I have the Costco 6V in my home PV system and replaced them twice in as many years. My home PV system gets very mild use. I would definitely stay away from them in a EV applications. In addition the cell caps they use have a tendency spread more acid spray than other batteries.
Todd Hunter At 02:25 PM 9/11/2002 -0700, you wrote: >Vince Barma wrote: > > > > * LP8.2: HTML/Attachments detected, removed from message * > >Vince, can you set your software to sent plain text so everyone can see >your messages? Thanks! > >I believe your question was about the difference between Costco >"Kirkland" (Johnson Control?) 12v batteries and Trojan 12 volt deep >cycle (SCS225 or 27TM? families). > >To a first approximation, you get what you pay for. The Costco battery >is cheaper, so you can expect it to perform worse. It would help if you >can find out exactly what this battery is: it's specs, intended use, >life, capacity, etc. > >Next point: As a rule, 12v flooded batteries do not work very well in >EVs. They are generally not true deep-cycle batteries, and are designed >for lower currents and shorter life expectancies. You will only >aggravate matters if you use too few of them in an EV and expect high >speeds and fast accellerations. > >For example, I took a look at a Geo Metro with ten Trojan SCS225 >batteries. The owner had driven it at freeway speeds, climbed hills at >500 amps, run them dead a few times, etc. and the batteries were dying >in less than a year with under 5000 miles. > >Even if he had driven like a little old lady and babied these batteries, >I doubt they would last over 2 years or even reach 10,000 miles. > >I suspect that the Costco batteries would be a lot like the SCS225. > >If you stayed with Trojan, the 27TMH may be about the best of their >offerings in this size range. I think John Bryan got pretty good life >out of a set of them (perhaps he'll respond). > >If it were me, I'd either use 8v floodeds to keep cost low, or go to a >premium 12v AGM battery if cost is less important. The 8v batteries have >at least twice the life, and you can probably get 12 of them in a Metro >(96v pack). For AGMs, the Optima, Hawker, or Concorde batteries are >possible choices. >-- >Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring >814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering >Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything >leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
