Which Battery is Best For a Van Conversion – Leisure or Lithium?
Which battery is best for a van conversion – Leisure or Lithium? Before we get into which battery is best for a van conversion we first need to look at why a battery is needed.
Why do you need a battery in a van conversion
For the majority of people that either self convert a van or purchase a fully converted van, the purpose is to travel. That travel may be fairly local or further afield and for many, another country or two. The appeal of travelling in a van conversion often also comes with being off-grid.
Off-Grid
To be off grid means you may want certain provisions. A way to carry water, heat water, cook and the list can go on from the bare basics to luxury.
As an example in our van conversion it was important to us to have a water supply that would last us being able to wash up, have showers and have general access to water for cooking, beverages and other necessities for 3+ days. We also wanted to have a toilet and a shower in our van conversion (4 children and a dog makes it a necessity for us). The toilet can be waterless to save on water but the shower of course needs a heating supply and a water supply. Which brings me nicely on to electrics.
You may want to have access to electric for any of the following:
- Fridge
- Cooker (could also be gas)
- Heating Water (could also be heated through gas)
- To charge any devices (mobile phone, laptops, ipad, camera etc…)
- To use any of your usual household appliances (more on this in a moment).
Batteries
To have power in your van you will need 2 things. Something that creates the power and something that holds the power. We are starting with the latter, holding power. In a van conversion that means batteries.
There are two main types of batteries on the market for Van Conversions and Campervans.
Leisure Batteries and Lithium Batteries so what is the difference?
Leisure Batteries Vs Lithium Batteries
The answer to this is a very much down to preference and finance. There is no doubt that Lithium batteries have a much longer shelf life and you are also able to use more of the battery capacity before charging. However, that comes at a much higher cost than the AGM Leisure batteries
AGM Leisure Battery
- Can run to 50% capacity before needing to be recharged
- £170 – £300+
- Lifespan 4-8 yrs with regular maintenance & careful charging
Lithium Battery
- Can run to 80% capacity before needing to be recharged
- £700 – £1000+
- Lifespan 8-10 yrs with regular maintenance & careful charging
- Faster Charging than AGM Leisure Batteries
- Weigh considerably less than AGM Leisure batteries
So, Lithium is definitely better but it comes at a much higher cost. There is always the interim solution. This is the option we chose. We added two AGM batteries to our van conversion and know that we will be upgrading to Lithium at a later date (or on the next conversion).
Lithium is also considerably lighter than the agm leisure battery and so if weight is a concern and you are not on a tight budget then Lithium could be the answer. For either battery getting an understanding of Dof (Depth of Charge) and charge cycles will really help you to prolong the life of your battery.
After a few people from our Facebook Page asked about the products we used I created an easy to shop Van Build List on our Amazon Shop we may get a small commission when you click on our links at no additional cost to you and as always appreciate your support.
Check out our electrics post. You can also see how our Iveco Daily van Conversion has been progressing.
