Yeah, I agree with you on being able to add batteries later.
Maybe I just do a real bare-bones approach to everything on this project just to get it on the road this summer and then tinker/rebuild/change everything next summer.
I just got an email from a fellow EV builder who helped partially take apart the transmission yesterday.
His subject line was "feeling adventurous?"
followed by this photograph and link
LINK
PS: I think the bearing causing the problem is the one in the upper right of the photograph