Electric Beetle - prismatic cells

[S. Robert Bailey]

Hi. Im new to the inside evs forum. I did a 72 Beetle conversion back in 2015, and have put on about 30K miles in 9 years commuting to work. It has 40 200 AmpHour LFP prismatic cells wired in series. Now, after 9 years in the Phoenix heat, those cells are swelling and cracking, so its time to replace the battery pack. However, as I have started searching for a supplier, I am seeing something that has me puzzled. 9 years ago a single new 200 AmpHour LFP prismatic cell was costing $250 and up. Now I can find them new for $80 each for 280 amp hour cells. And instead of just 2000 charge cycles, the new ones are rated up to 6000 charge cycles. If those ratings are accurate, that represents a tremendous improvement in power density in the last nine years. Another indication of that is that the 280 AmpHour cells today are slightly smaller than the 200 AmpHour cells were 9 years ago. Talk about way more for way less! But life has taught me that if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. I thought I'd ask around.

Has there been that much of an improvement in power density as well as that much of a decline in cost since 2015? Does anyone have some good online suppliers that I can check out to confirm what Im seeing?

Thanks.

 

[insightman]

Hi. Im new to the inside evs forum. I did a 72 Beetle conversion back in 2015, and have put on about 30K miles in 9 years commuting to work. It has 40 200 AmpHour LFP prismatic cells wired in series. Now, after 9 years in the Phoenix heat, those cells are swelling and cracking, so its time to replace the battery pack. However, as I have started searching for a supplier, I am seeing something that has me puzzled. 9 years ago a single new 200 AmpHour LFP prismatic cell was costing $250 and up. Now I can find them new for $80 each for 280 amp hour cells. And instead of just 2000 charge cycles, the new ones are rated up to 6000 charge cycles. If those ratings are accurate, that represents a tremendous improvement in power density in the last nine years. Another indication of that is that the 280 AmpHour cells today are slightly smaller than the 200 AmpHour cells were 9 years ago. Talk about way more for way less! But life has taught me that if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. I thought I'd ask around.

Has there been that much of an improvement in power density as well as that much of a decline in cost since 2015? Does anyone have some good online suppliers that I can check out to confirm what Im seeing?

Thanks.

Wow! You're quite a pioneer to have done this yourself 9 years ago! Yes, battery-power density has improved greatly over the past decade. I'm not surprised that mass-production would have lowered the prices, too.

There aren't many (if any) DIYers on the InsideEVs Forums. You'll probably find more 3rd-party battery info on forums like the DIY Electric Car Forum. Here's one of their threads discussing the conversion of a 2000 Beetle:
https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/converting-2000-beetle.204868/

I googled some other related conversions, too:

Electric Classic Cars video: Converting a VW Beetle to e-power


Electric Classic Cars video: Bolt-in VW Beetle conversion kit


Alibaba (China): VW Beetle EV Conversion kits
https://www.theautopian.com/there-a...n-kits-for-classic-vw-beetles-on-alibaba-now/