What I have seen from the Vectrix design and what their sales was pushing for, was that the Vectrix design incorporated NiMH cells that were pushed several times beyond their max ratings. I believe that the max rating for the cells was in the range of 100 Amps and initially the Vectrix was limited to below 150 or 200A max draws, but that resulted in a top speed, I believe just below 60 MPH. That was unacceptable for the sales team, so they forced the engineering team to open the max draw up until the Vextrix could hit a top of 67 MPH and they could put that in the sales brochure and sell it as freeway capable without customer pushback.
However, the pushback came from physics, since the cells were now pushed about 3 times beyond their max rating to about 300A so even the main 225A fuse started blowing. The scooter is not designed to be taken apart easily, so fixing that was a major hassle and the extreme current draws caused the pack to overheat, despite 2 large and very good quality cooling fans (I still have one set) the cells died early. another contributing factor was that charging would commence full power and add more heat even when the pack was already overheated if plugged in immediately upon return from a trip, which is the natural moment to plug in. Grass-roots support actually released a software version that allowed a cool-down between drive and charging and throttle the charging to lower current so the cells had a chance to survive. It was not that the NiMH cells were bad per se, they were abused to death. -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:ev-boun...@lists.evdl.org] On Behalf Of mattlogan55--- via EV Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2018 11:49 AM To: ev@lists.evdl.org Cc: mattloga...@yahoo.com Subject: Re: [EVDL] Searching for a source for 2013 and newer Leaf cells Generally speaking, there is a lot to like about the Vectrix Vx-1 (when it is running), but also a few fatal problems, painstakingly documented on the ‘V is for Voltage’ Vectrix forum. Concerning the Vectrix NiMH batteries specifically, I think it was mostly that there were 105 prismatic NiMH cells without any real battery management, with questionable factory charge/discharge parameters, and questionable cell quality. These oversights resulted in overheated (swollen) and damaged cells within the pack. Combine that with a company that was mostly in a state of bankruptcy, and you have the Vectrix experience. Fortunately, I did not buy my scooters new, so my experience has been frustrating, but not too expensive. -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
