Battery Replacement & Service Options

The 8v PbA cells are way past their expected lifespan. Anyone still running around on 8v cells is living on the edge. There are no new 8v cells and the available used ones are marginal at best. You really have two options:

  1. Bullet12v Spoof - This is a tried-and-true solution to dead 8v PbA batteries. Designed originally by the Arizona electric vehicle innovator EV Bones, this solution combines 26 12v PbA cells with 2.55k and 5.11k resistors to allow the 39 sense leads that are normally connected to each of the 39 8v cells, to connect to 26 12v cells. There are many Ranger EVs on the road today with the 12v Spoof. See EV Bones Design. and 12v Spoof Notes. Bruce Westlake has documented his 12v spoof conversion.

  2. BulletLifFePO4 - Ford launched the Ranger EV with 39 8v PbA batteries and later added an option of NiMH chemistry batteries, The NiMH has been the gold standard utilized in all the factory hybrids sold before 2010. The new king of the hill battery chemistry is Lithium based LiFePO4 which is being used in the plugin Toyota Prius and Chevrolet’s extended range Volt. That same Lithium based chemistry is available to Ranger EV owners. While not yet ready for primetime, there are 6 LiFePO4 powered Ranger EVs on the road today with more being added. While these first LiFePO4 conversions have all utilized rare NiMH components, the newest conversions are planning to utilize newer technology. If you’re ready to upgrade your truck, contact REVolt for the latest recommended configuration.

PbA Ranger EVs

The heart of the Ranger EV is the traction battery. Replacement modules are available for both PbA and NiMH Ranger EVs, and some service/renewal is available for NiMH.

The 12v NiMH cells were expected to have a lifespan of about 10 year. While most NiMH cells in use today are now approximately 10 years old, many of them seem to be holding up better than expected. If the Battery Condition Test is showing any cells with low output, or the NiMH Range Restore TSB 00 22 04 has not restore your truck’s normal range, you have several options:

  1. BulletNew Panasonic NiMH Cells - Legal issues prevent the use of large format NiMH cells from being sold for use in electric wehicles.

  2. BulletUsed Panasonic NiMH Cells - Limited supplies of used NIMH cells are available from Ranger Electric Trucks in Oregon. The batteries are only available to RAV4 and Ranger EV vehicle owners and have the advantage of being tested. Ranger Electric Trucks contact information is available on the REVolt Resources/Parts page.

  3. BulletNiMH Rejuvination - Besides new and quality used NiMH cells, Ranger Electric  offers a proprietary process to ‘rejuvenate’ the NiMH packs. This process requires the entire pack be returned to Ranger Electric Trucks. If the range has faded and no one has tampered with the batteries, their battery rejuvenation may be able to return it to full health without module replacements. Ranger Electric Trucks contact information is available on the REVolt Resources/Parts page.

  4. BulletLifFePO4 - Lithium based chemistry is also available to Ranger EV owners. If you’re ready to upgrade your truck, contact REVolt for the latest recommended configuration.

NiMH Ranger EVs

This diagram shows how sense leads 1 through 38 connect to the 26 12v modules and resistors in the EV Bones Designed conversion from 8v to 12v PbA. Also take a look at Bruce Westlake’s well documented 12v conversion at his site here.