Ligo10X Battery

Introduction

Grin's modular LiGo battery family was born in response to the transportation restrictions placed on large lithium ebike packs. Properly certified batteries under 100 watt-hours can ship with many fewer restrictions than large packs, and are even allowed aboard passenger aircraft with your carry-on luggage. The LiGo battery concept involves creating small stand-alone 99 watt-hour modules which can be easily stacked together in parallel to form a single large battery, but broken down for shipping.

Our original LiGo and LiGo+ modules (2016-2022) had all the cells in 10x1 row, and relied on two pairs of wires with Anderson Powerole connectors for the mating hookup. The replacement LiGo10x devices have the cells in a more compact 3x4x3 layout with a clip-together mechanical and electrical interface.  

10X Features

• 36V 2.8Ah pack, can stack as many in parallel as required
• Rugged metal enclosure handles drops and impacts
• FOUR Integrated XT60 connectors (2M + 2F) per module
• Up to 8 units click together in parallel to act as a single large battery pack
• Mechanical twist lock and clip latch hold connector packs secure
• Includes overhanging lip for sliding into battery rail on bike
• BLE wireless connectivity with cell phone and see individual cell data and settings
• Integrated momentary push button for on/off and other functions
• Ultra low quiescent current drain (<2uA in ship mode)
• Five embedded RGB LED's for state of charge and other information
• No spark when plugged into capacitive loads
• Cell balancing at all voltages, not just full charge
• IR compensated over-charge and over-discharge current protection (no premature cutoffs from high current)

Connectors

Each battery has two male and two female XT60 ports. All ports share the same common bus and have the same voltage and can be used either for charging or discharging. If used with the battery mounting rail, the two male XT60 pins will mate with the rail, leaving the female XT60s exposed for accessories. The base of the rail will feature various charge port connectors and a + and—battery lead to mate with the motor controller. 

Latching

When two LiGo 10X batteries are connected together, they are secured together by four mechanical latches and not just the mated XT60 plugs. On the top of the pack, two snap latches over the XT60 connectors click together automatically and must be depressed to be released. Meanwhile, on the bottom of the battery are two twist lock latches. These rest flush to the surface when disconnected but fully lock the bases together when rotated 90 degrees. Please see our short Instagram video to see how this works. 

Rail

The LiGo 10X rail is machined from aluminum and can be secured to bike frames either through water bottle eyelets or with hose clamps. The rail design is not as far as the battery itself, but the plan is to produce the rail in various lengths (for 3, 4, 5, or 6 LiGos) and offer both a stand-alone controller hookup or a longer plate that integrates a Baserunner controller. 

Certifications

The LiGo 10X complies with UN38.3, EN15194, EN62133-2, FCC/IC/CE EMC/EMI, and is compatible with the regulatory requirements governing ebike battery packs in most corners of the world, except...

What about UL2271?

Unfortunately, although we designed the LiGo10X BMS to comply with the American UL2271, during the testing phase the standard was updated in a way that prevents the BMS from complying without an extensive redesign that could significantly reduce performance without increasing safety, and would require complete retesting against the other standards. Since the LiGo10X battery was built with safety protections beyond the standards it meets and exceeds those of other products on the market, we don't think it makes sense to delay the release of the LiGo10X Battery further.

For individuals who require a UL-listed battery for various insurance or bylaw reasons, we are planning to complete a UL2271:2023 compliant LiGo10X battery in 2025 that we will offer concurrently with the Non-UL pack. It will be more expensive due to a doubling of the number of mosfets, but we will work hard to limit the performance reductions stemming from that requirement.

Videos

In both 2022 and 2023, we applied for a grant from the BC Center for Innovation and Clean Energy for this battery project.  We didn't get selected either year, but at least we have our video submissions on the project to share!:

CAD Files

Here are the current CAD drawings and 3D files for the 10X module for those who want to play with design integration. These may be subject to slight changes as we optimize aspects of the design both for CNC pilot builds and for injection molding, but those deviations should be minor.

LiGo 10X CAD Files

Ligo 10X Part File [3D .STEP] (10.75 MB)

LiGo 10X Mechanical Drawing [PDF] (113.04 kB)

Specifications

External Specs

Internal Specs

Wireless Protocol

For OEM customers looking to more deeply integrate the LiGo 10X into their system design, we've also published the preliminary wireless protocol that will allow your system to connect with each LiGo module and interrogate the state of charge, cell voltages, usage history, and other details. 

LiGo 10X Wireless

LiGo 10X BLE Communication Protocol (164.94 kB)

Cost

These LiGo 10X battery modules are going to be expensive. Expect the price to be at least twice the cost per watt-hour as a single large format battery pack. That's because a battery made up of multiple LiGo modules has way more BMS circuits, way more connectors, way more enclosures etc. as a single large pack.  So if you do not need the versatility and air travel convenience of the LiGo modules, it will always make more economic sense to get a single large battery. The LiGo 10X modules are intended for those who require the ability to fly with their ebike, or those who find the whole modular and stackable battery system appealing for other reasons that make it worth the price. 

Availability

We have been making and testing dozens of prototypes of the LiGo 10X batteries here at Grin since early 2023, refining and improvements the design based on our internal reviews, and our first sales to external pilot customers will be in Dec 2024. If you want to be part of this, please sign up to our LiGo 10X Beta Tester form, and we will send out an email to select customers when ready.