[disposeofnick9]

Chinese cells are like illicit drugs: quality varies widely and it's hard to know what someone is getting. I bought 4 laptop batteries from Amazon and all had overstated capacities of the 18650 chemistries... some had 2000 mAh (10% overstated), others 1800 (22% overstated) , when the 4s3p packs were marked "8800 mAh." I tested the cells individually, and they came out to about 85-99% of spec. The problem is also in the manufacturing because I have zero confidence in these cells not development crystals under anything more than 0.2C dis/charge and lower temperatures.

I think we need an independent UL/CE for evaluating and lifecycle testing and certifying cells are less likely to short out or die prematurely by digging deep into how a battery is made against its specifications, conducting MTTF tests and many other tests and approaches for holistic grading and improvements. Otherwise, fake and shoddy cells will continue to flood the market with phony and dangerous goods. It can't be leveraged as a bureaucratic industry or incumbent protectionism, but to keep standards high as are for all other wall-powered devices. This will knock players whom can't or won't make good products out of the supply-chain, but they deserve it.

[alex_hirner]

There is significant effort (and progress) in standardizing and contrasting test methods [1]. This usually constitues a good first step in a market of lemons. [1] http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/09/f18/es_cunningham...