Wonderboy's Tercel EV Conversion

[McTimson]

Woo, EV Tercel! That paint job looks sick, you should definitely leave it.

[JonnyG]

Any rust from the salt on those Binghamton roads? Even if there is some rust, it was still an awesome deal. Be sure to keep us updated!!

[Wonderboy]

I called up the 2 local exide places, the interstate place, and a local material handling place. A note for anyone calling up places like these looking for a source of EV batteries, used the word "blem", short for "blemished" batteries, and ask for warranty returned batteries. I also got the idea to contact local golf courses that use electric carts. One of the Exide places was no help whatsoever, the other took my name down and actually seemed like a promising prospect to call me back with some cheap used batteries. They do a lot of recycling and get warranty batteries in that can easily be revived. The interstate place also seemed like a good prospect, but doesn't typically see 6x6v or 6x12v batteries just waltz in, especially this time of year. The guy also took my name and number down, but said spring would be a better time when people are dragging battery powered things out of the garage from winter. I figured the material handling place might have something (they do forklift kind of stuff) because they may have those indoor genie lifts that often run on a pack of deep cycles as opposed to the 1000+lb. packs that forklifts commonly use. No dice - they said they have a person that comes up from PA to recycle ALL of their batteries (which is probably the exide place that took my name and number).

Does anyone have any suggestions on sourcing some batteries? I really should get the controller first and just use car batteries to test everything, but meh. I suppose it may be best to wait til spring.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

I called up the 2 local exide places, the interstate place, and a local material handling place. A note for anyone calling up places like these looking for a source of EV batteries, used the word "blem", short for "blemished" batteries, and ask for warranty returned batteries. I also got the idea to contact local golf courses that use electric carts. One of the Exide places was no help whatsoever, the other took my name down and actually seemed like a promising prospect to call me back with some cheap used batteries. They do a lot of recycling and get warranty batteries in that can easily be revived. The interstate place also seemed like a good prospect, but doesn't typically see 6x6v or 6x12v batteries just waltz in, especially this time of year. The guy also took my name and number down, but said spring would be a better time when people are dragging battery powered things out of the garage from winter. I figured the material handling place might have something (they do forklift kind of stuff) because they may have those indoor genie lifts that often run on a pack of deep cycles as opposed to the 1000+lb. packs that forklifts commonly use. No dice - they said they have a person that comes up from PA to recycle ALL of their batteries (which is probably the exide place that took my name and number).

Does anyone have any suggestions on sourcing some batteries? I really should get the controller first and just use car batteries to test everything, but meh. I suppose it may be best to wait til spring.

Go to Wally World's auto center, talk to the manager there, and ask if you can buy the cores from them. Sometimes they're cool about it, they're ~$9 each.

AutoZone/Advance Auto, ~$7 each. Again, talk to the managers. Often, they'll let you swap bad cores in for other cores on the pallets, but don't make a mess, and try to keep your core returns clean for them.

[vpoppv]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

I called up the 2 local exide places, the interstate place, and a local material handling place. A note for anyone calling up places like these looking for a source of EV batteries, used the word "blem", short for "blemished" batteries, and ask for warranty returned batteries. I also got the idea to contact local golf courses that use electric carts. One of the Exide places was no help whatsoever, the other took my name down and actually seemed like a promising prospect to call me back with some cheap used batteries. They do a lot of recycling and get warranty batteries in that can easily be revived. The interstate place also seemed like a good prospect, but doesn't typically see 6x6v or 6x12v batteries just waltz in, especially this time of year. The guy also took my name and number down, but said spring would be a better time when people are dragging battery powered things out of the garage from winter. I figured the material handling place might have something (they do forklift kind of stuff) because they may have those indoor genie lifts that often run on a pack of deep cycles as opposed to the 1000+lb. packs that forklifts commonly use. No dice - they said they have a person that comes up from PA to recycle ALL of their batteries (which is probably the exide place that took my name and number).

Does anyone have any suggestions on sourcing some batteries? I really should get the controller first and just use car batteries to test everything, but meh. I suppose it may be best to wait til spring.

My experience with Exide was mixed: on the one hand, they gave me a lot of money for useless lead. On the other hand, every single price quoted to me for a "blem" battery was (to me anyway) exhorbitant. It was basically just a few percent off of retail. But then, they ARE in the business of selling batteries, and I can't very well expect them to pay me $10.50 for a worthless battery and expect them to sell me a good one for $15!!! That said, they hinted at a place for me to get great deals locally.
Where I found my batteries was a boat store. I ended up buying 16 batteries from them at $7 each. Half were bad. Sold the bad ones for between $7-$10.50. So, basically I paid $7 for every good battery, and broke even or made money on the bad ones. I would imagine the same process would work with RV places as well. It might be possible to get Optima batteries from audio places: I imagine people routinely bring them in towards the end of the warranty period to get a fresh one. I imagine boat and RV places would be the best source though, because they get batteries that sit a lot and they don't want to deal with the hassle of "breaking in" batteries. I think it's probably hard to do without an EV to whip them into shape....

[Daox]

I wouldn't suggest even testing with used starting batteries. I tried this with my mower and they just fall flat on their face after a few seconds of sustained power draw.

[MetroMPG]

We put 36v worth of worn out, free 6v floor sweeper batteries in the car as our test pack:



From: EV conversion parts: batteries and battery racks - ForkenSwift.com

Hot off the charger, they were good enough to go about a kilometer before we reversed a cell in one or two of them.

[gone-ot]

...gee, I didn't realize a ScanGauge II drew THAT much current (wink,wink)!

[Wonderboy]

We put 36v worth of worn out, free 6v floor sweeper batteries in the car as our test pack

Would you advise trying to get a hold of deep cycles, no matter how crappy (like the sweeper ones you used), or could I get enough out of regular car batteries to get a clear idea of what kind of acceleration and top speed I can expect?

What did you do for your existing pack(s)? How did you get them? (I remember you mentioning the wisdom of having two packs - a crappier one and a better one so that all the batteries in one pack are in similar condition under load so one bad or worse battery won't take the rest of them with it)

Batteries are a big source of frustration for me because there is no Paul and Sabrina's open source 144v battery pack project, and probably never will be. They can't be produced at home as far as we know, and I know there are tons of perfectly good deep cycle batteries out there, but I either can't find them or they are too far away. There are better things for me to focus on like coupling the electric motor and the trans and getting a controller, but I feel like I could get those things done at lightning speed compared to my progress with batteries. I also want to wait a bit to see if Paul ends up adding Joe's charger to the revolt or vice versa to make a controller and charger in one. If you haven't seen the charger thing, its awesome. This forum is awesome

[MetroMPG]

Whoops, delayed response....

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

Would you advise trying to get a hold of deep cycles, no matter how crappy (like the sweeper ones you used), or could I get enough out of regular car batteries to get a clear idea of what kind of acceleration and top speed I can expect?

If you can get them for free (or for the recycling fee, which you can get back later), sure, collect all you can get. You could put together a simple capacity testing rig -- like this one -- and spend the winter rounding up recruits for a pack that will be good enough to test with.

What did you do for your existing pack(s)? How did you get them?

All the "good" batteries are cast-offs from other EV owners in the Ottawa EV group. The first "decent" pack was made up of the "weaklings" that a Ranger EV owner would periodically evict when his pack monitor showed them falling on their faces before the others.

The batteries we have now are quite good - about 2-3 years old, replaced by a Jetta owner who was upgrading from floodies to AGM's, if I'm not mistaken. These are good enough to serve the ForkenSwift's modest range needs for many years to come.

there are tons of perfectly good deep cycle batteries out there, but I either can't find them or they are too far away.

Joined an EV club yet? Marinas, golf cart supply/service co's, industrial floor sweeper / scissor lift companies... They're out there somewhere.