MidwestMechanic

Has anyone actually sourced the 210Ah sodium-ion prismatic cells in the US yet? Everything I'm seeing ships from China with 6-8 week lead times and the import tariff situation makes the sub-$70/kWh number a lot murkier by the time it clears customs. I'm not saying it's not worth it — the cycle life argument alone is compelling if those 10,000-cycle claims hold up in real-world conditions — but I'd pump the brakes on calling it a clear win over EVE LF280K until we see some independent long-term discharge data. Would love to be wrong here. What are people actually paying landed?

From a shop perspective: the early Leaf pattern the Recurrent data describes is exactly what we see. Any 2011–2017 Leaf that spent real time in a hot climate comes in with at least 1–2 capacity bars lost, sometimes more. We've started running a quick LeafSpy check during any Leaf service appointment to give owners a heads-up. If you're buying a used Leaf, make the seller run LeafSpy before you sign — five minutes, tells you exactly what you're getting.

The DC motor price jump is real. I sourced a Warp 9 for a customer build in 2021 at $1,800 — couldn't believe the $4,650 figure until I pulled up Advanced DC's own price sheet. For budget builds I've been looking at surplus industrial AC induction motors with a VFD as an alternative. Not plug-and-play, but the price delta is significant enough to be worth engineering. Anyone done a serious AC induction build with a non-EV-specific controller?