Hm, great. Post died while typing.
Production Empulse battery modules use cells manufactured in China. The modules are
designed and assembled by Brammo in Ashland.
Powering the more potent Empulse motor is a pack of seven BPM-15/90 battery packs. Designed in-house by Brammo (the name stands for Brammo Power Module – 15 Volts with 90 Amp-hour capacity) each module is comprised of approximately 250 lithium-ion cells, which are manufactured to spec in China, then tested and assembled in Ashland.
Brammo
switched to Farasis cells in 2013 for their race bike. Previous supplier not stated.
During last weekend they'd also switched cell suppliers. This is something Brian had told me about at Laguna Seca, but he didn't want to name the supplier. Shane's bike crapped out during the Laguna Seca race, and Brian is using that as proof the old "RR packs were getting tired and were in dire need of replacement cells". The new battery cell sponsor and supplier is Farasis Energy, of Hayward California. Brian described them as "fantastic cells that are proving to be just the ticket for dealing with these long straights at Indy" and that the "capacity at high C-rates is awesome!"
Largely mirrors information
.
There is one major change on both Eric and Shane's bikes for this race - the addition of a primary battery cell sponsor and supplier in Farasis Energy. On the return van ride from Laguna just last month, the team stopped by the Farasis headquarters in Hayward, CA to pick up our new custom race cells for the RRs. The timing couldn't have been better. Shane's DNF at Laguna was proof that the RR packs were getting tired and were in dire need of replacement cells. Farasis have stepped in to provide some fantastic cells that are proving to be just the ticket for dealing with these long straights at Indy. The capacity at high C-rates is awesome!
That's not the definite statement you or I would like - "We used to use cells supplied by X, now we use cells supplied by Y" - but it's pretty close.
***
I wrote about the history of the Brammo batteries from the Enertia to the Empulse
here, go check it out.
***
Brammo hosts a smugmug where they throw up lots of high-quality photos documenting the company history. They also show
detailed photos of the assembly of their three primary modules: BPM 15/90 (as in the Empulse), BPM 44/70 (as used in the Enertia Plus), and their new modulithic module.
The modulithic module appears to be similar to the race bike module.... I'm really trying to remember where I've seen the race module opened up, but I recall the architecture being similar to the modulithic module. High voltage, 4 cells in parallel. The RR module can change the number of cells installed in series based upon desired capacity, weight, and voltage; at Daytona 2013 for example they ran the modules right at the maximum voltage of the motor or controller in order to maximize top speed on the straights.
Brammo has a
nice shot of a disassembled modulithic module here, showing 4 cells mounted across with a model designation IMP1060160P10A, followed presumably by lot or batch information.
If you google this model designation, there's a
single result for a Chinese CV.
2012-07-01 / 2013-05-01: ****** Job Title: Product development assistant Job Description: After graduating from college in Ganzhou 2012.7 Fu Technology Co., Ltd. began operation in various positions to learn from the grassroots. 2013 January was transferred to the engineering department assistant engineer doing development products, mainly responsible for experiments IMP1060160P10A and ICP1060160P10A batteries production, testing, data reporting, and some incoming test, and help tutor complete APQP work plan.
Perhaps IMP = manganese, ICP = cobalt? Just a guess. Curious who the company translated as "Fu Technology Co" is. Farasis perhaps, or a subcontractor?
Farasis lists two large pouch cells on their
product page:
IMP-1060158-P10: 60 x 158 x 10mm, 10 Ah
IMP-06160230-P25: 160 x 230 x 6mm, 25 Ah
The 25 Ah cells are used in the 2013-2014 Zero bikes. The 2015 S/DS/SR use new 27 Ah cells, which are reportedly slightly more energy dense but slightly less power-dense. Apparently Brammo is using a newer 10 Ah cell in their modulithic module, and presumably the same cell or very similar in their 2013 Empulse RR refresh.
I haven't been able to find anything definite about the cells used in the production Brammo bikes. Brammo has a shot of
their 3 modules with four cells in front, implying perhaps that the production modules can or do use the same cells as the modulithic module.
Where is the modulithic module used? Perhaps in the side-by-side converted by Brammo .. or maybe in an electric version of the Polaris slingshot?
