Fake ebike battery cells.

[Nealh]

After I posted about finding my 974wh PF celled battery had failed yesterday, I went on to mention other cells and about fake cells due to the very low current supply of quality branded cells.
So though it might be good that we have a dedicated thread on Fake cells and possibly what to look out for in a fake cell, so feel free to add.

 

[Nealh]

Currently on the grape vine there are up to 50k fake 18650 cells on the way to the UK.
Efest and their sister company Imren are currently faking Sam 25R & 30Q clones, the cells appear to look just like them with the same colour wrap but the devil is in the detail.
Below are the pics of the fake cell China low grade cells.
Both carry the Imren brand name and each have a tell tale extra letter added after the cell type to make them look like the real thing being made under licence.
These are said to be sold at a very cheap price.


To add to the faked cell Efest/Imren have apparently acquired a large amount of Samsung discs that create the positive end cap to add to the authenticity.

 

[Michael Love]

Should be a QR code on each cell that can only be produced by Samsung and the like. We scan the QR code and the Samsung website tells us if it is real or not.
Feck, I had a think about this. This won't work.
What about a counter of how many times the QR code has been submitted to Samsung? Any more than a count of 10 and Samsung put a notice up on their site that if this is a new battery's QR code that has been scanned then immediately send back to seller for a refund as it may be fake.

 

[richtea99]

Should be a QR code on each cell that can only be produced by Samsung and the like.

The whole point of QR codes is anyone & everyone can read them, and create them - including Inrem:

They've printed their name on the battery. I think that's enough warning, no?

 

[richtea99]

I had to read the post quite carefully. Twice. Slow me.
Maybe it's worth adding a photo of good versus fake (& labelled as such) side by side, as well as the two fakes side by side. Just a suggestion.

But excellent info, thanks.

 

[Michael Love]

The whole point of QR codes is anyone & everyone can read them, and create them - including Inrem:
View attachment 41650
They've printed their name on the battery. I think that's enough warning, no?

What I was saying is Samsung et Al record how many times the QR code has been submitted to Samsung and if over a threshold, the battery could be fake. Each QR code has a unique code, Samsung checks how many time this code has been submitted, over a certain threshold, Samsung flags it as a possible fake. Would be good, especially if battery is supposed to be new. A flagged up count of how many times the code has been submitted means the battery is not new at all.

 

[Nealh]

Samsung don't print cell amperage on the label.
Samsung do not licence other re sellers to re brand cells.

 

[Nealh]

Good news, since the issue was aired a few days ago on the wider web, Efest has responded and have now withdrawn the cells from sale.
They say the cells are not fake but there take styled on the two Sam cells, however they have so far refused to supply any for testing, the UK wholesaler who sent me the mail shot have also tried to get samples for testing and have been refused. The well known figure 'Mooch' on the ECF forum is one of the main testers and many of the big wholesalers send batteries to him for independent analysis
/testing.

 

[Nealh]

Beware of fake Sony VTC6's at the mo as they are doing the rounds.
The top cap /v+ is obvious the real ones have 3 legs, the fakes have 4 legs.
They also have a fake bar code so can be recognised, 6 71072 07913 5.

 

[Nealh]

Fake Sony vtc5's are on the market so do your homework carefully is buying any and as in #9 check the v+ cap. The fakes are using 4 point leg contact on the v+ cap, genuine cells only have a tri contact on the v+.