INSIDE
By Stephen Metzger
Managing Director
Small Vehicle Resource, LLC
[email protected]
www.smallvehicleresource.com
THE GATED
COMMUNITY
V
ehicular applications of lithium
power are in the news pretty
consistently, although the
focus is on the transformation of con-
ventional vehicles from hydrocarbon
to electric power. As compared with
the market for golf car-type vehicles,
of course, the market on the conven-
tional side is obviously much larger
for now.
The Lithium Revolution
Comes To The Gated
Community
conducted an informative interview
with RELiON’s Christine Feodorov,
Vice President, Product Management
and Strategy for the company. Here
is what she was able to tell us about
her company’s groundbreaking prod-
uct line of lithium batteries:
Lithium solutions for small vehicles
I make a point of saying, “for now”,
because small vehicles, such as our
personal transportation vehicles
(PTVs), will launch, in the not too
distant future, into the global ur-
ban mobility market. And, in many
ways, our gated communities offer a
robust, real world testing ground for
the vehicles that will energize urban
mobility.
The basis for this extrapolation into
the future is the lithium battery, and
in this case, the future is now. Yes, did
you know that you can replace your
lead acid batteries with lithium bat-
teries? There are such products out
in the market now, waiting for you.
RELiON Battery has a drop-in solu-
tion
Inside the Gated Community (IGC)
22
WWW.GOLFCAROPTIONS.COM
IGC—Lithium power is a revolu-
tionary power source across many
industries, but Christine, lets focus on
what we in the gated community are
most concerned about, namely, PTVs
and light duty utility vehicles. So, let’s
suppose a typical consumer has an
LSV with lead acid batteries, does RE-
LiON offer a true “drop-in solution”,
should he or she wish to switch over
to lithium power?
Feodorov— Yes, RELiON offers a
true drop-in solution for 48V vehi-
cles. Our InSight 48V030-GC2 is a
standard golf-sized battery so there
are no tray modifications needed.
IGC—What makes RELiON’s InSight
product unique compared to other
lithium batteries?
Feodorov—RELiON’s InSight is
the only battery designed from the
ground up for this market by a team
of people with over 100 years com-
bined experience in the Golf/Utility
Vehicle-type segments. There are nu-
merous differences between InSight
and other lithium batteries, but the
biggest difference is in the BMS and
software.
RELiON’s BMS and intuitive Soft-
ware, not only has sophisticated al-
gorithms to allow for various levels of
protection, it is the only system that
can seamlessly manage regenerative
currents, which means the vehicle
will not experience sudden battery
disconnects. There are many other
unique features and benefits which
can be found on our website relion-
battery.com.
IGC-- Does the battery replacement
require service at a dealership, or can
the average consumer do the change-
out? What would you recommend?
Feodorov—It does not require ser-