Use of LiFePo4 batteries in RV?
Dear all, I have been conducting researches for a project with a European company. They start thinking about developing a LiFePo4 battery pack which would be used to replace lead acid batteries. ...
Forum Discussion
Rechargable Lithium technologies are being used OEM in the premium market RV and travel coach industries, but I've not yet seen drop-in replacements, so conversion tends to be a DIY project, often combined with solar.
Most of the RV market is extremely sensitive to up-front cost, rather than life cycle cost. So much so that customers won't even pay for the extra cost of AGMs to reduce their early failures from lack of maintenance, nor will they buy the RV with the smart three stage charger if the one with the single voltage converter charger is a few hundred dollars cheaper. RV buyers are generally ignorant about systems, but will go for buzzwords like "vacuum bonded" or "covered underbelly" and nice looking countertops.
I think systems with better long-term costs, if they have high upfront costs, might sell into market segments that will buy premium, and where the RVs have extensive use. There is a small market for motorcoaches in the $500,000 to $4,000,000 range, where the cost of such systems just kind of gets lost, or at the upper end, one more thing to brag about. Even in that market, stored electrical power is not always a big issue when generators are running full time. For boon-dockers, it is, but we would have to look at the intersection of those two sets, premium price buyers and off-the grid users who don't want to burn fuel.
Then there is the question of life cycle costs for something that doesn't really get used. 2000 charge cycles vs 500 charge cycles does not mean much to that big segment of the market that uses their RV for two weeks once a year, letting it set in storage 50 weeks a year, then selling it at 3-5 years because they don't use it or have "outgrown" it now that it is paid for. The battery bank might be charged and then partially discharged 10-20 times during the ownership of by the first buyer.
Most of the RV market is extremely sensitive to up-front cost, rather than life cycle cost. So much so that customers won't even pay for the extra cost of AGMs to reduce their early failures from lack of maintenance, nor will they buy the RV with the smart three stage charger if the one with the single voltage converter charger is a few hundred dollars cheaper. RV buyers are generally ignorant about systems, but will go for buzzwords like "vacuum bonded" or "covered underbelly" and nice looking countertops.
I think systems with better long-term costs, if they have high upfront costs, might sell into market segments that will buy premium, and where the RVs have extensive use. There is a small market for motorcoaches in the $500,000 to $4,000,000 range, where the cost of such systems just kind of gets lost, or at the upper end, one more thing to brag about. Even in that market, stored electrical power is not always a big issue when generators are running full time. For boon-dockers, it is, but we would have to look at the intersection of those two sets, premium price buyers and off-the grid users who don't want to burn fuel.
Then there is the question of life cycle costs for something that doesn't really get used. 2000 charge cycles vs 500 charge cycles does not mean much to that big segment of the market that uses their RV for two weeks once a year, letting it set in storage 50 weeks a year, then selling it at 3-5 years because they don't use it or have "outgrown" it now that it is paid for. The battery bank might be charged and then partially discharged 10-20 times during the ownership of by the first buyer.
