NorthernPiker's Comments on ABAT: Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. -- Seeking Alpha
...Large-format LiFePO4-based batteries sell for over $1,000 per kWh while Tesla’s 53 kWh, LiCoO2-based, replacement battery pack supposedly sells for less than $500 per kWh. If about 1.4 kg of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) containing 0.26 kg of lithium is required per kWh for the three mentioned battery chemistries, then a LiCoO2-based battery pack would use about $10 worth of lithium (0.26 kg of Li @ $35 per kg) and about $55 worth of cobalt (2.2 kg @ $25 / kg.) per kWh of battery capacity. For LiFePO4- and LiMn2O4-based batteries, the iron and manganese cost, @ 25¢ and $1.30 per kilogram, are about 50¢ and $5.50 per kWh, respectively....
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Large-format LiFePO4-based batteries sell for over $1,000 per kWh if you buy them from a guy on Ebay who bought them from a reseller in Taiwan who bought them from the factory in China.
For Tesla or any other auto manufacturing company, they don't buy them from the guy on Ebay at $1,000 per kWh. They buy them from the factory in huge quantities and they are shipped by the container load. They are NOT shipped by UPS for a reseller guy in Phoenix AZ (who is the 2nd or 3rd middleman with a markup) to the auto manufacturer. That is what it would take to achieve a stupid price like $1,000 per kwh.
To put this in perspective, I will show you a few links.
Here is
Elite Power Solutions. They are a USA based reseller offering a 60 Ah cell for $120.
So that is about $2.00 per Ah retail. That works out to about $640 per kwh. I know what his cost was and it was MUCH less than what he is selling them at retail for.
Here is
another company reselling them for $2.58 per Ah. That is really close to $825 per kwh. This guy is making a killing if anyone is actually buying at that price. On his 90 Ah cells he is selling at $2.00 per Ah or $640 per kwh.
The retailers that are more realistic sell them for about $1.50 per Ah retail in small quantities. That is about $480 per kwh.
Here is a
guy in Seattle (near me) selling them for $1.89 per Ah and $1.25 per Ah. Notice that he wrote
"Closeout Sale! We have decided not to sell Batteris anymore." That is because he is aware that I am selling them for $1.10 per Ah ($352 per kwh) now and the brands I have are higher quality. He is dumping his batteries and getting out of that category.
If any real "consultant" did some research on this topic, he would find that an auto manufacturing company would have a cost of under $300 per kwh for batteries that are perfectly designed for an EV.
This chemistry of battery is not suitable for Tesla. Tesla wants really high performance which requires a different energy discharge. For a regular vehicle that needs to do 100 mph and have good acceleration, the LiFePO4 chemistry is great and will last 3,000 cycles at 70% DOD.
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