RideApart says this battery has a lithium polymer (LiPo) chemistry.
The charging C-rate limit might relate to the volume of cells and how well they can be managed given the chemistry and its attendant properties. I still think this battery involves trade offs that they’re minimizing or hiding.
They’re using a real pack of production cells that must have a data sheet somewhere and related engineering knowledge. Lightning also claimed (officially or not) that their large pack involved LiPo cells. Maybe they’re chasing the same part of the engineering parameter manifold, but now we have two companies in the same year claiming a leap in pack size on an electric motorcycle they will put into production, without explaining how they did it even in vague terms, or indicating a supplier.
This isn’t a proud announcement, is what I’m inferring. It feels dodgy.
Energica have been racing (read: abusing), these new batteries in the MotoE for more than a year, they know the importance of thermal management. Energica are apparently keeping the current charge speed (OK I also would have hoped for ~37kW), but given the fact that Energica have increased the CCS speed of the old battery pack twice (18kW->22kW->26kW), shows me that this company is cautious with over-specifying and do test things before they implement. That they don't show the specs of their cells I can imagine, they are a small company and have put much effort in composing the battery. With their patents they have already shown the pictures of their old cells.
Energica have been racing (read: abusing), these new batteries in the MotoE for more than a year, they know the importance of thermal management. Energica are apparently keeping the current charge speed (OK I also would have hoped for ~37kW), but given the fact that Energica have increased the CCS speed of the old battery pack twice (18kW->22kW->26kW), shows me that this company is cautious with over-specifying and do test things before they implement. That they don't show the specs of their cells I can imagine, they are a small company and have put much effort in composing the battery. With their patents they have already shown the pictures of their old cells.
I know these things. (I should have said LiPo-based chemistry or something, but I don't know that there's a good shorthand there.)
If they've been using the cells for a while, why aren't they indicating any detail about it? That just means they've had more time to justify the decision but aren't telling us what that justification is. I mean, right now we know as little about this pack as about Lightning's pack that they've failed to deliver. Additionally, the battery pack is the single most expensive component of the bike, and probably the majority of its cost.
They don't need to show us datasheets or hard numbers to justify that decision, and I'm not asking for that, but it's easy for a company officer to prepare a blurb that explains the shape of what challenges they looked at and why they feel this is a good way forward. I think EV companies need to be on top of that when they claim they have a battery breakthrough.
Energica has proven they're satisfied with it for their track bikes, and I accept that easily. However, track usage does not *necessarily* imply good value to their customers. We're talking about duty cycles here and the servicing cost over more than three years.