[ausev] Converting a vehicle

[MLAB]

My experience relates more to light electric cycles and cargo trollies, 
but I can offer a few insights.

Bear in mind that an electric pickup truck will have much of its cargo 
capacity taken by the batteries.  That ready battery space is apparently 
one of the things that makes pickups so practical for conversions. So 
don't figure on having much cargo capacity, though you'll likely have 
enough for hand tools.

As with any vehicle, the slower you drive it the farther it will go. 
Fast starts will drain you batteries much faster.  Wind resistance is 
proportional to velocity cubed.  Slowly coasting down to a stop sign is 
better than powering up to it and braking.  Slow driving is generally 
better for society, in my opinion, as it mixes better with pedestrians 
and bicyclists.  Also, while it may frustrate drivers who are out 
looking for the thrill of speed on a crowded public roadway, it results 
in more predictable, less stressful traffic for all users overall.  You 
can focus on speed or on range, but not both.

Yes, the more you spend on batteries, the farther you go.  If you buy 
fancier batteries they will be much lighter, and vehicle weight is a big 
concern when considering range.  NiMH batteries are an improvement over 
the affordable SLAs, and might do the trick if you are keeping your 
driving really mellow.  Lithium batteries are plenty good, but you'll 
spend more thousands on them than you anticipate.  Whichever way, your 
batteries might just cost more than the rest of the vehicle combined.

===

Regarding solar panels, I think you need lots of sun on the house for 
solar panels to pay off.  While it is good to have lots of trees for 
keeping the house cool, they make solar panels kind of inefficient.  I 
doubt that the panels on my well-shaded house will pay for themselves in 
their 25 year warranty period unless energy prices skyrocket, which they 
just might.

Texas Solar installed my panels, but I didn't think very much of their 
service after the sale.  Janet's Solar Electric re-did the array when I 
had my roof re-done (having those panels will significantly add to 
roofing costs) and they re-wired the whole assembly, pointing out 
problems with Texas Solar's arrangement, but I haven't seen much 
improvement in their performance.

Of note, Janet's removed one of my panels, taking the array from some 
arrangement of 10 panels to a 3 x 3 array, so I have a spare panel if 
anyone needs one.  Make me an offer.

-- 
Mike Librik, LCI #929
Easy Street Recumbents
Austin, TX
(512) 453-0438
www.easystreetrecumbents.com