There are 3 possibilities to buy 18650 lithium-ion cells and fill a Gouach Infinite Battery (40 cells).
Buying on internet as an individual ($3-5/cell)
Depending on your region, there are several sellers than can ship efficiently. Some examples include:
- Nkon in Europe
- Battery Bro in the US
Tell us if you know other sources!
⚠️ We advice against buying on ali express as there a a ton of fake cells potentially dangerous.
⚠️ The cells you’ll buy on internet will not be matched in impedance which might lead to a reduced lifespan.
Buying from us ($2-3/cell)
We have been working with Tier-2 Chinese cell manufacturers and have tested their cells extensively (their specifications and the impedance spread). We found that some of these lesser-known providers are sometimes better than Tier-1 (Samsung, LG etc), and we’ve sourced good deals with them, that we share with our customers!
Our cells are shipped in matched batches (meaning their impedance has been measured and the 40 cells are exactly the same).
Salvaging and testing cells (FREE!)
This works very well and is really cheap! In the batteries we sell, we obviously put brand new cells, but on our own bikes, we’ve been testing second-life cells for the last 3 years, and they worked perfectly!
⚠️ Do this only if you have some background on cells and batteries, as there is a trial-and-error process to find the best up-cycled cell sources and how to match them.
Second-life 18650 cells can be found from discarded batteries of e-bikes, scooters, moped, or even Tesla (cells from model-S are compatible!)
When doings tests, we have managed to salvage more than 450k cells and we have learned that in many cases, up to 80% of the cells in discarded batteries were perfectly fine and could be reused safely. However, those cells have to be matched together!We have put together a documentation here on that subject: How to test cells ?