Lithium Battery question

stussy2870

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Apr 5, 2019
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Hey guys,

Maybe this is a dumb question, but i cant seem to find the answer for it - I'm an RC Hobby enthusiast.. I know my way around charging Lithium packs - what i don't understand or cant seem to find information on is how you add a Lithium battery to our cars and then charge it? Does the battery have built in technology (circuitry) to do that??

Im obviously confused.. Any help is appreciated.
 
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I’ve never actually seen one in a street car . Everyone I have seen which was a go lithium was in a race car that got charged between every pass
 
I’ve never actually seen one in a street car . Everyone I have seen which was a go lithium was in a race car that got charged between every pass
But you have more than likely seen a street car with one. BMW runs an AGM battery in the trunk or cargo area of their more recent vehicles, with a lithium battery in the cowl area.

Hey guys,

Maybe this is a dumb question, but i cant seem to find the answer for it - I'm an RC Hobby enthusiast.. I know my way around charging Lithium packs - what i don't understand or cant seem to find information on is how you add a Lithium battery to our cars and then charge it? Does the battery have built in technology (circuitry) to do that??

Im obviously confused.. Any help is appreciated.

My advice when it comes to trying to adapt a lithium battery to an older car is this:

Don't.

Lithium-ion batteries require controlled and monitored charging at the level of precision that a simple alternator with a voltage regulator could never provide. In BMW's case, they have LG make the Lithium-Ion batteries for them with the circuitry to control the charging, crash safety, and monitor the battery temperature and charge status built into it. Making a battery that has all of that technology in it is expensive. We're talking over $1000 for the battery in these cars.

There are aftermarket lithium-ion batteries for cars out there, but like the BMW/LG battery, they're not cheap:


Sure it'll weigh less, and charge faster should you deep cycle it, but I can think of a lot of better ways to spend $500 on a battery, and you'd have to get a charger designed for it if it went flat.
 
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The why...I was honestly just curious. I was linked to a site that sells them - they looked like "normal" car batteries only smaller. My battery is in the back b/c my car was 351w swapped and theres just not enough room where it used to be (Car still has AC/PS). I thought (if it were possible).. and because those batteries are much smaller, that i may put one back under the hood.

Thanks for the information - as usual you guys are on point!!