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I wanted to check back into this forum so people new to the electric car scene realize that these cars do last for more than a year or so. My car is now 2 and half years old and still being driven almost daily. I used lion cells that were manufactured in 2009. They are still working fine without a hint of any cell going bad. My cells (Thundersky) were used by a university first, and then after a limited number a charge cycles they were deemed not large enough capacity for them. I got them at a discount, but I was more interested in them because they had already been checked out. I think my hunch was correct because my BMS finishes with a top balance, and I haven’t seen any indication that it is struggling to get any single cell up to being balanced. I have over 8,000 miles on it so far. I only have a 10 mile round trip commute so it is hard for me to put on more miles in a year. I haven’t seen any indication that my 100 mile range has decreased, but lately I haven’t tested it more than 60 miles on a single charge. I’m happy with my choice to use a BMS because for charging, I just plug it in at night and the BMS shuts it all off before the morning. It also senses low voltage cells, so I haven’t checked my batteries since I installed them, other than look at the readout from the BMS once in a while. The only issues so far are related to the cold weather since I drive the car year round. The BMS de-rates the maximum current draw based on the battery temperatures. When the temperature drops below 0, I have to be careful not to accelerate too hard, or I’ll trip the fault for exceeding the maximum current.
My recommendation for people wanting to build an electric car that is more than an experiment is to use lion batteries, a properly set up BMS, and keep the transmission and clutch. Size your motor and controller to produce a peak torque that is close to the original engine, and you’ll have a very drivable car when you’re done with minimal structural modifications to the original chassis. I hope this helps others considering an electric car build.