September 2007 Archives

I've been commuting for 2 weeks now and today my boss (who supports what I'm doing) pulled me aside to tell me he was in a recent meeting with top company execs.  At this meeting they informed him that they had heard (I work in a small field office, me and six other sales guy and my boss) that I have an electric car and are concerned about me plugging in.  Apparantly they think I am using a lot of electricity. Its only 12 miles to my work and its like a top off charge...about 2.5 hours.  Long story short ....my boss asked me to lay low for awhile (dont plug in).  I can make the trip and back without charging but I got some pretty severe hills and I like to be at full voltage when I tackle them.  I told him no problem, I got alot of things I still need to do so I'll work on it for a month or two. Its up in the air whether or not I can continue to charge at work though.  I work for a auto parts supplier so my company might feel strangely about supporting me....we sell gas car parts...everything.  If I worked at say, Apple computer or something..no problem.  Second thing was today I went back to the DMV (department of motor vehicles) in California for my inspection to get my stickers.  A stern lady there who inspected it told me I had to put the passenger seat in and also cover up my batteries inside...so I got to go back...very disappointing.  I've seen guys with less tidy conversions that got their stickers no problem but this lady was very uptight..I felt there could be a problem as soon as I started talking to her. 

I am driving mine back and forth to work and am wondering how the upcoming cold mornings will cut the performance.
This morning it was a little chilly and the windows were fogged up inside and out.
I installed an electric oil heater, in the rear seat area and had it on a timer to come on and warm the car about an hour before I leave for work.
Problems arose, when said timer failed to preheat the car!!
I wiped the windows down and started the heater while I did my horse chores.
The heater did a fine job and continued to give off some heat for the 10 minute drive. Cost of the heater was $ 2.00, at a household sale.
Tomorrow will tell...

11/13/07

I have been using the heater now, for some time and it is great.

I also have found out just how bad of an effect, one low battery can have on the performance of the car.

I tried to go to town on a 35 F degree morning and didn't look as though I was going to make it.

I checked the batteries and found out that one 3 years old battery had a bad cell.  Not only was it not helping much, it also was restricting the rest of the pack.

A new replacement, after 4 chargings, has shown quite an inprovement.

I left to go to town this morning and it had dropped to 25 F.  I had expected only 40 F.  I ran in 2nd gear for the first 1/2 mile and then used 3rd as usual.  As I neared town, I could use 4th and got over 40 mph.

When I got to the shop I still had 74.2 volts showing.  It looks as though I will be running it longer toward cold weather that I had planned.

With gas hitting $ 3.35 around here, the more miles I can put on it, the better.