Another thing to consider when getting batteries is the overall height, including terminal posts. There isn't much room height-wise in the bumpers where the batteries are located. Will the 8v batteries have the same physical dimension as the T-105? The batteries nearest the ends of the Comutacar will have less of a problem, but the inboard batteries have a metal frame right above some of the terminals. Changing from eight 6v to six 8v batteries to keep 48v may create too much room in the battery boxes, as they were designed to be more or less crammed in place and held down with a single bolt in the center of the four batteries, with the edges of the box keeping the square arrangement in line. The charger in stock Comutacars is somewhat underpowered because there is another charging system for the 12v system battery that lives under the driver's seat. If memory serves, the 48v charger puts out about 20 amps (~1kW) compared to the Lester chargers in older Citicars that put out about 25 amps (~1.2 kW). Both use about 14-15 amps from the wall plug, and the chargers are very sensitive to input voltage. If a normal 120 - 125 volts is present at the plug when charging, they would charge relatively quickly. If the wiring wasn't up to spec, or the pole transformer was set low, (perhaps 110 to 115 volts) they would take forever to finish a charge, and would probably not get a good finish charge because they ended below 60 volts. If the new buyer goes down to 36 volts (6 6v batteries) they will need a different charger, and the top speed will be reduced significantly, from about 35 mph for 48v to 28 mph at 36 volts.
Tom Keenan _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
