...aaaand, there you hit it on the head. Through universities is how the majority of the interesting cells I see used are sourced. That being said, I do know a guy in China who builds M1 packs and sells them for, last I saw, ~$12/cell+shipping assembled. ..you know, if you get bored of getting them for free through your university.
http://www.emissions-free.com/
If you want info on using Turnigy batteries in small EVs (scooters, ebikes, etc), the best resource I know is the forum over at endless-sphere.com. Now let me temper that recommendation...make sure you've got your tin foil hat and fireproof shorts on and take anything said that isn't directly backed up by hard data/proof with a moderate sized grain of salt. There are a lot of very post-active people over there with no actual experience with the stuff they're talking about, just repeating second-hand information over and over, sometimes misinterpreted and/or misunderstood. ..I admit, for a little while I was one of them, until I realized wtf I was doing and shut the hell up... Once you dig through the piles of crap, though, and find the probably ~40-50% of the members who do actually do stuff and have first-hand knowledge and experience on what they're talking about, I don't think you'll find a larger group of people who have used those batteries for exactly the application you're talking about.