Plug-in Autos Ltd. (UK) have announced a 3 year warranty batteries in their kit!
Here is a detailed report for the well initiated:
The MD-Tech kit has been performing problem free since deliveries were taken in June 2013. Reliability has been a wait and see issue. I, like many holding their breath, am beginning to turn blue. A lot of hard work had been done on the BMS and converter power output to get this kit working. But wait and see has been the best test. Many have "thrown the towel in" on MD-Tech's earlier efforts but they kept working at it. IMHO Enginer went to market too early without enough testing. This is not the case with the European release. Testing procedures were documented and all changes were non-regression tested. QC procedures have also been tightened up.
...One of the ways progress has been made is in the BMS, with 0.002V accuracy, see here:
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After that was done it made sense to review HVC and LVC voltages (Charge cut off and Discharge cut off). These play an important role in the trade-off between performance (power output), versus battery life. In line with current Li-ion philosophy by reducing HVC at 3.500V (for a single cell) and 2.750V for LVC battery longevity can been increased.
Over the later part of the European Summer there have been no reports of any overheating Converters shutting off power. Many internal component changes and re-designs have led to this better performance. Airflow was not the only issue. In fact the box fans have been removed as they have been found to be unnecessary with the new Converter.
Power output is 4500W at 225V (20A) which is an impressive 20% power increase over earlier versions. Anyone having driven a 15A max. kit, knows how much better the kit would perform with 5 more amps.
... Just be aware that the battery to BMS connectors have changed as well as the battery temperature sensors which are digital now and also Converter output plugs, which are now Anderson pole connectors (suited for the power rating). One of many internal changes, the 12V Converter power relay has been replaced. I am not going to go through all the changes but there are many internal and some external such as the inline fuse. Which is now at the Converter end and not at the Battery end in line with standard Engineering philosophy on this issue. It is now easier to reach, although rated at 25amps none have blown.
Read more:
http://priuschat.com/threads/plug-in-kits-fading-away.116119/page-2#ixzz3PqJQxcxj
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