An e-rickshaw is one of the few vehicles that does almost exactly the same thing every day: a deep discharge, an overnight charge, seven days a week. That regularity makes the lithium against lead-acid question unusually easy to answer honestly, because the duty cycle is knowable and the arithmetic is short. What follows is that arithmetic, with the numbers you supply rather than numbers we invent.
A battery's useful measure is the energy it holds: volts multiplied by amp hours. A 51.2V 105Ah lithium iron phosphate pack holds about 5.4 kWh; a 51.2V 140Ah pack about 7.2 kWh, and a 150Ah about 7.7 kWh. A 48V lead-acid set of four 12V blocks holds whatever its amp-hour rating gives at the rate it is actually discharged, which is the part that catches people out: lead-acid capacity falls as the discharge rate rises, and an e-rickshaw discharges hard.
That is the first asymmetry. A lithium pack delivers close to its rated energy at the rate a rickshaw uses it, and holds voltage through the discharge instead of sagging as it empties, so the vehicle still pulls at 20% charge.
The number that decides fleet economics is not what a battery costs once. It is how many times you buy one over the same years. So the comparison is cycles, and cycles have to be quoted with the depth of discharge they were measured at — our L3 packs are rated at more than 3,000 full charge cycles.
Put your own replacement cadence beside it. Most operators know theirs to the month: if a lead-acid set is replaced every twelve to eighteen months under e-rickshaw duty, then over a five-year horizon you are comparing one lithium pack against several sets, plus the labour of fitting each one and the days the vehicle was off the road while it happened. We publish no lead-acid figures here, because the honest input is the cadence you already live with rather than a number we assert about a product we do not make.
A lithium pack charges faster and can take charge in the gaps in a working day rather than requiring the vehicle to stand overnight. Under ICAT test conditions with a 1 kW motor our L3 packs deliver 100+ km on a full charge, and a full charge takes about four hours on a 25A charger. For a single owner-driver that is convenience. For a fleet it is capacity: a vehicle that can top up between shifts can run two shifts.
Three of them, and in a fleet they add up faster than the purchase price:
Against that, lithium asks for two things in return: the right charger for the chemistry, and a battery management system doing its job. Every CLN pack ships with the BMS built in, handling protection against over and under voltage, over current, short circuit and temperature, with cell balancing, and the L3 and L5 packs are IP67 rated with app monitoring available.
Worth saying plainly. If a vehicle runs rarely, sits for long periods and is rarely discharged deeply, the cycle-life advantage barely gets used and the case weakens. If the existing charger cannot charge a lithium profile and will not be replaced, the pack will not perform as rated. And a fleet with a spare-battery swap model already working will want to check that the swap logistics still make sense with fewer, longer-lived packs.
Voltage first: a 48V lead-acid system becomes 51.2V in lithium, because sixteen LiFePO4 cells at 3.2V give 51.2V. A 60V system maps to 60.8V, and 64V to twenty cells. The vehicle does not change; the label does. Capacity follows the duty — longer shifts and heavier passenger loads want 140Ah or 150Ah, city running is comfortable on 105Ah.
The full range, with each model's specification, is on the e-rickshaw battery page, and the voltage mapping is explained in more detail under lead-acid to lithium replacement. For a fleet conversion, send the mix of vehicles and the daily running and we will size it pack by pack rather than by category.
Under ICAT test conditions with a 1 kW motor, CLN's L3 packs deliver 100+ km on a full charge. Real range moves with passenger load, terrain, tyre pressure, driving style and the controller, so the figure worth working from is the energy: about 5.4 kWh in a 51.2V 105Ah pack and about 7.7 kWh in a 150Ah. Range is that energy divided by what the vehicle draws per kilometre.
Usually yes. Match the voltage first — a 48V lead-acid system takes a 51.2V lithium pack, a 60V system takes 60.8V — then check the charger suits a lithium profile and that the pack fits the tray. Tell us the make, model and year of the vehicle and we will confirm the fit rather than assume it.
About four hours for a full charge on a 25A charger for the L3 packs, and it can be done in the gaps in a working day rather than requiring the vehicle to stand overnight. For a fleet that is the difference between one shift and two.
It depends on how hard the vehicles work. The case is strongest where a vehicle earns daily and discharges deeply, because there the number of times you replace a battery over the same years decides the economics. Where vehicles run rarely and sit idle, the cycle-life advantage goes unused and the case is weaker.
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