Berlingos and Batteries http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2327

Hi, Folks.
Second random question... :? I've been looking at Berlingos on eBay and noticed 3 things.

1) They often seem to be sold with batteries that either need replacing, or are getting tired.
2) The penny has finally dropped that they seem to come with NiCads rather than Lead-acid or LiPos or whatever. I didn't realise any EVs used NiCads.
3) Owners seem to have various ideas about what constitutes good care of the batteries.

So I guess my questions are, for the Berlingo:

* How long should a set of batteries last?
* What's the cost of replacement?
* What's the real preferred method of caring for the batteries - deep cycling, avoiding deep cycling, occasional deep cycling, or what? I used to know what I was supposed to do with rechargable AAs, laptop and PDA batteries, but I get more and more confused as the technology advances and the rules seem to change.


Sorry if that sounds a bit random, but it's part of my getting a clear argument in my head for why an EV is a cost-effective, good idea. For both of us... :wink:

Regards, David

PS: Ah... I've just seen the "Help! Berlingo battery replacements" thread in the Berlingo section. So that tells me that the most important thing is to make sure the batts are watered in good time with good quality water. I didn't quite get the replacement cost bit - is it really £19K to replace a complete set of batts at Citroen prices? And I still have my question about whether it's a good idea to deep cycle or not in regular usage? -David


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timpootle
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:50 am
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Questions in the mind of every Berlingo owner!

If you go into a Citroen dealer, they will tell you how much each crate would cost. This amounted to £15k for a full set last time I asked, but may well have gone up to £19k by now. At this point you laugh nervously and step backwards out of the door. I don't know anyone who has actually ordered a new crate from Citroen in the last 4 years, and I suspect if you were to actually put an order in you would find them to be no longer available.

As to lifetime, there are vans out there with over 80,000 miles on them. A common fail point is around 20,000 miles but if you make it through that you probably have a good one. The common wisdom seems to be maintain those batteries regularly and carefully.

The drivers handbook says to discharge below 50% once a week, but there is no data on completely flattening them, whether it be good or bad.

Aircraft batteries (also SAFT wet Ni-Cad) have each cell shorted to a dead flat every 3 months, and then capacity checked. The MRE monoblocks cannot be shorted in this way as you cannot get to the cell interconnects inside the block. There are 3 cells in each block.

There are a few people looking at putting lithium batteries in Peugeot/Citroen vehicles. This may be the future for all the dead vans out there. I am one of those people with my long-range project, Evan Tuer has recently done it to his 106, and Jukka Jarvinen in Finland has been driving his 180 mile range van for 2 years.

HTH

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Tim Crumpton, Altrincham

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dargles
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:46 pm
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Thanks, Tim, that's helpful :) .
Trouble is, I have so many questions in my head, and conflicting ideas. Like LiFePos seem like a really good idea... but then the simplicity argument takes me to Lead Acid and dc motors - after all, large chunks of our driving involves short trips and low speed town driving. And all the while, we haven't actually started with an EV yet...
Regards, David