Battery Racks

 Batteries, Battery Rack, Mechanical  No Responses »
Apr 222012
 

Spent today working on designing and fabricating the battery racks. The new design will put 8 batteries on each side of the motor and 22 batteries above the motor. The racks are also now designed to allow for an 11″ motor to be installed. I could use a standard 11 or the interpolled 11. We’ll decide on that when the time comes but for now I wanted to fabricate the racks such that there is room to install the bigger motor. I’m using as much of the old rack as I can. The main frame is going to sit 3″ above the original to allow for the lower cells and the main frame is getting adjusted for the new cell size but the general layout will be similar. The lower racks will hang from the main rack. Below is a picture of the original rack from the engine compartment. I’ll take a picture of the new rack after it gets welded.

20120422-205151.jpg

Battery Layout

 Batteries, General  No Responses »
Feb 272011
 

Because I did not have the batteries in my possession, I never spent too much time trying to figure out the battery layout for the upgrade. I knew that most of the cells would fit into the large enclosure behind the seats where the original engine compartment was. The rest should fit in the front trunk or the gas tank area, or a combination of both. I really hoped that they would all fit into the gas tank area and that would leave the front trunk for the charger and the air conditioning equipment. I was not confident that this would happen and thought I’d have to put the charger and the ac equipment in the gas tank area where it is harder to access and then put the batteries in the front trunk. Worst case, I’d have batteries in both locations. As it turns out I got lucky. The batteries should fit nicely in just the motor compartment and the gas tank compartment. The layout is very easy with two rows in the motor compartment and one row in the gas tank. This should make the cabling very easy. Time to get some exacting measurements and start cutting the angle iron from the old lead acid rack and modify it to fit my new Thundersky’s.

Batteries Arrived….Finally

 Batteries  No Responses »
Jan 302011
 

Well, after a 6 month wait, my batteries finally arrived. Richard just ordered another set to be delivered from Winston Batteries’ (Thundersky’s) new Balqon facility in southern California. I bet he never ordered the batteries the first time and just ordered them when I started hassling him in December. I want to put out a big thanks to Dave Kois of Current EV Tech. I contacted him in December when I was not getting anywhere with my phone calls to Richard, and he confirmed that deliveries have been delayed from China, but that I should have received my batteries. Dave has shown why his reputation as a great customer service oriented EV supplier has endured. He is truly a great asset to the EV community. I would highly recommend his company for EV components. CurrentEVTech.com As far a Alliance Renewable Energy, well they did come through with the batteries at a great price, but customer service is lacking in a big way. Not once did they contact me regarding the delivery process of my batteries. Every time a date passed that was supposed to be my delivery date, I had to email and call their office. They never answered the phone, and emails had to be send daily for about a week before they were answered. Needless to say it did not easy my mind when they had several thousand of my dollars. Given the “robbery” of customer money in the battery orders from Washington state, I was a bit concerned I would ever receive my cells. California has much better consumer protections, and I knew that Richard really wants his EV motorcycle company to prosper, so I figured I’d get the batteries or my money back either way, but I was not looking forward to the fight if it came to it. I’m sorry to say that I cannot recommend Alliance Renewable Energy for battery purchase at this time. If they hire a customer support person to track orders and stay in contact with the customers, maybe that could change, but until that time, I’d say use Current EV Tech and pay a few dollars more and get great customer service. That is what I would do. Unfortunately Current EV Tech had not been formed when I started my order process with Alliance Renewable Energy.


Still no batteries

 Batteries  No Responses »
Jan 172011
 

Well, I’ve been trying for a week to get in touch with Richard at Alliance, and he finally emailed me this morning. He still does not have the batteries, but is now suggesting that he is trying to trade with someone to get my cells. I’m not sure what that means because if my cells are at the port or near the port, it should be much faster to get the shipment than to trade with somebody. His messages are always very short, and I have to email him every day for about a week before he answers me. At this point I would not suggest anybody use him for the purchase of batteries, and I’d be wary of purchasing a scooter or motorcycle. His company just does not have very good customer support.

Video post

 Batteries  No Responses »
Dec 212010
 

Hello again.  This is a test with a video post.  I made this video a few months ago when I first ordered the new batteries from Thundersky.  It shows the car after it was sitting in my garage for about 2 years waiting for a lithium battery upgrade.  When the second set of lead acid batteries died, I said I was not going to put in another set of batteries unless it was lithium.