Stage 1- cut
 

I sent the E-Pod to a car body shop to cut about a 9" x 11" chunk out of the "whale tail" to get the dead 36V battery out. A lithium would cost over $600., so I will see what I can get.

Bye bye shiny side......

wut? :confused:

Last year the battery died, so I removed the vehicle from the Ecomodder garage. The rear tail is heat-sealed together, that tail houses the battery. The entire shell was not designed to hold a battery, but removing the seat allowed just enough room to shoehorn in a rack, and the batter.

Then moving the seat back cracked it- lots of glue, bracing (drilling right into the main frame) repaired the seat so nothing is easily removed- it is like a permanent hollow triangle now. Dead battery with no way out.

But with a big hole in the side I can replace the dead battery. No more smooth unfettered shell any more- I will just hinge the cut out piece of fiberglass/kevlar or tape it up.

No lithium- way too expensive. Might take a while to see what else Batteries Plus or some other dealer have.

(sniff)

The poor wee bairn. I hope it's back in service soon.

If the Lithiums work out well for you in the E-Pod, will you be upgrading the City-El next when finances allow? A City-El at nearly double its original range would rock! :)

No Lithium?

:(

Sorry...

That small 36V the Pod needs would be expensive, fun but expensive! That is more of a hobbyist vehicle- battery dies I just pedal home (same with the TerraTrike).

That City-El has new brakes coming and it would cost a fortune to put lithium batteries in that, but that would be terrific! I saw a picture of one with all 4 nicely factory done, so I know it is do-able!

Maybe someday soon-at least you wouldn't be saving up for some of the full-sized EV conversions i've seen, so there's a chance you can afford a Lithium City-El eventually. Could you imagine the bill for a Tesla pack replacement? :eek:

Good news BTW- I just found three old Touring Bikes in one of Grandad's old barns in varying states of repair! Enough salvage to create a Trike of my very own...

Assuming I knew how.
Assuming I can borrow a welder.
Assuming I can learn to weld.
Assuming I can learn Suspension, Steering configurations, Brakes and what the heck a Shimano cartridge does...

Life's an adventure! :p

Maybe I can at least fashion a Cartbike:

How to Build a Cartbike

Imagine one of those as an EV...heh heh heh.

That steering used for the Cartbike is almost the same idea used on the mountain bike (Big Red)- 1 turning spot with front wheels on 1 axle- cart steering! As it is this home made trike is just weird- very wide and the front brakes would nearly break my arms, but it actually would make a nice EV.

A bolt on motor would be fairly easy, but another project is not exactly what I need right now! :D It would make a nice fair weather trike. The photo is deceiving - it is HUGE!

It took a big hole to find out a connection came loose, the wires are very stretched. After all this time it ran fine for a block then slipped right back out. Again, fine. Why it lasted over a year before doing that is a mystery. The E-Pod is back in the garage!