52V, 20Ah Downtube Battery pack Design Feedback

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Our new 52V, 20Ah battery design would provide an excellent alternative for Hailong, Dolphin, Shark / DP-5 from Hailong, and other cases normally found on DIY E-bikes. People in the DIY world deserve a well-engineered battery pack.
I am curious to hear from EBR readers about the color scheme suitable for these batteries.

 

[6zfshdb]

Personally, I prefer basic black. The colors are nice but where I ride, I would just as soon not call attention to the fact that I'm riding an e-bike.

Are these batteries available now? Are they UL approved? If so, how do I order one?

 

[mrgold35]

Any option for the hi viz to be reflective or LED light for low light/night riding?

 

[Deacon Blues]

I also prefer the all black battery. Would this also be available in 48V?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I also prefer the all black battery. Would this also be available in 48V?

At the moment, we are only looking at 52V.

Personally, I prefer basic black. The colors are nice but where I ride, I would just as soon not call attention to the fact that I'm riding an e-bike.

Are these batteries available now? Are they UL approved? If so, how do I order one?

Not at the moment, they will be available Q-1 2025, and they will be UL-2271 certified and come with built-in 4G telematics and GPS and a suite of advanced safety features.

 

[Chargeride]

A gps 4G battery, do you have to log in to turn it on?

 

[il Munduato]

At the moment, we are only looking at 52V.


Not at the moment, they will be available Q-1 2025, and they will be UL-2271 certified and come with built-in 4G telematics and GPS and a suite of advanced safety features.

Sure now I have to add Zen to the list of potential people watching when I pass by my girlfriend's house on a ride to pick up a loaf of bread.

 

[JRA]

A nice gesture to the DIY community Ravi. On my screen the design looks good but am concerned with the overall length due to the angled nature? I would assume that the "nose" is there to help house the board but having the front angled so that the back has to to hold the correct cell count seems to make the battery longer than it has to be. Reason for my concern is several builds, especially on medium or smaller frames, in my DIY past were foiled by the length of standard shark packs but at the same time height became a factor with Dolphin style ones. You don't want the unit to look like a brick either I understand. Good luck with this venture!

At one time I noodled the idea of a U shaped bottom battery that would wrap around the DT some to allow for this and made a mockup out of packing foam and it would fit on all the bikes in the shop at the time. Still would be easy enough to make a mount that it would slide on and off. I took pictures that day but can't find them now.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

A gps 4G battery, do you have to log in to turn it on?

Nope.
You would be able to track the battery, and this feature makes it difficult to steal the bike.
Moreover, the amount of insight you can get from telematics is fantastic. We could handle about 1 million data points per device per hour.
So, this provides accurate control over the state of charge and state of health of batteries and being connected to cloud, we alert the owner if there are any abnormalities. Our BMS picks up any sign of thermal runaway within 150 milliseconds, further improving safety.

 

[Chargeride]

Ooh, send an alert to a phone maybe, quite impressive.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Ooh, send an alert to a phone maybe, quite impressive.

It comes with an accelerometer and if someone moves the bike or battery, the detection sensor immediately springs into action and alerts the owner.

 

[Chargeride]

Can it alert for thermal runaway, I guess it would have to be quick.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Can it alert for thermal runaway, I guess it would have to be quick.

Thermal runaway has several signatures that can be picked up 30 minutes before. Typically, the cell starts overheating before crossing a certain threshold. Whenever we notice abnormal voltage and current fluctuations, the algorithms immediately shut down the pack, isolating cells. If, for some reason, one cell catches fire, the whole pack has fire retardant material inside that will ensure the propagation will not happen.
When you see the video, you will get a better picture of this.

 

[6zfshdb]

How is the data link handled between the battery and your server? WiFi, cellular, satellite? I live and ride in an area that has poor to no cellular coverage. Will this plan work for me?

 

[keithj69]

If it has 4g, maybe setup an API that can work with home automation stuff like home assistant, hubitat, homekit, and all the other big home automation platforms. If you did that on any of the bikes I would be selling things off real quick to get a Zen.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

How is the data link handled between the battery and your server? WiFi, cellular, satellite? I live and ride in an area that has poor to no cellular coverage. Will this plan work for me?

It has a 4G SIM card (in the future, we are planning to use e-SIM). You could use any network, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon.
If there is no network, BMS has a 32GB micro-sd card that can store the data up to 5 years without any loss and whenever it connects to the system via USB cable or 4G network resumes, it will upload the data to the cloud.

BMS functionality test for the alpha-prototype is happening and everything is working well. It exceeds the UL-2271 requirements by a mile.
We greatly appreciate the input from this community.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

If it has 4g, maybe setup an API that can work with home automation stuff like home assistant, hubitat, homekit, and all the other big home automation platforms. If you did that on any of the bikes I would be selling things off real quick to get a Zen.

That's definitely on the map. Thanks for sharing that thought. We want to integrate our API with Alexa and Apple Smart Home suite.
This requires extensive work on embedded systems, which we will initiate after our launch. Our immediate goal is to offer the safest and longest-lasting packs to the E-bike community and improve the UI and UX of the app later on.

 

[il Munduato]

If it has 4g, maybe setup an API that can work with home automation stuff like home assistant, hubitat, homekit, and all the other big home automation platforms. If you did that on any of the bikes I would be selling things off real quick to get a Zen.

I've been using home automation since it's inception and I can't think how I would want to incorporate my ebike battery.
What are some scenarios that you think may be useful.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

A nice gesture to the DIY community Ravi. On my screen the design looks good but am concerned with the overall length due to the angled nature? I would assume that the "nose" is there to help house the board but having the front angled so that the back has to to hold the correct cell count seems to make the battery longer than it has to be. Reason for my concern is several builds, especially on medium or smaller frames, in my DIY past were foiled by the length of standard shark packs but at the same time height became a factor with Dolphin style ones. You don't want the unit to look like a brick either I understand. Good luck with this venture!

At one time I noodled the idea of a U shaped bottom battery that would wrap around the DT some to allow for this and made a mockup out of packing foam and it would fit on all the bikes in the shop at the time. Still would be easy enough to make a mount that it would slide on and off. I took pictures that day but can't find them now.

Thanks for your comments.
Although the length is a bit longer than a regular DP5 case, it offers the most advanced BMS for E-bikes and an extreme level of safety.
Most shark/Dolphin packs were never designed with automotive-grade engineering in mind.
We look forward to serving the E-bike community.

 

[Chargeride]

How about waterproofing?