Underway on batter power II

"Ok...I have to ask. What is it?"- Neighbor

Ok...so by now I have kind of a "hip bone connected to the thighbone" understanding of my EV. It has batteries. When I turn the "ignition" key on, power is applied to the solenoid, which connects the traction bank to the motor controller. I step on the pedal and the 12 volt signal at the pedal commands the controller to feed the motor.

An interesting thing about my particular EV is that even though it has a 3 speed manual transmission, it has no clutch. No clutch pedal. You just slam-shift it. When you reach the designated shift point, you just let off the accelerator pedal and -gently- shove it into next gear. The synchronizers allow for smooth shifting. The reason you can do it in an EV is because the motor can spin down to any speed required to synchronize. A gasoline motor always idles and resists synchronization, hence a clutch is required. So....one less expensive maintenance item to worry about.

I put the van into 1st gear and gently stepped on the pedal. Smoothly and without a sound, I rolled out of my parking spot. Neat. Just like a golfcart. I looped around my parking lot a few times, cautious of my spongy brakes. The shifting took getting used to but no big deal.

Whew. That was fun. Too bad I have to stop now.

You see, buying 12 batteries from Sam's Club means they are all manufactured at different dates and are all in various states of discharge from sitting on the shelf. A check with a battery hydrometer shows that some are nearly discharged and some are about halfway. None are greater than 2/3 charged.

I guess now would be a good time to see about wiring up the battery charger...