A123 20AH Prismatic LiFePO4 Batteries

I'm looking at the A123 20AH prismatic LiFePO4 battery as a possible battery for my Tidalforce stable. They have some very good qualities for them.

• They are extremely rugged
• They are very compact
• They have lots of lifecycles (charge/discharge cycles)
• They can put out tremendous amounts of power (30C or 600A!)
• They are not overly expensive to build a 20AH 36V pack perfect for Tidalforce bike
• They are made in the USA!

The first thing you'll notice is that they are in a prismatic package which is very flat and very thin. They are 7.25mm (.3") x 160mm (6.3") x 227mm (8.94") which is roughly (very roughly) a piece of 8.5"x11" paper folded width-wise. The battery is slightly larger then the folded piece of paper.

Even when they are stacked 12 together, they should only be under 4" thick (3.6" with no spacers). Of course, some sort of insulator as a separator would probably be recommended since you don't want the possibility of a short to occur with something that holds this many Amps!

Here is an amazing video test of this pack delivering tons of amperage through a dead short. The battery doesn't miss a beat. The video is very shaky but you'll be amazed as much as I was!

If I do get these cells to make a pack or buy a pre-existing pack, I'll be sure to post it here.

More later,
Ambrose