Hellosailor, I welcome your questioning and thank you for being blunt.
We are not "disappearing" or going anywhere in a hurry since we are the pioneers and official licensees of this technology from Phostech. In fact we are in the final stages of testing our newest cell in
Japan which has been designed and made especially for a major US power tool manufacturer.
We are working with many well known manufacturers in the
USA and around the world including several major US automakers who are already performing extensive trials using our batteries in their
electric vehicles. We have many customers (vehicle owners) in the USA (in particular in California) who are using our batteries in their Toyota Prius's for extended range on electricity after conversion to PHEV.
There are many more examples but back to boats.....
If a battery was to fail during the specified warranty period we will
repair or replace it at our option.
For example if a cell in a pack was to fail we would replace it with a new cell and we would perform tests to determine the cause of the faulty cell. It may be found that a VMS board was at fault for over discharging the cell in which case we would replace both the faulty cell and VMS board. The pack would be tested in the factory thoroughly so it is up to spec. and then returned to the customer.
For minor
repairs we are looking at using our US agent in Oklahoma to carry out this
work but for the most part batteries get sent back to the factory for comprehensive
repairs and testing.
To date I am not aware of a
single battery which has failed when used properly and within manufacturers recommended specifications/guidelines.
The few batteries which have been sent back to us faulty in every case resulted from user error.
For example one battery which was dropped by the customer onto a concrete floor and required re-building while another battery was charged by an incorrect
charger (charging a 24V battery with a 48V battery
charger is not recommended!!)
I would suggest
boat owners talk to other
boat owners about their experiences using all brands of
lithium batteries including LiFeTech. I shipped batteries to a professional boat
builder last week and am
shipping batteries to the owner of a sailing boat (for house power) on Monday.
I will suggest these people document their experiences for others to see.
A boat owner in NZ is building an
electric boat and the batteries I have supplied should be installed soon. You can follow his blog here-
Natural High Adventures - Warren's Blog
The owner of "Current Sunshine" is using Thundersky batteries. He has extensive experience using LiFePO4 batteries in his boat and is aware of the differences between battery brands such as the Thundersky batteries he uses as well as LiFeTech which I supply and (only found out about recently).
The blog is here-
About « Current Sunshine
I would urge people to contact these boat owners directly so they can provide their own points of view with regard to why they chose the batteries they are using and if they would still use the same batteries (knowing what they have learned since and know now) if they were to build a
new boat or required new batteries for their
current boat.
I will be urging all of the boat owners I am supplying batteries to (whether for house power only,
engine cranking or full electric propulsion) to keep a
record of their battery performance and share their experiences with others on their own websites or blogs.
Most often minor problems can be quickly resolved via an
email or by giving me a quick call at anytime on +61 4 20948757 (international).