Re: Best vehicle for distance & utility. More specifically.

["steve.richardson" <steve.richardson@cwix.com>]

>I was hoping to hear from someone that had actually put together a long
>distance EV with lead acid batteries.  I have heard of some small trucks on
>this list that go far.  How far (really) What does it take?  I'd like to
>know.  Thanks.
>
>

Hello Lawrence

I've put together what I call a long distance mini truck for my EV commute
to work.  Distance for an EV is relative to the terrain you have to travel.
My EV uses 60-70 amps on flat roads to maintain 55 mph.  On hills (6-7%
grades) it will pull  400-500 amps !  I don't know what the real range
numbers are because my batteries are not broken in yet.

The vehicle you use will depend (or should) on what your commute
requirements are.  Small light compact cars are great for short commutes,
but can't hold a large amount of batteries required for longer rides.  Mini
trucks offer the easiest conversion, in my opinion, because they have the
capacity, for load and braking, to carry larger amounts of batteries.  When
you load up a vehicle with 1000-2000 lbs of batteries I think wind
resistance is the last thing you need to worry about, besides wind
resistance is a variable thing.  One day you may have a tail wind the next a
head wind.

My experience converting the Mitsubishi Might Max, Kostov motor, 48 Optima
batteries and DC Power Systems T-Rex controller is;

-  It has more than adequate performance, can compete with V8's
-  battery management is your biggest problem
-  next time find a truck that has the drive line centered in the frame
-  use a long bed mini truck
-  the mini trucks offer good braking even with a ton of batteries
-  a one ton mini would be ideal
-  keep batteries as low as possible
-  keep battery cables as short as possible
- finally... keep the faith !

Any more questions, please feel free to ask.  Also John Wayland has as much
or more experience converting trucks and cars as anyone.  You will notice on
the EV Photo Album there are a lot of trucks converted, mini's and midsize.

Hope this helps !!

Steve
steve.richardson@cwix.com