[blueblizzard816]

Hey Guys,

This is my first post on this website so I'll give a little background info of the project I'm planning on doing.

Myself and a couple other guys are doing our Senior Design Project on an EV Conversion of an old VW Beetle. We are doing this on a low budget so our battery chemistry of choice will probably be lead acid.

We want our vehicle to go approximately 40 miles with a max speed of 40mph. My calculations showed that we need about 10,500 Wh (going 40mph for 1 hr). <-- Does this seem reasonable?

My question is: can anyone point me to a helpful thread/vendor/website/person that sells lead acid batteries for this type of application? Keep in mind that we are on a tight budget.

-Chris

 

[coryrc]

Talk to your local Interstate Battery or Trojan distributor. You may be able to get "blems" at a discount. Otherwise, buying new will probably cost $1600-$2000.

 

[EVfun]

Your onboard power requirements (10.5 kWh) seems reasonable. Lead acid batteries won't put out all their power at the discharge rates required to drive an EV so the listed capacity of the pack required will be larger. I estimate 18.5 kWh using the commonly listed 20 hour capacity. I would guess that you can get the required power with a 96 volt pack of golf cart batteries. I have no idea where to get the best deal on those now.

The good old VW Beetle is about as aerodynamic as a brick so you will notice the range drop as your speed increases. Putting 16 golf cart batteries in a Beetle is possible (I've seen it done), but tight.

 

[dtbaker]

you can find the nearest distributor for USbattery.com. If you tell them it is for an EV, and that you'll put one of their stickers on, they'll give you a discount.... and they are great batteries as far as floodies go.