Passenger Side View of the EngineDriver Side View of the EngineTrunk View of the VanOne of the Battery PodsBatteries all cleaned up
OwnerJared Leverington
Owner's Other EV1984 Pontiac Fiero EV
LocationMurphy, Texas US map
Vehicle1993 Dodge Caravan TEVan
This is a full size ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) designated the TEVan and is one of 56 purpose built by Chrysler Corporation to be a full sized battery electric vehicle. These vehicles were built at Chrysler's Windsor Ontario, Canada, plant on the same assembly line as the ICE powered Caravan. The TEVan was sold primarily to Electric Utilities and was not made available to the public.
MotorGeneral Electric Separately Excited DC
The TEVan uses a 27 hp, 70 hp max (48 kW) separately-excited General Electric DC traction motor.
DrivetrainThe TEVan has a two-speed FWD trans-axle that featured hi, lo, reverse and park; and is a highway capable vehicle with speeds up to 70 mph.
ControllerGeneral Electric
Batteries30 Eagle Picher NIF-200-5 Nickel Iron, 6.00 Volt, Nickel-Iron (Edison)
The batteries are 200 Ah and are all under the van in pods leaving the cargo area completely open. Pack weight is 1685 lbs.
System Voltage180 Volts
ChargerMartin-Marietta
The TeVan’s on-board charger is a PFC (Power Factor Corrected) Martin-Marietta and accepted a) 120 vac @ 20 amps; b) 240 vac @ 20 amps; and c) as high as 220 vac @ 40 amp three-phase inputs. The charger is incorporated into the vehicle’s controller housing.
HeaterThe TEVan has an 8.8 kW three-stage ceramic electric heater.
DC/DC ConverterGeneral Electric
The 120A DC/DC converter provided all the 12v power, there is no auxiliary (12V) battery.
InstrumentationLXT display which reads any codes from the MCU (Motor Control Unit). Gauges included motor temperature and SOC (state of charge, akin to "Fuel Level") using the stock instruments.
Top Speed70 MPH (112 KPH)
This is from the documentation.
Range80 Miles (128 Kilometers)
It is currently not running (Yet). But documentation said original batteries got 80 MPC.
EV Miles
Current:7,462 Miles (12,006 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity5 adults and full cargo area. Payload of 812 lbs.
Curb Weight5,800 Pounds (2,636 Kilograms)
Sticker on the door shows this weight.
TiresThe original equipment tires were LRR, (Low Rolling Resistance), Goodyear P205/75R15 Momentum at 50PSI.
Conversion Cost$120,000 when brand new back in 1993
Additional FeaturesStandard equipment on the TEVan included: Heating & Air Conditioning, Regenerative Braking, Power Steering, Power Brakes and seating for 5 passengers plus luggage.
This vehicle was just purchased and it was not running. It has been sitting since 1997 because of a unknown problem. I checked out each of its systems figuring out where the problem was. I ended up finding a few small problems. There was a bad coil which prevented the van from getting the run signal and a few blown fuses. Once I traced all of that down I finally got the run signal. I took out all of the battery pods and cleaned up the batteries and added a cheap BMS (Battery Monitoring System) since it is hard to get to each battery. Since the van sat so long, mice chewed on some of the watering lines so I fixed those also. The pods were put all back in and I drove it around 6 miles around the neighborhood on the original batteries until I got a nail in the tire. The tires are all dry rotted so I got new tires coming next week. I am also going to get the brake fluid flushed along with the power steering fluid. Hopefully I will start driving it around regularly soon!

Many thanks to North Texas Electric Auto Association (
NTEAA WebPage ) for all the help and tips.

code by jerry