[Christ]

That was why I suggested using Li-Ion batteries for a EV project - laptop batteries go bad all the time b/c people don't properly maintain them through their life. 1 or 2 cells go bad, they toss the battery and get a new one.

It's really nothing to come up with a few thousand individual cells, and the little tabs to link them together can be almost any piece of metal you have laying around that you can cut small pieces from, and you'd have one of the lightest battery arrays available, and you'd have paid almost nothing (other than time and effort) for it. And if a few cells die, you have replacements available easily.

It's never been maintaining Li-Ion packs that is expensive, it's building the initial pack, IMHO. Once you've done that, all you have to do is keep an eye on the pack, and when a cell or two starts to discharge too fast, it will become obvious quickly.

I used to be in good with a local computer shop back home that always replaced the batteries when they got laptops on trade with new ones, and they'd give me the old ones, assuming I was a recycler (I was hauling scrap metals at the time, including some rare/precious/expensive metals). I used to take the laptop batteries apart and fix them, then re-sell the ones that I could make work.

Then again, I used to sell engines and transmissions that I picked up from garages too... $1 per cubic inch, running or not, no warranty. Transmissions were $50 for 2WD, $75 for 4WD, $100 for AWD.

Many times, I'd sell them for less than that, but I had to at least get the scrap price for it.

<(--- Micro-Entrepreneur LOL. It's really easy to make money if you can find ways to get into Niche markets with no expenditure. Recycling (in most forms) is a money maker, if you're inclined to do the things that need to be done.