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Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

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Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#231

Post by mzs »

blueintegral wrote: post #50
sandworm101 wrote: post #27

(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,…

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'…

This might be an unpopular view here but I think artificially increasing core charge fee via laws could easily bring that recycling percentage to 99%. Could you imagine if you did not hand in your old battery when buying a new one it cost an extra $300 instead of $20 or so like now? A token portion of that could be used to fund state inspections of recycling facilities.

The whole dismantler/recycling system in place for automobiles is really something quite impressively successful. Having so many places to pull used parts to keep other cars going lessens environmental burden multiple fold. Battery recycling is probably the biggest triumph of them all though.

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#233

Post by bagels »

conjecTech wrote: post #32
hughes wrote: post #14

Can this battery be used to jump another (traditional or Ohm) battery when required?

Hey! One of the founders here, Like another poster said, you should have your car running when jumping another car, but yes, Ohm can be used to jump another car (and vice versa).

How long will the battery keep charged on the shelf, or in an occasional use car?

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#234

Post by conjecTech »

PeterWhittaker wrote: post #183

JOOC, what is the CCA rating? I don't recall seeing it in the comments. There aren't many of us who run winches, but thems of us that do want quite a few (650 CCA is not uncommon, and some winch manufacturers recommend deep cycle batteries like the Yellowtop Optima).

I'd be very interested to see what the current use on a winch is! Do you happen to be located around the bay area?

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#235

Post by conjecTech »

bagels wrote: post #233
conjecTech wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey! One of the founders here, Like another poster said, you should have your car running when jumping another car, but yes, Ohm can be used to jump another car (and vice versa).

How long will the battery keep charged on the shelf, or in an occasional use car?

On a shelf: upwards of 6 months. In a car: around a month if it's powering all the electronics. We also intend to have a switch that can electrically disconnect the battery. It would stop powering everything, but it would also allow you to store it in the car for the same 6+ months, switch it back on, and still start the engine.

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#237

Post by conjecTech »

kseifried wrote: post #230

How does this battery handle -40C weather? What about sitting at -40C for say 12 hours (not everywhere has plugins for block heaters). Currently a ~$100 winter battery will handle that no problem. I'm from Canada so this is not a hypothetical question.

We think we can make it work, but we don't want to promise anything before we're certain we can delivery. If you're in that kind of environment, we'd love to have you test a unit over the winter and help find out for sure. Feel free to drop me an email at hello@getohm.com.

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#238

Post by ansible »

aidenn0 wrote: post #132
blueintegral wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

It will probably take a few years to get certified, but take a look at what goes for $600 as a flooded-cell battery in general aviation. The fact that you use LiFePO cells will probably help, as there is no way a LiPo would ever get approved.

Wasn't there a problem at Boeing recently where LiIon batteries overheated and caught fire?

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#239

Post by MertsA »

WalterBright wrote: post #208
sandworm101 wrote: post #27

(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,…

> For some (BMW) it can even mean a trip to the dealership for a special new battery ritual. Really? That would kill any interest I'd have in a BMW. Heck, whenever I work on my car, the first thing I do is disconnect the battery.

Not really, BMWs have a battery management system that needs to be cleared of the learned calibration when the battery is replaced. If it's just disconnected and not replaced then you don't want to clear it. Also, if that were true it would make doing any work a terrible experience even for the dealerships. Heck the service manual probably says to disconnect the negative battery cable before changing windshield wipers.

Re: Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car

#240

Post by bagels »

conjecTech wrote: post #235
bagels wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long will the battery keep charged on the shelf, or in an occasional use car?

On a shelf: upwards of 6 months. In a car: around a month if it's powering all the electronics. We also intend to have a switch that can electrically disconnect the battery. It would stop powering everything, but it would also allow you to store it in the car for the same 6+ months, switch it back on, and still start the engine.

Oh, please do! Some of my cars will sit for a month and then the battery is dead due to parasitic drain. It's a pain to plan ahead and use tools to disconnect the posts.
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