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Old 10-21-2008, 03:03 PM   #734 (permalink)
bennelson
EV test pilot
 
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Oconomowoc, WI, USA
Posts: 4,435

Electric Cycle - '81 Kawasaki KZ440
90 day: 334.6 mpg (US)

S10 - '95 Chevy S10
90 day: 30.48 mpg (US)

Electro-Metro - '96 Ben Nelson's "Electro-Metro"
90 day: 129.81 mpg (US)

The Wife's Car - Plug-in Prius - '04 Toyota Prius
90 day: 78.16 mpg (US)
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The general consensus is that higher voltage systems are better.

Higher voltage = less amperage at the same amount of work power (watts)

Batteries are more efficient when drawing fewer amps. If you draw only half the amperage, you can get MORE than double the total amount of amps out of them.

6v batteries have an advantage over typical 12v in that they have beefier construction and are better designed in general to deeply discharge.

A popular way of constructing an electric vehicle right now is to fill up a pickup truck with enough 6V batteries (good price and deep cycling) run in series for a high voltage, say, 144V to have good speed and efficiency.

Needless to say, that's far too much weight for a mere Metro. Also, buying that many batteries new costs more than I spent for my entire conversion budget!

Come to think of it, that size battery pack weighs more than a Metro!
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