1976 Citicar, my new project.

[Ryland]

I have a new project, something that I've dremed of sence I was nearly a teenager, a real electric car!

it's currently in rough shape, nearly stock, other then the batteries it appears compleat, got it on the condition that I make it work and give rides.
curb weight is around 1,100 pounds (counted with 500 lb of batteries)
Motor 3.5hp 36volt
battery pack 8 6 volt T105 lead acid (currently missing)
Speed controle is a set of relays and a big resistor (plan to update)
Frame is aluminum tube roll cadge.
body is ABS plastic with lots of cracks.
tires are 12" trailer rims, have plans to order 145R12 tires, currently has 4.80 12" miss matched trailer tires.
currently waiting on the paperwork befor I start tossing money at it.

[bennelson]

Sounds like fun!

Keep us updated on your project.

I am betting you get yours running before I get the Forkensomething to run!


(And yes, that was me with the electric motorcycle at the MREA last summer)

[Ryland]

Well, I'm still on the search for batteries, the best price I've found on T105 Trogan's is $120 + $12 core (I don't have the old ones).
I picked up some plastic weld epoxy, and fiberglass fabirc, did a test repair and the stuff stinks, glad that it's in the garage so it's not killing of brain cells in my sleep, but the cold weather is slowing the cure time so it might be a few days befor full cure, I'm still up in the air about the body, there are small chunks missing and alot of cracks, but making a whole new body seems complex as the origonal floated over the frame, the hood is the most complex of course, and it's also in the best shape, so either way I'm keeping the hood.
Ben, I'm glad that you kept going with your motorcycle project, I'm thinking about taking my electric bicycle this summer, and maybe by 2009 I'll have my citicar looking good enough to let the public see.

[SVOboy]

Great project ryland! I was wondering if I'd ever see an ecomodder pick up one of these babies.

Looking forward to the outcome!

[MetroMPG]

Ryland! Awesome project vehicle.

I hope you don't mind I edited your first post to add a pic of the car.

The cheapest golf cart batteries I've heard of are available at Sam's Club. We don't have that store here in Canada, but there are enough references to their batteries on the EVDL that it came to mind right away.

We're talking like $60 per. I can't tell you the AH rating, but I can tell you the yodas on the list warn people that they're probably not going to be very durable batts.

I take it you know all about the Yahoo C-Car group? Good resource there.

I probably would have bought one of these cars if they were available here. The C-Cars are the spiritual predecessor of the ForkenSwift.

[MetroMPG]

If I were you, I'd track down some junk or used batteries for now. You can use 'em to get the car operational so you can move it about while you're working on the body etc.

If you buy new ones, they're going to sit a long time before they see regular use, which isn't great for them.

[Ryland]

Just today I wanted to rotate the car 180 degrees, to get at the other side of it, so because it is sitting on a smooth concreat floor I simply grabed on the the corner of the car, and spun it around part way, grabed the other end and finished pulling it around untill it was where I wanted it, as it doesn't have the batteries or windows in it, I'm sure it weighs around 500 pounds, maybe slightly more, but it's easy to move.
The garage is cold enough that I put a heating pad (with the kill-a-watt meter) under the body panal that I used plastic weld epoxy on so that it would cure, I also built a plywood stand to keep the rear tires off the ground so I could check out the drive train, and while blowing dust out of the crannies, I noticed that one of the relays has a contact that heated up and came unbrazed, so I spent the rest of my time reading over wiring diagrams to figure out if I needed that relay with a new controler, and it looks like for at least some of them I do.
I'm hoping that tomarrow I'll be at the same place at the same time as the guy that I got the citicar from, and at that point I'll hopfully get an update on the location of the title, maybe offer another $50 in bribes.
I don't really want to go with sam's club batteries, cheapest I can find around here are $89 each (need 8) but today I found Torjans for $105 each and they have a good reputation, and in the EV world they say that your vehicle is only as good as it's battery, I would love to get some lithuim packs built up, but I suspect that would cost around... $10,000 to $12,000...

[MetroMPG]

Agreed on the Trojans. (Can I borrow them for a week to experience what I'm missing? )

If the contactor controller isn't totally fried, I'd at least want to try it before yanking it out to put in a PWM unit. More than a couple of people who have owned these cars on the EVDL weren't completely happy with the "upgrade". One guy even reverted back the contactors.

Plus the contactors are 100% efficient, which is nice. Anyway, you probably know all this already.

[TomEV]

I agree with trying to get the contactor setup working before doing any 'improvements'. Having the Citicar operational in a stock state will give you a good feel for items you want to upgrade in the future.

BTW I have an Alltrax controller on my 1976 Citicar, and consider it a great improvement over contactors - no burned contact points, no whiplash to deal with.

[MetroMPG]

Hi TomEV - welcome.

Are you still @ stock pack voltage? What's the amp limit on your Alltrax?