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Hi Guys,
Ok, to answer some of your questions:
It takes about 3 to 4 hours to recharge most of the energy
( the last bit has to be trickled in slowly, but you can stuff the first
90% in as fast as your outlet can handle )
That's with a 13 amp 240 volt household socket. Total cost?
I'd guess somewhere under 50p. Not bad for 25 miles...
But, the real cost is the batteries - they don't last forever.
Discharging them until they're flat ( or almost flat ) is very hard
on them, even ones built to take this kind of use ( Optimas ).
If you treat a pack well, you might expect 500 cycles with sealed batteries
like mine, maybe 800 if they're flooded batteries. Then they will be
old, and have such a low capacity that the vehicle won't do your
journey anymore, so you have to replace them.
Total cost would work out the same as driving a petrol car, but that's
not the point.
The point is, the electric version is 3 times as efficient - petrol engines
throw away enourmous amounts of energy as heat ( that's why they have
water cooling and radiators ) , and you've paid for that energy!
Anyway, it's also fun to do, 'cos it's weird and different!
As for weight, yes I'm right at the limit of what I'd want to put into
a Mini, even one with stengthened suspension. You can feel that weight
on board, even with vented discs & 4 pot calipers on the front brakes.
I have thought about sinking sheetmetal boxes down into the load area
( inside the rear subframe and in the hidden area behind the seats ) to
move the batteries lower down, but am reluctant to cut BIG holes into
a genuine Mini pickup, even if it is a rough one like mine!
Fuel cells? Give me a million dollars, and maybe, but where the heck is
the hydrogen gonna come from? I'll tell you where - from oil. So you
still end up having to go to a filling station, only now you have a high
pressure bomb (10,000 PSI hydrogen tank) built into your car.
No thanks!
The photo with the tree was a stoke of good fortune - I'm lucky to
live on a nice tree-lined street, and last autumn's weather just happened
to be calm, with no windy storms to blow the leaves off the trees.
I saw that colour and thought:
" I've just GOT to take a photo of the pickup with that colour on the trees"
It really worked out well, glad you liked it too.
Whilst I'm here, does anyone know whether the Aussie-spec
doors with wind-up windows will fit into a UK-spec Mini pickup?
I hate the sliding windows - they leak all the time!
Regards
Richard Bebbington
electric Mini pickup
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