I'm creating an Arduino project, for that project I'm looking for batteries like the ones used to power scooters or electric wheelchairs, so powerful that they can carry the weight of a human and last for a long time.
I've seen some electric wheelchairs, but the batteries are huge in size and weight. I'm looking for something lighter, that has the same power as an electric wheelchair, and relatively cheap that people like me could buy, the battery has to be rechargeable of course.
maximum potential speed is like 20 km/h maybe less, but the normal speed will be around 5 to 10 km/h, distance around 80 km, i have no problem using some sort of a regenerative brake system or solar power system.
What are my options?
I've been told about Vmax tank and agm batteries, from what I see, it seems too heavy. I need something portable, and don't mind using 2 batteries instead of 1. From what I know, a scooter battery is 12 volts, so I need something like that; or 6 volts and use 2 batteries.
I'm looking for batteries the size of Samsung S4, or an iPad maximum. I know a lot of people who gave me many options but none portable so far.
I'm not going to discuss the project because it's outside this topic, but basically I have 2 problems with my project, finding the right batteries is the first one, I'll discuss the second problem later. Maybe the battery that I'm searching for doesn't exist
I don't care if it's lithium or not.
Best Answer
LiPo batteries are lightweight and have very high power density and output current. If cost is no object, they would probably be your best choice. However, be warned: if charged wrong or used improperly, they get angry. And you won't like them when they're angry..
They're also quite expensive, and require some fairly complex power electronics to reach maximum potential. If you're controlling a brushless DC motor, you can get neato off-the-shelf ESCs which will let you drive them like a servo motor (with a PWM signal)... but BLDC motors tend to be much higher RPM than you'd want for a power scooter, so you'd have to gear it down.