A Look at a Solectria Force

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

The biggest difference between a 1993 Solectria Force with a lithium ion battery pack and a 2011/12 Nissan Leaf OTHER than the price is the crash worthiness. Which is really the reason for my biggest hesitation in buying the '93 Force.

I also found a similar '93 Force owned by a fellow who was kind enough to answer my questions over at the Yahoo Solectria group:

Charles' 1993 Solectria Force

Notice the subtitle "Problem Child"... Am I mistaken in thinking that the original motor and controller in this Force being DC? He has also replaced the controller. My doubts are creeping in...

[bennelson]

That particular Solectria had the original motor and controller replaced with a DC brushless and a Kelly controller.

They were all originally AC drive.

The Electro-Metro is a '96. It has driver and passenger airbags and daytime running lights. To me, those were important safety features to have.

I haven't heard of any crash-test results of the Leaf. (Anyone heard of crash-testing on the VOLT either?)

If you use your electric vehicle mostly in town, I think crash-test results are less important than if you use it on the freeway a lot.

The front-end of a Solectria certainly looked no LESS sturdy than a Metro.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Also, the battery box had a number of ventilation ports on it that looked like they were thermal management.

Sounds more like ventalation for Edison batteries or flooded NICAD to me. (the year is right for them, the last gen Edison batteries were being produced then)

Originally Posted by bennelson

Which leads me to believe that the vehicle originally had a molten salt battery pack.

I believe that this was also the type of battery that Ford was using in their EV Minivans during the "EV1 time period" of the CARB mandate.

I think that the "standard" Solectrias ran on group 27 lead-acid gel batteries.

Yes but that was years later, I doubt a salt battery would have gone in there for real world use. Normally they are in city buses and the like.

[Allch Chcar]

Zebra? It's a Solectria, it's a sunlike logo.

I think Wikipedia pretty much summed it up "The Solectria Force is a Geo Metro..."
Although the Force is a pretty cool car even with 40 miles range but it's all electric.

Ventilation is recommend for Lead Acids too. They produce a bit of hydrogen during charging, and from my understanding it gets a little explosive.