Rabbit P/U conversion...Beastie Battery Report

[John Wayland <dat1200@europa.com>]

>I'm currently working on a 120v VW Rabbit Pickup project myself. I figured
>that 120v worth of Trojan T-105's will push it. (1220lbs of lead)....
>Anyway, I figure that 120v of T-105's would get me about a 60 mile range
>with the efficient front wheel drive setup and my driving style. 

    I think the T-105 is a perfect battery for this project. I also
agree that with 20 of them in this small minitruck, the range will
indeed, be around 60-75 miles per charge.
     The 40 T-105s that have been in continual service for now nearly
two and a half years in the Red Beastie are still performing flawlessly.
Though the speedometer has not worked more than it has, a conservative
estimate is that the Beastie has more than 20,000 miles on this enormous
pack, and with each individual battery never 'seeing' more than 250 amps
and typically only seeing 50-75 amps while the truck is cruising at
55-60 mph, they should last many more years. 
      I just performed the third watering ceremony two days ago.....just
shy of 6 gallons of distilled water (120 cells to top up). The fact that
the batteries have not used much water in nearly two and a half years,
is a good indicator that they are not being beat to death with high
discharges or abusive charging. 
     Though I still have not finished posting the final chapters of the
'Return of the Beastie' story, in the final parts you will hear about
how the battery pack delivered fantastic range on this past summer's
Portland to Seattle trip.
       Good luck to both Mr. Rookie and Mr. Neon with their Rabbit truck
projects.

See Ya..........John Wayland