My initial thought was to get 10-12 of these marine deep cycle batteries
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02827524000P , but I have done no research into batteries or capacitors are anything else. I am leaning towards 120V right now and would hope that it would be powerful enough. I'm not sure if I would go AC or DC though and what that impacts in way of costs:
It should be around $1000. I'm not looking for that much range really. 30 miles (round trip) would be the max, and even that would be a rare thing. Most of my trips are between 2 - 9 miles. I am basically making a grocery getter, bad weather transport, and big item transport. I would like to put my kayak in the back and take it easily to a river or lake that is 6 miles away. If the weather is good (and I don't have to carry anything big or rush anywhere), I can ride my bike and will continue to do so, even with an EV.
I do finish the projects I start, it's just not always on the original schedule. My intention is to get done around Dec. 18 (my birthday) so I can register it for 2009 and not have to register it in 2008. The fact that I have a date set is a good thing and will get high priority. I am working on completing all of the other little outstanding projects that I have and am making good progress. There isn't really anything that I worry about when it comes to being able to complete this project. Others have already done it, I have access to welding supplies and welders at work. I do electric and computer engineering at work (remote autonomous robotics...hardware failure is not an option
), and if I go over my budget by a little it won't cause the project to not be completed. This will be my hobby now, so I would like to keep the costs down to make it take fewer years to make up the cost in saved gas, but it's also a fun thing to do.
I wasn't planning on starting anything until August or so, and I will be researching what I need up until then. If the right deal comes along, I may start sooner though.