Lithium- probably the best decision I have made!

Hi guys. Sorry but what I didn’t remember was that, due to the fact that we were breaking new territory here, Roadpro very kindly gave me a discount and help if I made a video with them which you have no doubt seen on YouTube.  The discount wasn’t huge but it was a help. I have checked the invoice and it is indeed below £1500- just! Don’t forget I had the SP already the cabling and other components.  However, they made a mistake on the initial invoice and didn’t charge me for the Votronic regulator which has now been amended. That was a further £135.30. -  That was for the larger one to take care of the extra wattage now available to me.  It was a further £494.17 to transfer the kit from the Valencia to the new Coachman, but that included a Priority Switch which I didn’t have in the Bailey. It automatically detects whether you are on mains or battery and switches to that source. Looks like prices have risen from what I see now! If that’s the price, then I apologise for appearing to mislead but I have the invoices and what I say is the truth. I hope this puts a few minds at rest. Now off to Jacksons of Old Arley to get some 12v kit. 

I take your point Bob, but you also miss a point if I may be so bold. This investment which hasn’t been anything like 4K , but that’s  an argument for another time, was done over about 5-6 yrs. Slowly improving on what I had before- slowly learning and refining what I needed to refine. LA batteries were the obvious fly in the ointment as they were, without doubt, the weak link in the chain. I didn’t go out and bang a load of money on Roadpros desk and say put the very best you can into my caravan! I, like others, wouldn’t lash out all that money in one without a plan or a slow build up. So it was in 2011 that I started to think about my future caravanning. I knew that when I retired I would want to get out there with the van but the cost of sites(EHU) might be an issue. I knew I would want to spend weeks away at a time- how could I do it? I know, - I’ll make my own electricity and go offgrid. The more I did the more I wanted to do and the more I wanted to find out what modern technologies could do for me. To cut a long story short ( for those with concentration difficulties) I started with a 135w SP and 2  x 110ah LA batteries which started to fail after 2 years.  I now have 300w of solar, 1 x 100ah Lithium Battery with associated electronics , and the same inverter I bought in 2013. I now carry a quarter of the weight I had with the LA batteries and with the same power but with so many more advantages. The 300w of Solar was negotiated up from 100w and fitted at no cost as part of a show offer- so they were ‘free’ as it were. Thanks to Coachman for that- in fact, Coachman were just as fascinated by the project as I was.  Now, the crux of the matter. 

Firstly, Club sites are not my barrow. Dozens of others on the same site- no, not for me.

Secondly, I could see the cost benefit if I was going to  ‘Caravan for Britain’. If I was going to do this, I wanted to save money on site fees- and being on sites that I loved- many times with us, ourselves and our shadows!  I can assure you that the kit I bought in the first years has been paid back multiple times not only in saved site fees but in money not given to Calor by having Safefill cylinders. Now, the recent upgrade- Since March we have been away 9 weeks and another 2 to come shortly- 11 weeks- 77 days. I always reckon it saves me £10 a night and helps keep those all important non EHU sites open but let’s say £8 a night. 77 x 8 = £616 ! And that’s in one year! I hope to keep the van for 10 yrs. The Lithium doesn’t seem so expensive now does it? The new kit will be paid for by next year.   My research into Lithium shows that these batteries, looked after, will be good for anything up to 25yrs- but let’s say 20yrs or even 15yrs. Even at 15yrs, the Battery will allow me to have all the comforts of home on the site of my choice time after time. Yes, there was an investment but boy, when I make an investment I expect a return and that is what I am getting. 

The other way of caravanning is of course buy a van, put 2 exchange Calor cylinders in the front, have a hard standing and an EHU and pay anything between £25 and £35 PER NIGHT for the privilege. As said previously, I prefer the small, quiet, out of the way sites and the support of my site fees help to keep these little gems open.  

The golf trolley comparison  is not really comparable Hitch- I am willing to bet that those batteries are not protected by the necessary electronics I’m almost sure of that. As far as your comment of no environmental gain??? I am using the suns rays- not using electricity created by burning the dinosaurs or worse by splitting the atom! How am I having an environmental impact?? A properly fitted Lithium battery with its protection electronics should, and I say again, should last for 20 - 25 yrs. If it doesn’t then I’ll know not to go down that road again but so far, it has revolutionised how I live off grid. The battery allows everything on board to be used as though you had an EHU. As far as cost is concerned, I have attempted to explain this many times- it works out cheaper in the long run- quite a bit cheaper- than burning out 2 decent quality LA batteries every 2 or 3 years. - I know-Ive done it! (YouTube will explain more) Then you have the period between the batteries beginning to fail and buying new ones - another £300 , when you can’t use the toaster or microwave because the batteries can’t hold enough power!   I now carry a quarter of the weight and I don’t have to worry that my battery will be U/S in 2 years time. It’s a win win situation for me. Abnormally High usage? Well, the way I look at it is that I’m on holiday and I want life as easy as possible- if using a toaster every day or heating a meal in the microwave or being able to use a food blender makes life easier, then so be it. There is plenty of Lithium Hitch- it’s the location of the Lithium that’s the problem! 

Not sure of what it all means  but it looks good to me. Getting 150ah into the same space that used to be 100ah which is what I think they mean by ‘greater energy density ‘ has got to be a move in the right direction! Technology marches on!! 

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed an electrolyte they say is compatible with lithium metal anodes, allowing for much greater energy density than current Li-ion battery designs. The new battery has also been shown to function well at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius.

The key innovation is a liquefied gas electrolyte (LGE). Current commercial lithium-ion batteries all use liquid electrolytes, and most researchers are looking into solid materials as the next generation of battery technology. UC San Diego, however, is taking the opposite approach in working with a gas, liquified under pressure, as its electrolyte. The goal is a battery that can take advantage of lithium metal anodes, which could offer high specific capacity, low electrochemical potential and light weight, but can’t work safely or efficiently with conventional liquid electrolytes.

Details of UC San Diego’s LGE work were first published in Science in 2017. At the time, the researchers posited the idea batteries incorporating their electrolyte could power satellites and interplanetary rovers, among other outlandish suggestions.

A new paper, High-Efficiency Lithium-Metal Anode Enabled by Liquefied Gas Electrolytes, published this week in Joule, however, brings the technology down to earth. The paper reports that by optimizing their LGE the researchers were able to create a lithium battery cell which maintained 99.6% efficiency after 500 cycles at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius), and 98.4% at -60.

The team pointed out using a conventional liquid electrolyte with a lithium metal anode has ensured efficiency has not gone beyond 85%, and most liquid electrolytes cease to work entirely at temperatures around -20 degrees Celsius.

Safety first

Another concern about working with lithium metal anodes is the formation of dendrites, which can reduce performance, and in the worst cases lead to short circuits, fires and explosions. (This is not applicable to LifePo4 batteries!) UC San Diego reported that with its LGE, lithium particle deposition was “smooth and compact” and porosity of deposition was measured at 0.9%, compared with 16.8% for the same anode in combination with a conventional liquid electrolyte. 

“I am confident that we are going to develop the electrolytes that we need for lithium-metal anodes,” said UC San Diego nano engineering professor Shirley Meng. “I hope that this research inspires more research groups to take a serious look at liquefied gas electrolytes.”

The paper does not discuss the potential cost effectiveness of moving the concept to large scale manufacturing. However, UC San Diego looks to be moving toward commercialization through spin-out company South 8 Technologies, which says it is “leveraging conventional materials and manufacturing” to produce the batteries.

Perhaps the brains out there can simplify this for us mere mortals?

It works for me DD. It’s exciting in the fact that there is a tremendous push to come up with answers for future energy requirements. I keep a close eye on developments in this field. Obviously the push is for transport purposes but offshoots are always possible.