Purchasing from ShenZhen Victpower Technology

[EVPowers]

I have had great difficulty in just transfer money to their account, I'm sure everything is correct this time but they are still saying it hasn't arrived.

Can you elaborate more on this?

Are you using wire transfer or Payal?
Are they saying there was a spelling error or anything like that?
Any sort for timeline of events would help clarify.

[flexy]

The first two times I tried making international payments from two different UK banks via the internet on 30th May, this apparently didn't work because there isn't enough room on the web form to input Victpower's full account name (apparently Chinese banks will not accept any abreviation or shortening of the name).

These payments has bounced back but I had to pay the charges.

So I went to see my bank in person and they arranged the payment with their own system and I made sure all the details were correct as Xin had specified, this was supposed to take 8 days to transfer, now 12 days later, Xin says it hasn't come through.
She says don't worry if it doesn't work the money will bounce back to me, but of course I will still have to pay charges.

In one of her recent emails she said:

"Now this is the newest news

A123 20AH pouch cell have stopped producing .

Now the cells dont have too much stock until sell out

I.e. Once we sell out all stock,it cant have stock any more ...

If has any purchase plans in future ,pls get ready for it in advance"

Go figure

[cwah]

No more A123 then ?

[ohzee]

Interesting. Sure am glad I have my stock.

[deVries]

No more A123 then ?

I will be doing a small order very soon, so I'll let you know if it completes. If anyone in the USA wants these cells, then you can still join that group buy. See my OP in the For Sale area for details.

[Sutho]

No more A123 then ?

Maybe this is because they have a new pouch cell they are producing?

See: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/a123-says-battery-technology-evs-143720612.html

[MrJoshua]

The "We are out of stock soon, order now" thing is a push tactic. I would be surprised if they are truly out.

[999zip999]

E.S sales = What % of A23 20ah- B - grade cels world wide ? From Victpower ? Big weenie you . Kick them..

[deVries]

No more A123 then ?

Maybe this is because they have a new pouch cell they are producing?

See: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/a123-says-battery-technology-evs-143720612.html

Good find Sutho.

At least we will find-out if all these recent cells were just a one time dump or a "next gen" cell is headed our way to buy soon too. I tend to believe now with more battery competition that A123 can't just sell their cells to captive Borg auto companies and remain in business. Of course, A123 may already be a captive slave of the auto industry, so it will keep being bailed-out by financing from the auto industry too. At least we can buy from China now.

There was a quote from some vip at GM about the Volt already using a special version of A123 chemistry in their cells, which is supposed to be more stable in extreme temps.

[webfootguy]

The reality is that A123Systems has about 5 months of cash on hand (go read their shareholder reports). If they do not find more financing or reduce costs (layoffs, drop products,etc.) or suddenly sign a big contract with up front $$, they will probably go Chapter 11 in 6 to 12 months. This does not mean someone else could not come in and buy their Intellectual Property and produce cells based on A123 chemistry but but it does not guarantee it. If A123 goes under, it would be a sad day for all of us.

They are not making good penetration into volume electric car ventures. Nissan did their own batteries, Chevy chose another vendor for the Volt, Tesla does their own, etc. I'm hopeful, but they are geared up to be a big vendor (i.e. produce large volume) and unfortunately do not have the sales numbers to support the cost of their infrastructure.

I've been there at a startup company going from day 1 to >1Billion/year in revenue and there are any number of mistakes or events out of your control that can take it all down. High risk, high reward.

[tkollen]

Yeah, unfortunately it looks like you are right. A123's stock price is today down at $0.71, down 50% from last week which is a far cry from its opening price of $28 two years ago. I tried to call A123Systems today to ask about the single cells available on the Chinese market but they don't seem to answer their phones.

[deVries]

Yeah, unfortunately it looks like you are right. A123's stock price is today down at $0.71, down 50% from last week which is a far cry from its opening price of $28 two years ago. I tried to call A123Systems today to ask about the single cells available on the Chinese market but they don't seem to answer their phones.

A123 consistently gets more or renewed financing deals from big industry players that buy their products. Unfortunately, this means more exclusive supply chains to "protected" customers & *maybe* continued backdoor plant "leakage" in China or Korea, IMO. This is good for us hobby players if we're willing to buy from China *assuming* supply remains. USA made cells only showed-up in China after the defect announcement, so that Made in USA supply may end completely once sold-out.

I really don't think A123 will disappear, transportation/utilities customers want their products, but it is possible some 3rd party preys on a Chapter 11. So far, A123 "power players" probably get better deals by investment financing & getting exclusive purchase contracts to be a better deal for them. Keeps A123 dependent on their money and exclusive supply requirements effectively "owning" or capturing their product and controlling A123 supply too.

[Ypedal]

just dropped into the site for a visit.. had been a while.. this came up :

http://www.a123systems.com/lithium-ion- ... nology.htm

[Harold in CR]

Got this from another place. Cells are in a GT race car.

This pack uses the new upgraded version of the A123Systems 26650 M1 cells (Called the "M1B" model 26650, not to be confused with "B grade" cells.) In addition to the nifty black stripes printed on the end of the cells, they have more than 10% higher power output and about 10% more energy content in the same size cell. The M1B cells each weigh a touch more than the standard M1 cells.

[deVries]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. Today and the day after filing my PayPal dispute Victpower informs me that my merchandise is ready to ship so I cancelled the dispute and hope everything is OK. In the meantime I made some inquiries with some of the vendors you suggested. Ping Batteries tells me that they don't use A123 20AH flat cells since all such cells on the market are B-grade. Can this be true? It seems that Victpower is the only supplier on the market with battery packs based on this kind of cells.

Did you receive your items from Victpower ok?

Has anyone received any 20Ah cells from Victpower recently????????

[deVries]

Had to get a refund from Victpower, because they don't have 1st Quality Full Tab Cells for 3+ weeks now. Xin gave full refund in less than 24hrs. So, refund service was excellent.

1/2 Tab cells are still available. One tab will have lots of tiny round holes in it. See post for pics:

Group Buy A123 20Ah Cells USA Only!

[flexy]

Had to get a refund from Victpower, because they don't have 1st Quality Full Tab Cells for 3+ weeks now. Xin gave full refund in less than 24hrs. So, refund service was excellent.

1/2 Tab cells are still available. One tab will have lots of tiny round holes in it. See post for pics:

Group Buy A123 20Ah Cells USA Only!

Did you use paypal?

[deVries]

Had to get a refund from Victpower, because they don't have 1st Quality Full Tab Cells for 3+ weeks now. Xin gave full refund in less than 24hrs. So, refund service was excellent.

1/2 Tab cells are still available. One tab will have lots of tiny round holes in it. See post for pics:

Group Buy A123 20Ah Cells USA Only!

Did you use paypal?

Yes.

[minuteman2k]

I believe A123 has been given just enough money

to maintain a Heart Beat, i dont know how much or for how long

This company looks down on selling to individuals, cos you look ugly and dress funny

They honestly believe selling to OEMs is the way forward

Sad but true

[agniusm]

I had somewhere here a thread on buying from vicpower, accidentally made a small discovery today. Cells made in Korea weight less than those in USA, see photos:

The made in USA cell (close to spec. 480g):


The made in Korea cell (100g less from spec):


Thought would be useful for someone...
Agnius

[docnjoj]

100 grams (3.3 oz) is a big difference. Has anyone tested these two cells for heating and C rate?
otherDoc

[mistercrash]

I would love to build a 24S2P pack someday, that would be something like 10 and a half pounds less with Korean cells. Thanks Agniusm.

[agniusm]

I would love to build a 24S2P pack someday, that would be something like 10 and a half pounds less with Korean cells. Thanks Agniusm.

I wouldn't be so sure. Korean i got was at 0.01V meaning dead. This just shows that there are fake ones on the market.

[oatnet]

I had somewhere here a thread on buying from vicpower, accidentally made a small discovery today. Cells made in Korea weight less than those in USA, see photos:

The made in USA cell (close to spec. 480g):
The made in Korea cell (100g less from spec):

Thought would be useful for someone...
Agnius

Back in April, I posted that the USA/ cells were494g vs the 2010 cell_man made in korea 20ah's (494g vs 466g). I also noticed the foil was much thicker on the USA cells, that is my theory on the weight difference. However, the 393g you posted is less than the 399g the 16ah cells weighed... What are the outer dimensions of the 393g cells?

http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=29959&start=15#p569410

[agniusm]

Well, cells are identical in size. I was doing some safety tests on these cells, check out later comming week on my a123 kit thread, will be posting videos. A glimpse, Korean ones were dried out inside or missing electrolit completely.