A friendly email from a regular customer got us talking about battery options for his race car as he was after a lightweight option to shed some kg's. So I threw some options at him including KTS 6.6kg ($215 + Shipping), Buddyclub ~6kg ($213 + Shipping) and finally Braile as a long shot! Braile make carbon fiber and lithium batteries. This is F1 technology (and at the higher end, F1 prices!). Lithium is not cheap at all, it's super dense so can hold a huge amount of charge in a small battery, hence the weight (from 1 whole pound for a battery!).
Now, we're not strong on the technical requirements for batteries here, but I think anything over 500CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) or 550PCA (pulse crank amps) is good for normal cars? 250-500 for race? Would love some input!
Anyhow you can browse their battery line up here:
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php
Select Motorsport -> USA Flag for their main site!
There's lots of options and when you get in to the lithium line, I suspect only a few very serious racers to take up an option.
I do know the economics of batteries though - locally sourced options can start quite cheap for a lightweight option - under $200 I am sure. So whilst most of the options are overpriced we're only expecting those who really want to drop those last few kg's to step up!
Mac
mac@fortyone.co.nz
http://www.fortyone.co.nz
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