On Dec 23, 2006, at 11:14 AM, Luke Hansen wrote: > > > Granted, the van is one heavy piece of detroit steel, > but what exactly is the hang-up? Voltage? Total > weight? I'm guessing that most of the batterys' charge > is used in overcoming inertia, right?
There's an optimal ratio of battery weight to total weight-- can't remember the number now, but Darryl probably knows. I know the Honda Civic I converted (and drove for a few years) had around 900 lbs of lead-acid batteries (Optima Yellow Tops). I think the problem with a van is just that you'd need so many batteries even to successfully keep up with traffic, the total weight would be too high to handle well. If I ever did another electric vehicle, it would be a tricycle with spoked wheels and a tubular aluminum or carbon- fiber frame. -K _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
