I am making a rover using the l298n motor driver board. I have a good USB battery pack to power my Arduino but I am wondering what batteries I should use for the driver. I am using four 3-6v dc hobby gear motors; two connected to one output of the driver and two to the other. I have tried AA battery packs, 9v batteries, rechargeable high capacity AAs, and even USB battery packs, and none have worked very well for me. I have tried overcharging a few AAs to about 10v collectively and that seems to provide sufficient voltage to get the motors going at a good speed, but they run out of charge after about five minutes of operation. I need something to provide enough power to keep the motors going relatively fast and have enough capacity to handle the load, while maintaining a relatively small size. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thank you!
4 to 6xAA (fresh) should work for a couple of a couple of small hobby motors. In a pinch you could use two 4xAA battery packs, one for each pair of motors.
The ancient, extremely inefficient L298 is a major problem, as it wastes up to half the battery voltage as heat. Buy a modern motor driver. Pololu has the best selection.
I was thinking about something rechargeable if possible. For the driver, bc-robotics.com is my supplier, and if not the l298n then what would you suggest?
Any modern motor driver will work much better than the L298.
Choose one that can handle the total stall current of the motors (look that up).
According to bc-robotics the stall current of each motor is 1.0-1.5A, I don't really know where to start with the driver. Would you recommend something as a shield, or something breadboard compatible? Pins or screw terminals?
Complete wiring diagrams, operating instructions and code are provided.
The TB6612FNG would probably work for your project. Each driver could handle two motors in parallel.
I would prefer to get something from bc robotics, would this work instead? https://bc-robotics.com/shop/sparkfun-motor-driver-dual-tb6612fng/
That is the same driver, different board maker.
Thank you. Do you have any suggestions for the batteries?
Did you read post #2?
Yes, but as I said previously I am looking for something rechargeable
I would suggest you determine what you need. How much is the project going to draw and how long is it to be operational before recharging. Is it intermittent in operation, that will also affect batteries. jremington did not state primary cells, rechargeable in many different chemistries are available in the AA size. I would also recommend using freshly charged batteries.
A rough estimate of battery lifetime is as follows:
(battery life in hours) = (battery capacity in mAh)/(average circuit current draw in mA).
- 70%
I thought the same thing. 
It is a project built strictly for fun (and bragging rights), and is operational for between 20-60 minutes at a time, so yes it is definitely in intermittent operation. I don't know what the current draw is but I will get back to you on that 
Using a CMOS driver will add an appreciable amount of time to your battery life as you will not be burning up 2.4 times the current as heat. That bridge has a darlington on each side so about 0.6V drop per transistor times 2 as it is a darlington configuration yields 1.2 volts per side times two sides. The battery over there should be just about right.
What do you mean by “the battery over there”
By the information requested but you have not supplied!
Ok just getting to that. Before I start running tests, I would put two 4x AA battery packs in series connected to the driver and then measure the current draw, right?