Rear BatteriesBillings EV club
OwnerHerb Welch
LocationHelena, Montana United States map
Vehicle1990 Ford Ranger
This is a standard Ford Ranger 2-WD pickup which has become my daily driver.
MotorAdvanced DC FB-4001 Series Wound DC
DrivetrainStock 5-speed transmission and clutch. I added two leaves to both rear springs and put new heavy duty coils up front.
ControllerCurtis 1231C
Batteries20, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
System Voltage120 Volts
ChargerRussco SC-120
HeaterI installed a PTC module that was robbed out of a Wal-Mart space heater in the existing heater core. Works ok but more heat would be nice.
DC/DC ConverterIota DLS-30
Very slick converter that can operate on either AC or DC power.
InstrumentationVoltmeter, Ammeter and a Curtis 900
Top Speed70 MPH (112 KPH)
AccelerationAcceleration is as good as the 4 cylinder engine the truck came with.
Range50 Miles (80 Kilometers)
During the summer months my range has been around 50 miles on a charge and 30 during the winter.
Watt Hours/MileOn flat ground, 40 amps keeps me at around 35mph
EV Miles
Start:74,000 Miles (119,066 Kilometers)
Current:81,260 Miles (130,747 Kilometers)
Total:7,260 Miles (11,681 Kilometers)
 
    As of 4/16/2012
Seating CapacityTwo comfortably or three close friends.
Curb Weight4,220 Pounds (1,918 Kilograms)
TiresAll season all the way around.
Conversion TimeSix months worth of weekends.
Conversion Cost$6,000 and climbing.
Additional FeaturesHydraulic bed lift to make battery service safe and easy and runs to the dump a snap. Canadus battery de-sulfator.

3 Kilowatt pure sine wave inverter for backup AC power
WoW! another driving year down the tubes. Some people including myself like raw data on projects like these, so here it is.

Total electric miles driven.................... 7,260
Total Kwh of electricity for charging...........4,107
Total cost of electricity for charging...........369.63
Charging cycles from an average of 50% discharge 558
Batteries begin service August 1st 2006, 3 years ago.

Back in June I lost one battery due to an open circuit and replaced it with a new one. Two years ago I installed a Canadus battery de-sulphator on my truck due to an increase in my charge time. My charge rate has dropped from a high of 11 Kwh a day back down to the 7 Kwh I experienced when the batteries were new. The unit was not cheap but seems to make a difference, only time will tell.

In November I obtained salvaged 3Kw inverter designed for 100 VDC input and installed it in my garage. It will be used as a backup power source for my home and be powered by my trucks battery pack.







code by jerry