Extending the range of an E30

[Dominic]

Looking at some articles and having seen a couple of the youtube videos by Robert Llewelyn, FullyCharged, I wonder if it is possible to add some supercapacitors or similar to the battery in order to pick up the draw on going up ‘steep’ hills so that the Lead Acid batteries do not drain so much…

What do you think?

[Dominic]

The other options I am considering…

By another 5 x 12v batteries and connect them in parallel to the existing ones to double the AH…

Another option – getting a 12v Leisure battery designed for deep cycling, so that I can then use a 240v adapter on it to plug into the charger and charge the batteries up again whilst I am at the station…

What do people think?

[Paul IOM]

Some fairly drastic measures there Dominic!!

The weight of doubling the batteries, or carrying a leisure battery, would be horrendous.

Why not just convert to Lithium-Ion batteries? this would shed around 20kg in weight and therefore extend the range, and if you fit a removable pack similar to the set up on the new model 30, you could take the battery pack with you when you park up, and then charge it at work.

There are lots of Lithium packs available on the internet, complete with built in BMS, and supplied with charger.

[Paul IOM]

A further thought on this…….if you are handy with a soldering iron, and have some spare time, why not buy some 18650 cells and build your own pack, then add a BMS unit to it, these cells are now fairly cheap and plentiful on the net.

There are several articles on home builds out there, like the one below –

A Home-Built Ebike Battery Pack from 18650 Cells

[Dominic]

Hi Paul,

Many thanks for this – I had written that idea off from an earlier one of your posts I think which looked into doing it but it was not worth the time and cost? I guess the prices have dropped.

Be interesting to see what the new Panasonic/Tesla 21700 (LINK)

Will check it out – thanks.

[Author]

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