Kevin Sharpe ZCW wrote:
I've driven a Tesla Roadster more than 48,000 miles in 3.5 years and see
almost no degradation... given this car is using 'commodity' cells I think
the claim that "most lithiums are shot in 3-5 years" is way off the mark.
For the price, I have to believe that Tesla did everything possible to
insure the quality and life of your cells. They are hardly comparable to
"commodity" cells!
But I'll bet you have a number of laptops, cellphones, iPods, etc. with
lithium commodity cells. It's rare to find any over 5 years old without
significant degradation in performance.
I did said "most" cells. And "most" cells go into various consumer
products, that pay negligible attention to cell life. I'm sure this is
part of the reason for short life.
The other problem is quality control. On the large prismatic lithium
cells I've tested, some cells are very good; but there have always been
"losers" in the lot that should have been rejected instead of sold.
Since the weakest cell in a series string is what limits your
performance and life, putting these "losers" in the pack degrades the
whole thing.
--
Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong
reasons. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
--
Lee A. Hart, http://www.sunrise-ev.com/LeesEVs.htm
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