Lithium ion battery for the Hellcat

[hellman]

Has anyone tried the lithium ion battery that Throtl sells. The manufacturer is Antigravity Batteries. Just curious if there are any members with experience on that one.

 

[Deano]

I went with: https://powertexbatteries.com/ approximately 6 months ago. The price has gone up some, but they are offering 10% off for Black Friday as of this evening.
I got the H-8 size.
I also bought the charger they sell. I have it connected to a timer to charge 1 hour per night as I don't drive the car frequently.
So far,so good.

 

[hellman]

Thanks for the heads up. That battery looks real nice and good quality too. I currently have an Arch Angel Lithium battery and I haven’t had any problems until now. It’s been super reliable for 3 years but is now giving me trouble. Arch Angel is no longer in business so I’m screwed on a warranty claim.

 

[vortecd]

Thanks for the heads up. That battery looks real nice and good quality too. I currently have an Arch Angel Lithium battery and I haven’t had any problems until now. It’s been super reliable for 3 years but is now giving me trouble. Arch Angel is no longer in business so I’m screwed on a warranty claim.

I knew he was trying to make the batteries in the US but didn't know they went under

I started buying cheaper batteries years ago being most only last 5 years or so. As far as Lifepo4 batteries go it is still a battery so I found one on amazon that was priced right. I see a lot of them in the $800 range. The one I'm using was $400 and weighs 15 lbs

https://www.hellcatforum.org/threads/light-weight-batteries.8538/

 

[hellman]

Spoke to Nick at Arch Angel Batteries. He was super cool and immediately offered a $400 refund to my card or he could get me a replacement battery through a different supplier that is selling the exact same battery as he sold me at no additional charge. They have supposedly made a few upgrades to the battery in question so we’ll see how it works out. I took him up on the deal and he said that it still falls under the same 10 year warranty as the original battery did so if I have any issues with it, He will just issue a $400 credit to my card at that time and we’re done. Can’t ask for much more than that!

 

[Taxinator]

Spoke to Nick at Arch Angel Batteries. He was super cool and immediately offered a $400 refund to my card or he could get me a replacement battery through a different supplier that is selling the exact same battery as he sold me at no additional charge. They have supposedly made a few upgrades to the battery in question so we’ll see how it works out. I took him up on the deal and he said that it still falls under the same 10 year warranty as the original battery did so if I have any issues with it, He will just issue a $400 credit to my card at that time and we’re done. Can’t ask for much more than that!

So who is the new supplier?

 

[hellman]

He didn’t say but there name will be on the battery along with there literature and instructions in the packaging as the battery will be shipped from the manufacturer directly to me so I will take pictures and update you when it arrives in about 2 weeks.

 

[vortecd]

So you said arc-angel is out of business? You talked to Nick and I see their site is still up

 

[jgilj]

He didn’t say but there name will be on the battery along with there literature and instructions in the packaging as the battery will be shipped from the manufacturer directly to me so I will take pictures and update you when it arrives in about 2 weeks.

Waiting and watching!

 

[vortecd]

According to their site, they are wanting $900-$1200 for a battery, nope

 

[hellman]

Talked with him at length about his business. He is in the process of making his own lithium batteries in the US. He has been working on this for over a year but he is running into supply chain problems and he has no ETA on when his batteries will be available. His site is still up but he isn’t selling anything at this time. The prices listed will be for his new battery when available but he made it sound like it will be quite sometime until that happens. In the meantime, he put me onto the supplier that was making the original batteries (with some improvements) for him and that is what he is getting me under warranty.

 

[vortecd]

Talked with him at length about his business. He is in the process of making his own lithium batteries in the US. He has been working on this for over a year but he is running into supply chain problems and he has no ETA on when his batteries will be available. His site is still up but he isn’t selling anything at this time. The prices listed will be for his new battery when available but he made it sound like it will be quite sometime until that happens. In the meantime, he put me onto the supplier that was making the original batteries (with some improvements) for him and that is what he is getting me under warranty.

He started doing that 2 years ago. He was going to have me test a prototype but he kept pushing it out and I had to buy a battery so I went and found one. From my dealings with Nick, he seems like a good guy

 

[vortecd]

Also not sure how many people will spend $1200 on a battery. Cox racing has a nice setup for $750 that will weigh less and is proven

 

[hellman]

I hear you on that one. When I saw his pricing, I thought he priced himself right out of business. The Cox batteries and Antigravity batteries are much cheaper and both proven. I think he’s going to need to adjust his business model asap!

 

[hellman]

Brian Mason spoke to him last year and he indicated that he was going to be testing a battery for him as well but Covid and inflation/supply issues have hampered those plans to date.

 

[ACMAVRO]

I knew he was trying to make the batteries in the US but didn't know they went under

I started buying cheaper batteries years ago being most only last 5 years or so. As far as Lifepo4 batteries go it is still a battery so I found one on amazon that was priced right. I see a lot of them in the $800 range. The one I'm using was $400 and weighs 15 lbs

https://www.hellcatforum.org/threads/light-weight-batteries.8538/

I’m using the same one and works well with tazer cool down.

 

[hellman]

I bought a lithium battery to save 40 lbs in weight but more importantly to use with the Tazer cool down mode for the entire evening at the track without running the battery down to the point where it won’t start without a jump. I could only use a lead acid battery for about 2 passes with cool down running before it was run down so low that it wouldn’t start. Lithium battery holds a charge a lot longer and charges back up much quicker than lead acid batteries.

 

[vortecd]

IDK but spending that many bucks for a battery that is 25 lbs lighter doesn't seem logical. Would you be better off spending those bucks on power upgrades ? Seems a little outrageous to trim a millisecond or two off that quarter mile run.

Until you run out of things to do for $500

 

[hellman]

Well, got a text from Nick at Arch Angel Batteries and he told me that the new battery had shipped out to me a about a week ago and that I should have it any day and it arrived a few days ago. It looks nice. Very similar to the original battery that he sold me 3 years ago. The new battery has a digital volt meter on it which is cool. It tells you the amount of volts and the percent of charge on the battery. Battery came 99% charged when delivered. Another interesting side note was that the new battery feels lighter so I weighed the old battery and the new one for comparison and I was right. The old battery weighed 18.6 pounds and the new one weighed 15.0 pounds. Also, the old battery felt much heavier toward the positive side of the battery but the new battery feels perfectly balanced. Weird! Put the new battery in the car and it turns over fast and starts with relative easy as most people would imagine. The volt meter in the car was reading 14.3 so all is well. Been raining here so I haven’t had a chance to take the car out but I think she’s ready for Brian Mason’s private track day on Jan 7th. Praying for mineshaft air and killer negative DA with low humidity. See pics of the battery attached.

 

[vortecd]

Mine is different brand but shows volts and % also. Mines sits at 13.3. Been out of the car for a few week and shows 13.2 now. Last year threw it in the challenger for a couple of days and gave it a charge. Will do the same this year