Lifo Batteries for the 650GS

It's time for me to look into a new battery for my G650GS and have been investigating the Shorai Batteries (http://www.shoraipower.com/c-1-batteries.aspx)... expensive but light-weight, green(ish) and looks to be long lived as well.

Have read a bunch of threads elsewhere, but most of them were more theoretical than actual. Was wondering, does anyone here has actual experience with this brand?

Not sure what about lithium production is green compared to lead, especially given that recycling of lithium stuff is primitive (much just going to 3rd world dumps for very marginal recycling methods) compared to lead recycling. Yes, it's less toxic if you eat it....

First question I'd be asking is whether they've got one that is a good size match for the bike. Lead/acid is reliable and cheap and the advantages of Shorai and similar are at present mostly marketing claims that need to be proved by real world use. I guess if you like pre beta software, you'd like spending the extra dollars to be an early adopter so you can inform the rest of us.

Like you, I want to hear from folks but after they've owned one for at least 3 or 4 years, not 3 or 4 weeks or months which is about what you're likely to find given how little time they've had in the marketplace.

Note that some folks who handle rental fleets and frequent this site still prefer flooded lead acid batteries instead of newer lead acid types like gel mat because water loss kills many of the new style prematurely (usually from hot weather or use of an improper charger) and there is no way to keep them topped off to prevent it.

racer7 said:

Not sure what about lithium production is green compared to lead, especially given that recycling of lithium stuff is primitive (much just going to 3rd world dumps for very marginal recycling methods) compared to lead recycling. Yes, it's less toxic if you eat it....

Click to expand...

Yes, one can make the argument that a lot of "old, dirty" technology is actually greener because of the varying degrees of waste/recycling management in place for alternative tech, but all this is constantly changing and one hopes that we can get infrastructure to support greener tech from production to disposal. At this point there are a lot of grey areas!

racer7 said:

Like you, I want to hear from folks but after they've owned one for at least 3 or 4 years, not 3 or 4 weeks or months which is about what you're likely to find given how little time they've had in the marketplace.

Click to expand...

It will certainly be a while before there's a track record, but even in the short term I'm curious about how this type of battery interacts with the bike... does it really crank strongly, does it cause any errors/problems with the electricals, has anyone tried running heated gear or other auxiliary gear.

Obviously the long lived-ness won't really be known until time has passed and a greater sample group can be had, but major problems could appear very quickly!

I think you should just pony up and be our tester. Send us a report in about 5 years.

There are a couple of threads about the Li Iron battery on F650.com.

http://f650.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=231315



http://f650.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=232229

Thanks for the links, hadn't caught those threads, though did find the following interesting...

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=671029&page=1

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=692049

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=661377

Oh, and this one too...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=664944