Matt wrote: >Well, I'm actually hoping to get a hot rod that will give decent range. >My maximum range will probably need to be between 25-30 miles. Do you >really thing I'm not going to be able to do that with this setup? I >thought that was the typical range for Civic conversions.
Not with that battery pack. At least not reliably with that battery pack. I don't doubt that very gentle driving in warm weather with 13 Optimas in perfect condition could do that. But they will be very deap cycles. 13 YTs is a pack for a 15 mile generally used range. >Ok, so how many batteries do I need? Do you think I should consider >running a parallel pack or would I be able to step up the voltage to get >my desired range? Most of all, how do I figure out what my range will >be without actually driving the car around? I've been to that >calculator page, but it was asking all kinds of stuff that I don't >know. Like how much the car weighs and peukert numbers or something. Well, your looking for power. The next step up in power controller also from DCP, either the t-rex 600 or 1000 (amps). These controllers can handle over 300 volts, but you certainly don't need that many Optimas for your range. 16 Optimas with a T-rex 1000 will give you about the same power as the Blue Meanie (volts times amps is power). Also, 20 Optimas with a T-rex 600 would match the power. Your Civic will likely weigh more than the Meanie, but a few extra batteries can rematch the power/weight ratio. I have a rough estimate for range that works pretty well for Optimas, Hawkers, and GC lead. To use it you will need a decent estimate of the Civics total weight after conversion. [battery weight in lbs] * [constant to be determined] = [100% DOD range] The constant is 0.05 if the battery pack weight is 33% of the total vehicle weight. If the pack weight is different from 33% of the vehicle weight the constant needs to be adjusted. If its more than 33% increase by 0.001 for each 1%. If the pack weight is less than 33% reduce the constant by 0.001 for each 1%. I'll run my Neon Buggy through this calculator: 450lbs of Optimas in a 1420lbs vehicle is 32% battery weight The constant needs to be reduced by 0.001 to make it 0.049 [battery weight]*[constant]=[100% range] 450 * 0.049 = 22 miles I have proven that the 100% DOD range is only 20 miles. However, with such a light vehicle I may need to start figuring in the drivers weight. Also, I know the areodynamics to be terrible (cd appears to be over 0.6 - and a VW Bus was only 0.48). Here is a rough estimate for a Jet Escort with 96 volts of T-105s: 976lbs of lead, 2950lbs 976 * 0.05 = 49 miles Now remember that these numbers are for 100% discharge. You cannot do that often, or the batteries will not live long. So try to keep your discharges to not more than 70% of the max range for best life and to cover a little capacity loss for cold batteries. This would make the Neon Buggy have a standard useable range of 15 miles, in fact I do that. The Jet Escort would end up with about 34 miles of all season range (within reason, midwest winters are unreasonable :-) Neon
