Lead acid car batteries are one of the great recycling success stories. What's interesting is that the volume of lead acid car batteries in the world is so high, that even at that high recycling rate, that still leaves 24 million pounds of lead each year from car batteries that don't get recycled. There's also been some problems recently with lead recycling plants contaminating the environment [1]. You'…
> that still leaves 24 million pounds of lead each year from car batteries that don't get recycled Is that actually a lot? Similar statements are made with respect to nuclear waste, but frankly, I've regarded these statements in units of mass as deliberately misleading due to nuclear waste (or lead in this case) to be uniquely dense relative to what we are accustomed to dealing with on a daily basis. Siri, via Wolfra…
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Yes, it will be available in a smaller form factor. The core of the device will be a single modular design that will be inserted in the shell shown to give it the Group 35 size. Thanks for the kind words!
Would the output of the capacitors have to change for different applications, requiring different base models; for use in motorcycles, for example?