I’ve built an efoil with 18650’s that was slightly underpowered for my weight and board (or I couldn’t figure out how to tune the ESC), and I’m making a v2.0 update with 180 21700 cells in a 20s9p configuration. This configuration requires a connection between 2 sets of 9 cells, with each set adjacent to eachother. I would normally just connect the two sets with a metal plate or nickel strip (as shown in image Option #2), but I am wondering if this may cause too much strain on the interior cells since electricity will tend to take the shortest path through the closest cells in the set. Would it be better to add a plate connecting each set, and then add wires (with the same length) to different parts of the corresponding set so that the electricity has the same length of travel between different areas in the set (as shown in image Option #1)?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I’ve never had to wire a battery with this type of configuration.