evnz

After 6 demoralising months I finally had the car back on the road with new lead batteries. This time I went for Trojan 8 volt 170 AHr T-175 I think. They weigh 29 Kg each , much heavier than the Endurants. This meant I only had 72 Volts in the system instead of the 96 volts of the first conversion but the pack weight at 261kg is much heavier than the 176kg of the 8 Endurants. This meant taking out the 2 back passenger seats and making the car a 2-seater only. It now weighed 1,000 Kg as against the old 1050. Performance wise it has better range (25-30 km) compared with 15-20 on the old car, This is still not very good, but I felt another 24 volts (another 87 kg)to take pack voltage to 96 volts  was too much weight. Consequentky at 72volts  the acceleration is poorer and ability to climb hills worse and top speed is lower. I could add 24v of lithium batteries to increase the range without too much extra weight and at $1300 not too expensive. That is another project

The best things about the new car are:

1.   the more accessible batteries to check fluid levels. Learning from my mistakes on the first car I have made it simpler to remove the battery box lids and tops to add fluid.
2. The gruntier and fresher batteries which I know better how to look after.
3. The three onboard 24 volt chargers which are 600 watts each making 1800 total which doesnt throw the ciircuit breaker in my garage like the old Quickcharge one did and it was too heavy for the car so I had under-powered chargers on board (4X24volt 350watts) Car charges in 3 hours!
4. Less weight over front wheels making steering easier

So stats on new car are

9X8 volt batteries = 72 volts at 170 AHr Trojans

Curb wt = 1100 Kg

Curtis controller