lifespan of the Qikpac battery

QIKPAC batteries are designed to have a “lifespan” (“the number of charge cycles before a noticeable (~20%-30%) drop of capacity” – but even then they still work) between 1500 and 2500 charge cycles. Effectively, battery lifespan does not mean end of life, it just means significantly reduced run time.

In personal equipment like cell phones, Li-ion batteries are allowed to drain to 0% from a top charge of 100%. As such, they will exhibit a decrease in battery capacity after only 500 charge cycles, or approximately 18–24 months based on daily use, which most cell phones users will have experienced. They still store power, just with a shortened run time.

By limiting the extremes of the charge state, and controlling charge and discharge speeds, of QIKPAC’s Li-ion cells, OE has increased the “lifespan” by as much as fivefold. QIKPAC batteries are pre-programmed to shut down with 10% charge left and charge only to 90%, however long they are plugged in. This minimal limitation (to 200Wh usable energy) extends the “lifespan” of the battery, potentially to 2500 cycles, depending on environmental conditions (ambient temperature, time between charges, etc) before a noticeable degradation of storage capacity. As QIKPAC is primarily a commercial use battery, and a working year is often 250 days, its lifespan could be as much as 10 years, but certainly at least five.

In essence, by reducing the single charge usable capacity of QIKPAC, by just 20%, the user gets five times more charge cycle use – thereby reducing the battery “cost per charge” by 80%.