>Nice to hear from you again, Roy! You too David :-)
>I don't recall it being *quite* that bad. IIRC, you could usually get 40-50 miles of range with only 1/3 of the vehicle weight in lead. :-\ On a 75 degree day on level ground maybe. Drop temperature to 50 degrees and what did you get? >But I agree with your main point. Once the Nissan Leaf and Tesla S were established in the market, the days of EV conversions were numbered. I can see the effect in the EV list archive, with gradually declining numbers of monthly posts starting in mid-2012. The conversion market is healthy and strong, just completely different. It's no longer a hobby market. Very few folks are doing it in their garages at home. Companies like EV West in SoCal have a three or more years waiting list. Startups that know what they are doing can find folks that will pay the big bucks for a specialty conversion. It's the market for a cheap. short range, lead sled that has collapsed, if it ever really existed. IIRC, we used to say that to make a small fortune in the conversion business, start with a large fortune :-) >That said, I think there might still some valid reasons to convert. I agree with the points you have made, but the original question was more about "having it done" and not "doing it yourself". My thoughts on the subject were geared more toward that. Not to beat the point to death but buying a kit from a company to convert a Rabbit or similar vehicle into a slow and short range lead sled is ancient history and an unacceptable option. Just to buy a decent aftermarket BMS system like Orion is a big expense and not for the fainthearted to try to set up and program. >I've heard of really clean Citicars going for 5 figures, for example. Some people will want one of those. Likely more for the cheese wedge novelty and rarity than anything else. As someone who has driven a few, even one upgraded to AC drive and lithium, I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to daily drive one that has ever driven one. I would put them on the top of the list as one of the ergonomically worst vehicles ever. BTW, modern EVs are awesome compared to anything done 20 years ago. I've driven multiple Teslas, a Rivian, and recently a friend got a Lucid Air GT edition and let me drive it. It was the nicest and best driving car ever. With 500+ miles of range and 800+ horsepower it's hard to beat. I must be getting old because I lifted after putting the go pedal only halfway down on the Lucid :-) Take Care! Roy On Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at 2:07 PM EV List Lackey via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > On 27 Apr 2024 at 23:58, lektwik via EV wrote: > > > It's been years since I posted here > > Nice to hear from you again, Roy! > > > good luck telling someone they can only go 50 miles max on a charge now > > and that 50% of vehicle weight in lead batteries is required to do it. > > I don't recall it being *quite* that bad. IIRC, you could usually get > 40-50 > miles of range with only 1/3 of the vehicle weight in lead. :-\ > > Years ago, Bob Rice wrote here about the Renault-based EFP Mars II that he > worked on in the late 1960s. The EV weighed about 4200lb all up, and the > battery 1900lb. That's ~45%. Bob said its real-world range was 95 miles > at > highway speeds. > > But I agree with your main point. Once the Nissan Leaf and Tesla S were > established in the market, the days of EV conversions were numbered. I > can > see the effect in the EV list archive, with gradually declining numbers of > monthly posts starting in mid-2012. > > That said, I think there might still some valid reasons to convert. > > - As a technical challenge > > - To have an EV you can work on and improve yourself > > - To clean up a beloved classic and make it (one hopes) more reliable > > - To get a type or style of EV that no manufacturer currently offers, at > least where you live > > > I've been predicting for years that unmolested examples of those early > > clik-clak DC and lead-acid conversions are the future EV collector's > > items. They are disappearing quickly. > > I think that that's more likely with the early modern production EVs. > I've > heard of really clean Citicars going for 5 figures, for example. > > But you might be right, and some conversions might appeal to collectors > someday. > > I'm no expert, so don't take that as investment advice - or any other > kind, > for that matter. > > David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey > > To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my > offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > In every country, they make fun of city. In US you make fun of > Cleveland. In Russia, we make fun of Cleveland. > > --Yakov Smirnoff > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20240428/ff6b96f3/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
