There's fear, but there's a lack of desire too. I'd guess that the majority of people that buy batteries are the later. They just want a device they can plonk down and say done.
There is always going to be people chasing the bottom shelf lowest possible price, and paying the price of low quality in doing so. There will always be people blindly paying top shelf price with no attention to quality, and they'll pay for that too. Then there is the discerning buyer that takes their time to find out what is good and what isn't. So long as Battleborn's sales meet the company's expectations the price will stay where it is.
LiFePo4 specifically hasn't seen the massive increase in volume and development that the higher-energy chemistries have, so it hasn't seen as much in terms of improvement and cost reduction. BB also started at a lower price point that basically all the "legit" suppliers. Seems like the past few months newer batteries have started to come out that match or beat BB prices, but no true competitors that I've seen. I expect something will happen to force their prices a bit lower over the next year or two, but probably not drastically.
BB does have a high priced battery, but they also have the highest quality build. Look at the breakdown of their pack, vs. ANY other pack... no comparison even comes close.Really? I'm new to the game, but I thought BattleBorn was just about the most expensive drop in consumer oriented lifepo4 you could buy short of maybe Victron. What do you mean by "legit suppliers"?
Reminds me of back in the 1950's and 60, there was a company called Heathkit that made electronic kits you'd assemble yourself. They were high quality and you could save a significant amount over store bought electronics prices be doing it yourself. I built many of them growing up back then.
Same sort of deal going on with solar stuff now.
I have had great customer service from Bioenno Power, I think they are located in California. I have no affiliation with the company and although I am a newbie on this forum I am somewhat surprised I haven't seen much mention here.
I am now sold on 48v for sure and they have one of the few pre-built 48v LiFePO4 batteries I am aware of. My experience so far has only been with their 12v stuff though. Their 48v, 50Ah is $1700 so not cheap but less than 2 of the 28v, 50Ah Battleborns in series FWIW.