About this replacement
Lenovo ThinkPad P72 / P73 — 11.25V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (01AV497)
This 11.25V 8600mAh (96.75Wh) Li-Polymer battery replaces the original cell in the Lenovo ThinkPad P72 and P73 mobile workstations. It fits the 20MB, 20MC, and 20QR chassis variants, including the ThinkPad P72 (20MB002UGE) and P73-20QR0026GE. Cross-reference OEM part numbers 01AV497, L17M6P52, L17C6P51, or SB10K97636 before ordering.
- P72 and P73 shared battery platform: Both the P72 and P73 use the same 11.25V three-cell Li-Polymer architecture, the same physical connector, and the same BMS handshake protocol. Lenovo sourced cells under multiple part numbers — 01AV497, 01AV498, 5B10W13903, and SB10T83146 — all covering the same electrical specification across production runs.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell on a ThinkPad P72 under combined GPU and CPU load. The BMS held the 11.25V nominal rail without tripping, and the charge controller accepted a full charge cycle without throwing a fault. BIOS battery status cleared to normal after one complete learn cycle.
- Post-install calibration on ThinkPad P72: After fitting this cell, run one full discharge until the system hibernates at low battery, then charge uninterrupted to 100% without interruption. This resets the BIOS battery learn cycle and clears the inaccurate health warning that routinely appears after any cell swap on this platform.
BIOS reporting battery health as poor after fitting a new cell in the P72
The ThinkPad BIOS reads EEPROM data written by the original cell — charge count, rated capacity, and cycle history. When a new cell arrives with factory-default EEPROM values, the BIOS flags a health mismatch and reports the battery as degraded or unknown. This is not a fault with the replacement cell. One full discharge-to-hibernate followed by a complete uninterrupted charge lets the BIOS rewrite its battery learn table against the new cell's actual chemistry. After that cycle, the health indicator returns to normal.
ThinkPad P72 shutting down at 20–30% charge shown on screen
The P72 pulls significant current when the Xeon or Core HX processor and Quadro GPU are both under full load. If the cell voltage drops below roughly 9V under that combined draw, the BMS cuts output before the OS fuel gauge reaches zero — the system shuts off while the screen still shows 20–30% remaining. The fuel gauge IC hasn't yet recalibrated to the new cell's actual discharge curve. Run two to three full discharge-and-charge cycles; the gauge IC maps the voltage-to-capacity curve of the new cell and the premature shutdowns stop.