Well, I just spoken with the builder, Dave Cloud, on the phone, and he is an impressive guy. He has done about 45 EV conversions, and he is very modest about the Dolphin, or any of his cars. He said this car has a lot of compromises in shape, partly because it keeps the front half of the 1997 Metro.
He did make molds of this car, and I hope he can be convinced to continue to develop it -- it is one heck of great place to start from. Like anybody, he feels like a scratch built car would reduce the compromises.
He plans on doing front wheel skirts -- he's seen your car, Mike, and he likes how you have them bump out.
He's a Maker, as a friend likes to say. Hands on, and do it.
Edit: Here's some performance numbers posted by Dave O'Neel on the EVDL, about the Dolphin:
Quote:
Dave asked me to post the results but I've been pretty busy since I saw you at the races. Here is a brief recap of our trip to Lacey.
Dave drove the car from his house down to Lacey on Friday, for a distance of
exactly 80 miles, using 179.04 Ah, about 90% of what was available. Max
speed was about 70 mph in Bellevue on I-405. The car was then charged
overnight at the Lacey City Hall, at one of the two charging stations
(simple 110V outlets).
The car was then shown at the Alternative Energy Fair while we raced
electrathons. After the races, I drove the car back to Dave's house on a
slightly different route of 76.2 miles, using 173.58 Ah. Using the nominal
72V, that works out to something like 162.7 Wh/mile. Some of the differences in the two trips besides change of driver, were heavier traffic and rain on the return trip.
We learned a few things about the car, but also about the general public. As
we were driving, some people didn't even notice us. Others matched our speed so they could take pictures or video, even to the point that they were
backing up traffic and almost forced me to take an exit because I couldn't
change lanes. It may very well be on youtube already, but good luck finding
it. Overall reactions were overwhelmingly positive. :-)
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So, who's gonna' be the first to find some of that video?