Ben's Citicar

[TomEV]

Most of the lighting problems I had were due to bad grounds. The ground wires connect to the marker light frames with 30-year-old rusted #10 screws, and the headlights are connected to the marker light grounds. Everything has a wire in a car with a plastic body!

Just to clear up a point, I have a Citicar with a Terrell differential (motor in parallel with the axle) and room for 8 batteries under the seat. I use six 8v batteries (48v) and the other space is used by the controller, DC/DC and accessory battery. I can go up to 24 miles (or so) but generally limit it to 15 to not discharge the batteries too deeply.

With your 5-battery setup, I would expect you to be able to get 20 miles at most, but on a daily basis you probably shouldn't go more than 10-12 miles before charging. Biggest problem is that when you have more voltage, you tend to drive faster which eats up the amps...

You can take the windows to a boat canvas shop to have the plastic replaced - much easier to see with new plastic as opposed to the sun-faded semi translucent (and cracked) stuff I had with the original ones.

[bennelson]

Wow, look at the size of the pizza rack on this car! I could fit a couple extra larges up there!

Seriously though, I had my 18 year old brother over today to help me move my old washer and dryer.

When we pulled in the driveway, he said "what the hell is that?", referring to the car.

I took him out for a ride. The very first thing he wanted me to do was floor it.
I can only get the car up to about 40 mph before hitting a 25 and then 15 mph zone.

He got into the vibe of the car pretty fast. By the time we made it down to the golf course (no didn't take it on the greens, but was tempted to..) he wanted to drive.

I pulled into a parking space (sidesways! it fits like that!) and we traded seats. He had a blast driving back to my house.

The car is actually pretty comfy in the passenger seat, with my arm resting on the door without the window in. I also found that since the charger is in back, instead of under the passenger side of the dashboard, there is actually room for me to stick my legs straight out like in a recliner. Comfy! (I am 6 feet tall!)

I am now just imagining my brother driving this car over to high school and pick up chicks....

[Tango Charlie]

You are the coolest brother, EVER!
Hey, sounds like free labor...

[bennelson]

He is taking ADVANCED Auto Shop this semester....


MWah ha ha ha ha ha ha!



Come on, a Citicar would make an awesome highschool shop project!


Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I got my temp plates, so I can legally roll now!

[Ryland]

Girls do love these cars, but from talking to people that have given them to highschool auto shop classes they tend to get scraped and are never seen from again...

[dcb]

Ben, that's so not fair, you get a citicar too

So does this displace the metro?

The single LED taillight is an interesting touch

I forgot about that teardrop trailer too, man you got all the cool toys!!!

[MetroMPG]

You have too many EV's! And your Citi has pimp fat tires on it, eh? You've got everything you need now.

Enjoyed the video on the previous page too.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by dcb

So does this displace the metro?
!

Unfortunately, the Metro and the Citicar both are really in the same niche; street legal, limited range electric car.

I will have to work on the brakes on the Citicar, and I still have to finish the Metro. Been busy latey. No time to finish it off.

Winter is coming way too fast, and not much gets done til spring.

[toyobug]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

And your Citi has pimp fat tires on it, eh?

do you think narrow tires would add range?

[MetroMPG]

Hard to say. All else being equal, depends on the rolling resistance of each tire.

The tires on there look like they may also have a larger circumference than stock too, so his motor speed may be a bit low. Higher is usually more efficient for a given speed according to the Yodas of the EVDL...