914 EV discussion, Who's doing or done an electric 914? Options

[Joe Bob]

http://www.electroauto.com/gallery/vp914.shtml
http://electric914.wordpress.com/
http://www.evcl.com/914/

Electro Automotive has a kit for 14K...yikes.....
Otmar seems to be REAL busy building components.....

I'm thinkng of doing one for my twins..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
I have two years to get it done.....

[pjf]

What can I tell you? When I saw $150 each for a 6v battery I called my local "battery guy" and he quoted me $109 and change. This was just a few days ago. It is on the other coast so that may make a difference. I agree that 144v using 12v batteries is not much good. You could blast around the neighborhood but you'd better not go too far. A better idea is using 18 8v batteries. Its supposed to be a compromise between distance and performance.

As far as tuning a controller. If you want simplicity you can go with a Curtis controller that has no programming at all. With the Zilla you have settting to play with but a computer or adapted Palm will do the trick and it doesn't sound that hard.

[banger]

When buying batteries, you must keep in mind that not all batteries are created equal. Most people think that all 6v golf cart batteries will be close to the same. There are wide variances between battery manufactures. Ask for a datasheet on the batteries, and look at the discharge curves for each battery you are considering. Some batteries may have the same Ah capacity, at a 20 hour rate, but when you try to pull 500-1000 amps on them, they are completely different. Some of the cheaper batteries are unable to supply high currents efficiently, and will generate an excess amount of heat.