An interesting new product but, I don’t see wide adoption until the retail price falls to less than a third of the MSRP. The battery, at its current price, will find a place in severely space constrained applications that require close monitoring via the CAN-bus capability; early adopters with money to burn may also give it a try. There are simply too many more traditional lithium competitors at much lower price points presently for this new battery to get much traction except in niche applications. There is nothing unique about the battery other than form factor. It has the same chemistry and constraints that any other lithium battery has. “Solid State” is a bit of marketing puff; all lithium batteries are solid state using Renogy’s definition.
I'm not seeing anything that I would describe as "new technology" in this product. It's certainly an unconventional form factor, but it's otherwise just a routine LFP battery. The "skinny" shape might be a benefit to some installations, but it could also be a big issue in that you can't easily replace it with another product, should it fail and become unavailable or long lead time.
I'm running 3.3V "naked" CALB batteries with my own BMS, so I have a similar issue with replacement. Fortunately, my units have been very reliable, and they cost about 1/3 of the 12V/BMS battery types.
Just for comparison with what I used as my DIY/drop in replacement:
Renogy RBT12106LFP-SSL-BT
- Capacity: 106Ah
- Voltage: 12.8V
- Dimensions: 22.8 x 11.4 x 2.4 in (579 x 290 x 60 mm)
- Weight: 28.7 lbs (13 kg)
- Cycle Life: 3200 cycles
- Max Continuous Discharge: 200A
- Peak Discharge: 260A (for 30 seconds)
- Warranty: 7 years
- Operating Temp: -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C)
Battle Born BBGC2
- Capacity: 100Ah
- Voltage: 12V
- Dimensions: 10.31 x 7.28 x 11.02 in (262 x 185 x 280 mm)
- Weight: 31 lbs (14 kg)
- Cycle Life: 3000-5000 cycles
- Max Continuous Discharge: 100A
- Peak Discharge: 200A (for 30 seconds)
- Warranty**: 10 years
- **Operating Temp: -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C)
Key Differences:
- Capacity: The Renogy battery offers a slightly higher capacity (106Ah vs. 100Ah).
- Cycle Life: Both batteries have similar cycle life, but Battle Born lists up to 5000 cycles under optimal conditions.
- Discharge Rates: The Renogy model supports a higher continuous discharge rate (200A vs. 100A), which could be useful for higher load applications.
- Size: The Renogy battery is significantly larger in footprint, which could be an issue for compact installations. The Battle Born is closer to traditional GC2 lead-acid dimensions, making it a direct drop-in replacement.
- Warranty: Battle Born offers a longer 10-year warranty, compared to Renogy's 7 years.
I imagine this would end up being mainly for new builds. In my case, I would have to redesign my battery compartments (which means moving them to another location altogether and losing storage space).
Still, it’s nice to see innovation in the battery space….
I see the most potential for first adopters with manufacturers and DIY conversions in the class B van market The narrow profile creates the potential to capacity in a small foot print by potentially placing them under furnishings or "dead" spaces that ay not be suitable for more traditional size batteries such as 24F. Based on the dimensions given above it seems they would have about the same foot print as a 400 Ah 12vdc server rack battery.
I'm not seeing much benefit to these compared to my Expion 360 cube (368AH) current batteries. They're rated at 8oo fewer life cycles. The other parameters seem to be similar, including charge & discharge temperature ranges. They actually take up slightly more space per AH than my large cube batteries, & the weight is exactly the same per AH as my cube batteries. The only advantage seems to be the ability to spread multiple batteries out in a limited storage area, though the connecting cables might be a rat's nest if your trying to connect 7 or 8 of these to produce the 736 AH I currently have in my 2 "cubes".
It seems to me that the main advantage of the form factor would be that they could be mounted in tight spaces under floors, on walls, or similar situations. There are other batteries in the market with a similar form factor, but they're not solid-state. The ones I found online were made in Australia.
It will also be important to know how the cost compares to the lithium batteries on the market today. I calculated the volume / A-hr of the Battleborn 100 A-hr to be 7.83 vs 5.88 cu in / A-hr for the Renogy which is a 25% improvement. There is also an improvement of 15% in A-hr per lb. So, how much more will it cost to get a 25% improvement in space required and 15% weight for a given battery bank size? Battleborn uses cylindrical cells which are heavier than the prismatic cells used in many LFP batteries today so the gains of the Renogy solid state battery will be more modest in comparison. Thanks Mike (and your reader) for sharing the data sheet.
You can get better volume / Ah with many lithium batteries that use prismatic cells. For example, the SFK 300Ah batteries I recently installed come in at 4.23, including the extra inch added by the handles, or 3.94 without them.
Battle Born batteries are good quality, but they're oversized, overweight, and overpriced. They're simply not keeping up with the market.
This battery is not on sale to the public yet. It's only preliminary data which I hope to be able to test in a few months once demo samples become available.
An interesting new product but, I don’t see wide adoption until the retail price falls to less than a third of the MSRP. The battery, at its current price, will find a place in severely space constrained applications that require close monitoring via the CAN-bus capability; early adopters with money to burn may also give it a try. There are simply too many more traditional lithium competitors at much lower price points presently for this new battery to get much traction except in niche applications. There is nothing unique about the battery other than form factor. It has the same chemistry and constraints that any other lithium battery has. “Solid State” is a bit of marketing puff; all lithium batteries are solid state using Renogy’s definition.
I'm not seeing anything that I would describe as "new technology" in this product. It's certainly an unconventional form factor, but it's otherwise just a routine LFP battery. The "skinny" shape might be a benefit to some installations, but it could also be a big issue in that you can't easily replace it with another product, should it fail and become unavailable or long lead time.
I'm running 3.3V "naked" CALB batteries with my own BMS, so I have a similar issue with replacement. Fortunately, my units have been very reliable, and they cost about 1/3 of the 12V/BMS battery types.
Just for comparison with what I used as my DIY/drop in replacement:
Renogy RBT12106LFP-SSL-BT
- Capacity: 106Ah
- Voltage: 12.8V
- Dimensions: 22.8 x 11.4 x 2.4 in (579 x 290 x 60 mm)
- Weight: 28.7 lbs (13 kg)
- Cycle Life: 3200 cycles
- Max Continuous Discharge: 200A
- Peak Discharge: 260A (for 30 seconds)
- Warranty: 7 years
- Operating Temp: -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C)
Battle Born BBGC2
- Capacity: 100Ah
- Voltage: 12V
- Dimensions: 10.31 x 7.28 x 11.02 in (262 x 185 x 280 mm)
- Weight: 31 lbs (14 kg)
- Cycle Life: 3000-5000 cycles
- Max Continuous Discharge: 100A
- Peak Discharge: 200A (for 30 seconds)
- Warranty**: 10 years
- **Operating Temp: -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C)
Key Differences:
- Capacity: The Renogy battery offers a slightly higher capacity (106Ah vs. 100Ah).
- Cycle Life: Both batteries have similar cycle life, but Battle Born lists up to 5000 cycles under optimal conditions.
- Discharge Rates: The Renogy model supports a higher continuous discharge rate (200A vs. 100A), which could be useful for higher load applications.
- Size: The Renogy battery is significantly larger in footprint, which could be an issue for compact installations. The Battle Born is closer to traditional GC2 lead-acid dimensions, making it a direct drop-in replacement.
- Warranty: Battle Born offers a longer 10-year warranty, compared to Renogy's 7 years.
I imagine this would end up being mainly for new builds. In my case, I would have to redesign my battery compartments (which means moving them to another location altogether and losing storage space).
Still, it’s nice to see innovation in the battery space….
I see the most potential for first adopters with manufacturers and DIY conversions in the class B van market The narrow profile creates the potential to capacity in a small foot print by potentially placing them under furnishings or "dead" spaces that ay not be suitable for more traditional size batteries such as 24F. Based on the dimensions given above it seems they would have about the same foot print as a 400 Ah 12vdc server rack battery.
I'm not seeing much benefit to these compared to my Expion 360 cube (368AH) current batteries. They're rated at 8oo fewer life cycles. The other parameters seem to be similar, including charge & discharge temperature ranges. They actually take up slightly more space per AH than my large cube batteries, & the weight is exactly the same per AH as my cube batteries. The only advantage seems to be the ability to spread multiple batteries out in a limited storage area, though the connecting cables might be a rat's nest if your trying to connect 7 or 8 of these to produce the 736 AH I currently have in my 2 "cubes".
It seems to me that the main advantage of the form factor would be that they could be mounted in tight spaces under floors, on walls, or similar situations. There are other batteries in the market with a similar form factor, but they're not solid-state. The ones I found online were made in Australia.
It will also be important to know how the cost compares to the lithium batteries on the market today. I calculated the volume / A-hr of the Battleborn 100 A-hr to be 7.83 vs 5.88 cu in / A-hr for the Renogy which is a 25% improvement. There is also an improvement of 15% in A-hr per lb. So, how much more will it cost to get a 25% improvement in space required and 15% weight for a given battery bank size? Battleborn uses cylindrical cells which are heavier than the prismatic cells used in many LFP batteries today so the gains of the Renogy solid state battery will be more modest in comparison. Thanks Mike (and your reader) for sharing the data sheet.
You can get better volume / Ah with many lithium batteries that use prismatic cells. For example, the SFK 300Ah batteries I recently installed come in at 4.23, including the extra inch added by the handles, or 3.94 without them.
Battle Born batteries are good quality, but they're oversized, overweight, and overpriced. They're simply not keeping up with the market.
Did the Renogy rep ever say why he got the charging time so wrong? That bothered me.
No, and that’s always the problem with listening to reps. That’s why I try to talk to application engineers whenever possible.
Looking forward for more informations. Will also be watching a Will Prowse tear down when he is able to purchase one or more.
This is promising? Curious why it only has 7 yr warranty? Hope you can share more of this and offer suggestions! Anyone tried this yet?!
This battery is not on sale to the public yet. It's only preliminary data which I hope to be able to test in a few months once demo samples become available.