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Old 01-30-2009, 01:16 PM   #9 (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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Quote:
Originally Posted by MazdaMatt View Post
So the moral is - More batteries is better, always. 12 battereis in series will be happy batteries and give you high speed. 12 batteries in two six-battery strings will give you less-happy batteries and mad acceleration.
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I THINK that more batteries is always better, with few exceptions.

1) Weight - you just can't keep adding weight to a vehicle and expect it to perform the same

2) Voltage limitations of existing charger, controller, and motor
If you already own a 72V charger and a 72V controller, it may not made sense to upgrade to 144 volts, if you just have to buy new of each. Instead, it may make sense to do "buddy-pairs" of batteries to add the additional range, although no more speed, to the vehicle without having to upgrade everything else.

12 batteries in 2 6-strings most likely won't give you mad acceleration. Most likely, you would be limited by your controller, unless you are using crappy used batteries like I am in the car.

Also, those electric drag racer guys (NEDRA, etc) get really picky about exactly battery size, capacity, configuration, chemistry, - but they aren't designing eco-grocery-getters...
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