Talking with Michael the other evening was very sobering. As I've mentioned before, the technology is not yet reliable for what we want to do and a new wrench has been thrown into the tech pot.
It turns out that since Michael has been working with the battery cells that he's chosen, he has been getting a metallic taste in his mouth and he's felt more fatigued than usual. He spoke with Rob about his symptoms and Rob suggested that the batteries Michael is using 'off-gas'. Since Michael carefully monitors his batteries during charging, he has his face right over the cells and is breathing off'-gasses. None of us are sure about what the connection is between the batteries and his symptoms but we are not excited about going down this particular road with batteries that might pose a health hazard beyond the obvious hazard of dramatic failure.
The reason for this adventure is to promote a viable alternative in the form of a safe, durable and trouble free electric bicycle. Even if we were looking to financially capitalize on this project, we all feel very strongly that the integrity of what we are doing is primary. Having a battery system that is dangerous doesn't meet our integrity requirements.
So the search is on for better batteries.
We believe that they are out there and we are also quite sure that they will be significantly more expensive. Apparently, the round, small sized cells like those used in the Tesla are safer and don't have the 'off-gas' problem. We are searching around for batteries that will work for us and when we find them we'll figure out how to get our hands on them without spending our children's inheritance!!
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