I stopped by my local Kawasaki dealer yesterday and they showed me a rather inflammatory, pardon the pun, flyer put out by Yuasa that compared Lithium batteries to ticking time bombs. Gives me great confidence in the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner as I believe Yuasa supplies the lithium ion batteries for that aircraft that have been catching fire.

There are differences in lithium ion and lithium iron phosphate cell chemistries. One thing that prompted me to go with Shorai's was the reported high stability of the LiFePo4 cells compared to the older lithium ions.

Has anyone else heard anything on this?

Didn't Sony have some trouble with laptop batteries igniting?

Pretty sure those were Lithium Ion, whole different animal from what I understand.

http://www.superhawkforum.com/forums/general-discussion-30/r-r-shorai-battery%3D-epic-fail-24934/

Well, I did some Googling and came up with exactly two battery fires related to a Shorai, one an ancient Superhawk that had a runaway voltage regulator and the second was a Ducati 1198 where a bad install allowed the battery + terminal to ground. The battery smoked but that was about it.

On the Superhawk, Shorai picked up the tab for a new battery and paid to have the bike repaired. The older thyristor controlled regulator\rectifiers like on the Superhawk apparently had poor voltage control. Most of us have newer bikes have MOSFETs and much better control of charging system voltage.

I don't know what Yuasa's game is, sounds like sour grapes as they watch a new technology come on line and steal away sales. I noticed they showed one of the built up packs like Ballastic in the flyer. These use the older A123 cylindrical cells wired into a pack. The Shorais is a proprietary prismatic cell design, totally different. Yuasa did not mention Shorai by name.

Bottom line, I don't believe we have any worries with the Shorais, I just think it's wrong that Yuasa took a cheap shot at the emerging LiFePo4 market using scare tactics.

Had a bad voltage regulator on the ZX10 that burned thru and killed a Shorai in the process, but no problems with any fires or nothing like that. And the ones with Sony laptop and Toshiba's for a while there were all Lithium Ion, not the Lithium Iron type like Shorai. By the by, Shorai's customer service is pretty good, as they not only replaced the battery, but gave me a better one and checked and replaced my charger for free!

^^^ That's why I like to go with big names company. Usually they replace your stuff no question asked!

Yup DK! They replaced my 14A with the 18A! So I swapped them in the bikes... Put the 14A in the 10R and the 18A in the 14! Works out great!

I crashed on the 26th and the bike hadn't been fired up (broken pulsar cover) until this morning. The screen read 12.7V and she started fine. It cranked over pretty fast too.

After 2 months, No problems with mine yet. I have the LFX21A6 and have had several segments of 2 weeks of no riding (weather and other considerations). Each time the bike starts up with authority. The LFX21 seems the way to go. With the exception of a 2mm pad it fit perfect.

Each time the bike starts up with authority. The LFX21 seems the way to go.

I have the same battery in my 14 and I agree it is the way to go. I have never understood why guys will go to a 14 or even 12 amp-hour Shorai on this bike to save a couple of extra grams and then complain about slow cranking. If you're that concerned about weight, time to buy a 600 or one of the new lightweight literbikes like the ZX-10R. The LFX21 is the battery that Shorai recommends for the 14 and it does spin through with authority... and still saves around 8 to 9 lbs. I immediately noticed the difference in handling when doing transitions.

I just read an article that went into the grounding of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The batteries that are catching on fire are Lithium-Iron Cobalt chemistry, not the safer Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFeP04 that we have in our Shorais.

The article went on to say that onboard diagnostics indicated the batteries were below their maximum charging limit when they went into melt down mode indicating defects in the cells..... which are manufactured by GS YUasa, same guys bad mouthing the LiFEP04s...go figure! The article went on to say that the Boeing installation does not have adequate cell temperature monitoring and also has inadequate cooling of the battery packs and it could take years to get new batteries certified.

I have a LFX18 in the 14, courtesy of Shorai upgrading the broken one (LFX14A) from the 10R and moved the 14A to the 10R - Now they both start with authority! I didn't go with the larger 21A - never felt that either one if them needed it!