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recharge cost

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Grieselbrand

Electrical
Aug 20, 2014
2
Hi, I have no engineering background whatsoever.
I'm trying to estimate the recharge cost of a battery, say lead acid.

So if the battery characteristic is as follows:
capacity is 15000 Wh.
Charge efficiency is 80%
Charge current is 15% of capacity, ie. 2,250 Wh
Electricity cost is 1 USD/kWh (on grid)

If the battery is discharged for 5000 W for 1 hour,
then I need 6000 W to fully recharge?
And it would cost me USD 6 to recharge? Is that right?
What is the charge current for in this case then?

Thx
 
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IS this for school? Student posting is not allowed.

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faq731-376
7ofakss

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529

Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
 
Not for school, I'm making biz case on battery replacement.
The current solution uses VRLA, trying to compare the cost if replace it with Zinc air.
Like I said, I have zero knowledge on electricity/battery.
I just want to make a cost projection.
 
If that's the plan, then I would question the approach as suspect. If the consumption is unchanged, and charging efficiency is unchanged, why would the battery chemistry matter? Battery chemistry relates to:
> number of cycles of recharging
> robustness to charging conditions
> robustness to discharging conditions
> life cycle cost

TTFN
faq731-376
7ofakss

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529

Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
 
Grieselbrand; Your assumption above is essentially correct. Off by a couple of hundred watts. Also 80% charging efficiency is probably too high.

Keith Cress
kcress -
 
Who the heck pays $1 USD per kWh for grid electricity? I'm paying $0.10

One nit: Why do you bother using Wh as a unit for most of your stuff, and kWh for the cost? Why not just use kWh throughout?

If you discharge @ 5kW for 1 hour, you need 6.25kWh to recharge at stated efficiency. Around here, that would cost you 63 cents.
 
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