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Wow it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been driving the Civic EV for several years and this past month I was finally able to do some much needed upgrades and repairs.
The old hydraulic power steering rack was difficult to turn since it was not actually hooked up to the make the power steering work. Sometime last year it popped a seal and slowly leaked fluid into the cabin. I have since replaced that with an Electric Power Steering rack from a Civic Si. I haven't finished getting the wires for it in yet, but its so much easier to turn than the old one was.
I had also noticed that my estimated range had dropped from 70 miles to 50 miles. Turns out one of my brake calipers was sticking badly. Since the rotor and pads were wrecked I decided to upgrade the entire front end brake system with ventilated discs and carbon fiber pads for a much better braking performance. And since I had the EV up on jack stands to do all this, I decided to replace the front shocks, lower control arms, tie rods, balls joints and linkages.
I then got an alignment done and brand new tires. I had a cheap set on the EV and they were so bald I couldn't drive it in the rain without sliding around.
After all that I now have my 70 mile estimated range back and a much smoother and quieter ride.
Last year my Elcon charger died on me so instead of replacing it with another 2.2kw charger I went and got a new dual TSM2500, which I can program to up to 6 KW for much faster charging. This has been really helpful since there are now more people with EVs at work than we have charging spaces for so it's a constant game of musical EVs.
I also put a new 750w ceramic heater in this past winter and it keeps the EV comfy. I still haven't gotten around to the A/C since the pulley I had was the wrong width and too small for the belts.
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