Sold
After years of waiting for battery technology to solve the problems they have I decided to give up on my elcat as even with better batteries the vehicle was not any more suitable for my needs. After elcat left the plot I started to miss it but hopefully it is in good hands.
The selling was not a problem. Just one short email to ev-mailinglist and my phone started to ring constantly. So lots of homes for evs in Finland.
2012-09-24numbers
eber: B5W 20169001
S 201 SP200 AB 15
plug: uwb 100 0102 23 202
CTEK-charger
Well.. Garages are full of different kinds of vehicles ranging from sedan to bus and all kinds of internal combustion and of course an ev. Some are used accasionally and other more or less frequent. The problem with those especially in cold winter conditions is that the battery is usually empty when it should have a charge in it.
What i did to help myselft was to buy an automatic charger for all different batteries to keep those in decent shape. The charger is a fully automatic CTEK XS 7000 capable of charging 12 volt batteris from 14Ah to 225Ah. All different types of lead batteries are supported and the charger can remain connected for moths.
The problem with ev is that i have 13 six volt batteries so i can charge 6 pairs with the charger and for the last one i need to figure out another way to charge. But well.. I didn’t buy the charger for ev.
2006-11-13Road leagal
Now again my nice EV is legal for the road for the next 14 months. The emission test wasn’t a problem despite the fact that it is usually the about second most common reason to fail the test. The most common reason is too big difference in braking power on wheels. This almost caused my ev to fail but the powers were just in tolerances.
(Well. I did spend two evenings in the garage to take part and assemble the rear brake which did show a bit of a problem)
Now I can just continue driving around.
2006-11-01A bunch of new batteries
Finally I was able to go and get three replacement batteries. Very well used and thus they only cost me 3*30e. It still helps me to get from place to another and with that I am happy.
Now I can go and try the annual vehicle road safety inspection.
2006-10-04Some new (used) batteries
Finally I was able to get hold of a bunch of new batteries. They are very well used old second hand batteries. These four batteries averages in 5 years age but they are still better than some of my batteries i had.
Well, it runs ok now. I haven’t tried more than 10 miles commuting yet but I am hoping to be able to use it for my daily 15 mile one way journeys without it being too much of an experience.
4 x Sonnenschen 6V 180Ah, 30e each, total 120e.
2006-08-06Heater back on
One day I was asking for some new (used) batteries for my car and came along a solution to the problem with the petrol heater. It was actually quite simple overheating problem caused by lack of water in the heating system.
Now the heater starts but before I am able to get some new batteries I don’t know how it really works because now it is claiming undervoltage. Summer is coming and the snow is melting..
2006-03-31In need of new batteries
Last week I was commuting my usual 10 mile task when only two miles before destination I suffered from unexpected and sudden loss of power. I knew I would need some new batteries some time and before I can get those I need to continue with older ones.
This sudden loss of power then as far as I know was the result of one of the 13 batteries to eventually say no while I was trying to get some more juice out of it. I know there are something like 3-4 batteries in my pack needing replacement. Those are easily spotted by hand from the excessive heat generation and then confirmed using voltmeter.
Well, back to my last trip. After some thinking and looking around I spotted one of the batteries to be extremely hot. I was able to let it rest for a moment and then I plugged my ev to get some charge in it. I was still on the road and needed to get my ev somewhere off the road. Actually it was parked at my friend’s but still. I let it be plugged in for an hour and then started slowly to drive the last two miles back home. Half way it was ok but when the voltage of the pack and that one battery dropped it started to release gas from regulator valve (or what ever it is on the top of the battery). The smell was not the sulphur smell I have experieced before but something else.
I do have some replacement batteries but I would need to get some charge in those and test if they are even working any better..
2005-10-19More miles
I have been driving more miles with smile on my face. The problem at the moment is with the batteries. I am waiting for some second hand batteries and until then I have to manage with the batteries I have. I can drive about 12 miles @ 25mph with ease if I drive carefully. I might end up driving only 6 miles if I try to get too much out of the batteries.
I would like to use kilometers and kilometers per hour but my car just happens to have miles available.
I did one improvement. It cost me 14e. I bought new windshield wipers.
I would like to have a lot of extra money and convert something like Audi A2 into electric. That would perhaps be a good car to convert. It is light and it would look good as an EV.
2005-10-03New member in family
Some weeks ago I was able to do something I had been planning for some time. Just like a bolt out of the blue I was able to start driving battery powered vehicle. Now I am a proud owner of Elcat electric vehicle.
It was not expensive because the batteries were not that good and the car is a bit old. I had to pay 500e for the car and that didn’t leave me any possibilities not to pay the price.
After driving the car home I just drove around the house and tried to get as much fun out of it as possible.
Ins.. about 400e/year + 60e/year
Yearly inspection 40e
Yearly fee for not paying the tax of gasoline about 80e
Mileage at the moment about 58800 (or 56600)
2005-09-09|