[FC] Rampside rear/Electric Rampside

[TiM M]

     My current battery pack of lead acid batteries
weighs in @ 960LB. I'm not sure how old they are, but
the guy I bought it from didn't know anything about
driving or caring for an electric vehicle. His
charging practices were pretty bad for the batteries.
As it currently sits, it has 16 6V golf cart batteries
for a total pack voltage of 96V. Off the line it
performs about as well as a little 4 banger econo box
with a top speed of 50 to 55mph. I plan on adding an
additional 4 batteries to get the pack voltage up to
120V. This should get my top speed up to about 75mph
or so. The acceleration isn't going to improve until I
replace the battery pack. A well cared for pack should
last between 3 to 5 years. As mentioned, I don't know
how old my pack is, and I do know it wasn't properly
cared for. With a $1200 to $1500 dollar cost for a
replacement pack I'm go get as many miles out of this
pack as I can before I replace it.
     For those with the need for speed, I could put in
a pack of 20 AGM batteries (Exide Orbitals or Optima
yellow tops) for about 2x the cost. The truck would
smoke the tires and give most cars on the road a run
for their money, but the range would probably be down
around 20 miles or so. This assumes the tranny and
rear end could take all the torque. There is this guy
in Oregon who did this with a little Datsun 1200, he
does 100+ mph in the 1/4 mile, he's also on his 3rd
Ford 9" rear end. Electric torque is pretty amazing
stuff.  
     Back to the Corvair, one of the reasons the
Rampside makes such a good candidate for an electric
vehicle conversion is the high GVR and the nice low
space in the middle to put the batteries. The rear
engine gives you plenty of room to mount the motor and
other bits and pieces as well. I'll get some pictures
up soon. I need to go redo the other bits. Most of the
low voltage wiring needs to be redone sigh.

TiM


		
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