This is a good question and one which is being debated on this and other forums pretty intensively. What is an A123? And do the Chinese have the same concept of it as westerners have? This seems to be in question. My mother-in-law brings lots of "Nike", and "Mickey Mouse", and other things for the kids that any westerner would immediately recognize as counterfeits. Is it the same with batteries? I intend to go to China to investigate exactly this issue, among others.
A123 has been suggested to be a name given to anything with LiFePo constructed in certain ways, and not actually anything from the A123 factories, although perhaps cloned to look like it. Is this reasonable a suggestion or outrageous? I have no idea. However, it is certainly worth investigating. Others have suggested that A123 are just that, only the factory rejects. The Chinese A123 factory is near Victpower, and OSN. So, it is possible. However, I am pretty skeptical. Some say genuine from USA, or Korea. However, this involves lots of shuffling.
Victpower has a factory with 100-200 employees according to Alibaba. OSN has between 11-50 employees. However, there is a factory a province away (less as the crow flies), the Jiangxi Jingang Energy Technology Co., which was the official provider of batteries for the 2008 Olympics which has between 500-1000 employees and the capability of producing 30,000ah a month. These are in my estimation likely the real guys. Not that the others aren't. However, getting the Olympic nod is a big deal (I know, because "Uncle" Liu was a producer of carved statues with Pakistani rock, and it is difficult to get the Olympic moniker and severely punished for fraudulent claims). Now, whether you can get small quantities from them I do not know. My guess without having travelled there yet is that this factory is the real deal, and makes the lion share of batteries, and for a price, makes the technology for producing batteries in various styles available to the other players. Victpower produces batteries, but I have read from their literature that they specialized in the round tubes style. However, my guess is that they are now producing the prismatic pouches because they saw a market, and getting better at it. OSN, I haven't researched yet, but they seem to specialize in customer service. Both have spent lots of time on reaching a western audience, and have no problems with dealing with smaller quantities. Whether one is better than the other only time will tell. However, whether they are genuine A123 as westerners would expect brand wise is perhaps doubtful. You just need to get feedback from trusted sources (and Doctorbass is that, but you might not get the same treatment because you carry less weight) and make your own educated guess. What really matters is the quality that shows up at your door. Also, just because someone gives a certain testimonial on ES means nothing. Be cautious, and good luck.
