My school converted a 1987 Mazda RX7 last school year and competed in the SMARTT Challenge. We did well in the competition, but this year we would like to make some improvements in the vehicle. We powered our vehicle with 12 8volt batteries, as we could not exceed 96volts. This year we are thinking about switching to 12volt batteries. We would have 16 12 volt batteries in a series parallel configuration. We would parallel each two batteries and then serial the 8 parallel connections. I want to know if that would be more efficient. The SMARTT Challenge has both a range competition and a speed completion. Most people set up for one or the other, but we are going for a middle of the road setup.