LF280K EVE grade A/B cells and quality control

[BjornM]

At manufacturing, are EVE cells tested at high current draw (1C or similar) to see if they can hold voltage? I mean for all grades (automotive, grade A and B).

I recently had a discussion with a seller on Alibaba about this for grade B cells. I don't care about the cells (LF280K) having capacity and IR being a bit off, but if the cell voltage takes a nose dive when drawing high currents, then it is unusable to me. It would trigger the BMS and possibly also the power inverter.

As I see it, cells being able to hold voltage is not a "grade A" feature, it is essential to all cells no matter grade. This is not a IR problem, it is something more fundamental. I've seen examples of 280Ah cells dropping way below 3V at only a 100W power draw. But how new were these cells actually? I will never know, so I can't assess if this is something to worry about or not.

All I want to hear from the seller is "That can never happen with new cells, because they are tested at the factory, so it is a non issue." But unfortunately I can't get the seller to commit to anything like that. Which makes me think that they don't really know much about the quality control process. I have no reason to believe that this particular seller has bad motives (high trust seller).

 

[Theo74]

On the same Alibaba website, the company EVE is active. You can contact them directly with your questions via the Alibaba messenger.
EVE wrote me once that they sell their cells with an Excel sheet included, showing the testresult per cell on serialnumer/QR code level.
For smaller customes it's hard to buy smaller quantities directly from EVE, but a reseller with bigger stock should own those testreports.

 

[BjornM]

On the same Alibaba website, the company EVE is active. You can contact them directly with your questions via the Alibaba messenger.
EVE wrote me once that they sell their cells with an Excel sheet included, showing the testresult per cell on serialnumer/QR code level.
For smaller customes it's hard to buy smaller quantities directly from EVE, but a reseller with bigger stock should own those testreports.

Thanks. I contacted them, but they said that since they only sell Grade A cells, they have no info on the Grade B cells. They are rejected at the factory, I guess they would have to call the factory and find out. Not something they seem to be willing to do.

 

[Alkaline]

Please note the "official eve" store is... Anything but instead you are dealing with an independent seller that has the permission to use the EVE NAME. When you get your invoice from them you'll see its from some other company and not EVE. I don't think EVE deals with people on Alibaba, they may given permission to a company to sell under there name.

The cells will be grade A as they claim and they give you test reports, however, the official store has had a history of screwed up shipping. Its for this reason you should consider Luyuan, someone who can give you nearly the same prices as the EVE store but has a much better understanding of the logistics involved.

That being said NKON is a well known European Seller that carries grade A, it maybe more money but unlike the EVE official store you will have recourse if you run into problems.

 

[Theo74]

Via Alibaba I eventually got in contact with EVE via e-mail. The contactperson, actually 2, both had a @evebattery.com e-mail address.
Maybe there is an “official’ EVE reseller on Alibaba too, but then you still have the possibility to contact EVE directly via their website.

 

[Alkaline]

Yes wait till you get an invoice form lampard Li or one of the other reps, ask them why is not from the official eve company, a year ago I was going to order 16 cells form them and I forgot what company I got an invoice for but it wasn't eve. I ended up ordering form Luyuan because her price was lower and she had much nicer packaging.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Please note the "official eve" store is... Anything but instead you are dealing with an independent seller that has the permission to use the EVE NAME. When you get your invoice from them you'll see its from some other company and not EVE. I don't think EVE deals with people on Alibaba, they may given permission to a company to sell under there name.

The cells will be grade A as they claim and they give you test reports, however, the official store has had a history of screwed up shipping. Its for this reason you should consider Luyuan, someone who can give you nearly the same prices as the EVE store but has a much better understanding of the logistics involved.

That being said NKON is a well known European Seller that carries grade A, it maybe more money but unlike the EVE official store you will have recourse if you run into problems.

S.S.

 

[Alkaline]

S.S.

?

 

[Brucey]

If going for LF280Ks I believe the group consensus is to wait for the octagonal terminal V3 version which resolves the issues with V1 and V2?

 

[Alkaline]

V3 is already available form SFK and 18650 has them on pre-order. I think Ezeal may have them too as they just got a new shipment in.
Luyuan has them in stock as well.

 

[SolaroSsaurius]

V3 is already available form SFK and 18650 has them on pre-order. I think Ezeal may have them too as they just got a new shipment in.
Luyuan has them in stock as well.

NKON also have v3

 

[wfdTamar]

It's a minefield isn't it? I want the same thing from a battery. It would seem certified auto grade give some reassurance, but finding them is not so easy (maybe it is in the US).

 

[Alkaline]

legitimate sellers will gladly give you test reports in fact they provide it freely:

https://ezealco.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/LF304-Testing-Report-3.xlsx

sfk: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uNzaPcApN-V52_hn28VXVlxPZq8BlHOE/edit#gid=1574245009
18650 will send it if you email them after placing the order.

for Australia, you can try https://szluyuan.en.alibaba.com/