About 2 years ago I picked up a used set of floodies from an EV owner in Ottawa who was switching to lithium. From their description, they should have been just over half "dead". (Or half "alive", if you prefer a more optimistic outlook.) Either way, that's more than good enough for the ForkenSwift.
They've been sitting in the garage, religiously trickle charged with a 7A solar panel to keep them in standby mode for what would probably be the ForkenSwift's final battery pack.
The pack in the car seemed to be getting tired -- it's down to around a comfortable 20-25 km on a charge compared to ~40 km (though that's pushing it) when they went in the car in 2008.
So, 2 days ago I swapped out 5 batteries for replacements from my lead reserve... And there are holes in this lifeboat!
The standby batteries are noticeably worse off than the ones in the car. Even after cycling them 5 times, they just don't have the same capacity. I dunno if it was from sitting so long that did them in, or if the previous owner overstated their capacity when I got 'em. But they're not going to work in the car.