[KiwiEV]

Hi Folks!

After a lot of fluffing about, I finally have the racks installed into the Mitsubishi Tredia:

That's a nice shot of the rear rack. And here's one of the front racks welded in:

It took a bit of persuasion to get my welding guy out to finish them but at long last they're installed and ready for the batteries!

There's a video of all the above available here for those interested!

Photos and details can be found at my website KiwiEV.com

Now it's time to order the batteries... Anyone got a spare $2500 NZ?

 

[alex]

w00t!

I thought you had gone to the bank for that already

 

[Coley]

Are you going to cover the batteries?
What are you putting in, for a floor in the racks? I used thin plywood.
I figured wood could absorb any water spilled and not cause case drain (electric) as a metal one might.
Your project looks fine.

 

[KiwiEV]

Metal racks cause battery drain?
Really?

 

[no3rdseat]

Hey brother, I've been watching your project on your home page and I'm very impressed with your attention to detail.

But I have to say, I'm curious as to why you're using such small batteries. EV America recommended to me that I should use 12 Trojan 1275 batteries for my Passat. They weigh in at 82lbs each and give me 140Ah. Your range is directly affected by how much lead you use so I can't imagine that your range will be very far at all by using 504 lbs of lead. Rule of thumb is that you should try to use 1/3rd of your finished weight in batteries. So if your car weighs 1500lbs when you're done, you will have the right size pack with what you are using.

You're right, the battery pack is the most worrisome part of this whole conversion process. But I'd just hate to see you shell out $2500 and have relatively limited range.

Rick Stewart

 

[KiwiEV]

Hey Rick! Good question, and you'd be right - the range will be low. I'm not worried about the lack of range in my situation though... Our town (New Plymouth) is quite small and the absolute furthest distance we ever drive is our friends house at exactly 6 miles. Otherwise 99% of our driving is under 2 miles so buying batteries with 60 miles of range would just be killing my wallet unnecessarily when I really only need 20 miles top whack.
Having said that I'm sure I could probably get at least 30 miles out of my small battery pack if I really wanted to. Maybe even more?

It's a cross between a cost saving choice and realisation that we just don't drive far. New Plymouth's a fairly self-sufficient and somewhat isolated little city. The closest big city is 230km away (Palmerston North) and sometimes we drive to Auckland (360km away) but even the best lead acid pack would be useless for those trips.

I was toying with the idea of a generator trailer for long trips but it would be cheaper and easier to borrow my friend's car!
Who knows, maybe my next conversion will use a Lithium Ion pack?
Only the future will tell...

 

[no3rdseat]

Oh OK. Makes perfect sense then. I knew it had to be something like that, you don't seem to leave much to chance.

I can't wait to see this thing on the road!