Re: AC to DC drive

[Schmitt@aerovironment.com (Schmitt, Frank)]

I believe the USE S-10 conversions did *not* use an automatic transmission.
The one's I've seen have a kludgey center console that houses the gear
selector, whereas AT S-10s (and GM EV S-10s) have column shifter.

Still, the AC motors used in single gear drives are usually designed to run
at relatively high speeds (10 kRPM), so I imagine that their system may be a
full-time first gear system. You may be able to retrofit a standard 5-speed
transmission for not too many $$.

Finally, a few months ago someone on the list was closing out a bunch of old
USE inventory, including a couple of drive systems. You might still be able
to get a working one. This system is kind of pokey (60 kW), but nicely put
together.

The weakest part of these trucks were the batteries. They had strings of
unregulated Hawkers sitting in a big box which straddled the drive shaft
under the cab and bed. It might be a good idea to replace these with
floodeds or regulated sealed batteries.

-Frank