Tom Shay wrote:
> GVWR was certainly an issue with my Ranger EV I've found it an issue too, especially in regards to braking. Vehicles leaving the factory have to meet certain braking distance standards, I doubt many conversions could meet them in their GVWR-plus status. At least with trucks there's a chance you can beef up the brakes to the next-heavier version's model, with cars there may not be much you can do. That's one of the reasons I would never stuff 1200lbs of floodeds into a Rabbit or Escort, the chassis just was never meant to hold all that and still go down the road safely. For those EV owners that do and get away with it, it's due to safe driving habits and luck. If there was a panic stop, forget it. I put kevlar pads on my S-10 and that made the braking acceptable, but not anything like it was as an ICE with stock brakes. It takes a solid honk on the pedal to get the tires anywhere near lockup. My truck is at GVWR with no one in it. > Even with the springs, tires, wheels and rear axle > changes, I don't think my Ranger had any GVWR > overhead. It had enough but no extra. It's pretty safe to say that most "mini-trucks" are just cars with a cargo space. I've got the same axle and suspension I'm sure GM stuck in some of it's passenger cars. Augmenting the springs, adding sway bars, beefing up the brakes, etc are pretty much mandatory if you expect the vehicle to handle and brake safely with ~1000lbs of permanent extra payload. If you proposed hauling around 1000lbs of cement in a stock ICE Escort you'd be considered crazy, but for some reason if you change the cement to batteries it somehow becomes OK. You could probably exceed GVWR by a significant percentage and still not "break" anything, but I wouldn't want to be in front of you. There are also issues of accelerated wear, I only get half as many miles on a set of tires and brakes as I used to. I'm sure the bearings are taking a pounding too, and the springs will fatigue and sag quicker. It all takes it's toll... Mark Brueggemann Albuquerque, NM [EMAIL PROTECTED] S-10 EV
