Quote:
Originally Posted by ruttkowb
My goal is to reach a top speed of min 65 mph and a range of min 50 miles.
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You should know that that's massively more ambitious / expensive than a neighborhood electric vehicle. Play with the simulator at
Aerodynamic & rolling resistance, power & MPG calculator - EcoModder.com , and note that to cruise at 65mph requires three times as much energy as cruising at 40mph.
I don't mean to discourage you. Anything you want can be done, given a large enough budget. But I do think you should carefully consider paring the car back to the bare minimum to save on cost and other resources. Will this be your only car, and what tasks will you use it for? Can you find a smaller donor car with enough payload for the batteries? Is 50mph enough, and how fast do you need to get to that speed?
One option that I find attractive among electric cars is a plug-in hybrid. If you had an electric motor and batteries large enough for 90% of trips you take, and a tiny gas engine that might take forever to accelerate to highway speed but is just large enough to cruise with, you'd have versatility and low cost.
Check out what other folks have done at
DIY Electric Car Garage - index , and run through some calculations yourself.