Yes it is DC. The yellow top Optimas are made for deep cycling. I have heard some of the cars got blue tops. Not sure what red tops are used for.

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MB-less

Red tops are for major CCAs. Yellow and Blue for deep cycle.

Newer Li-Ion batteries are better at NOT loosing capacitance than the earlier ones. That being said, Lead-acid is still better at capacitance retention where Li-Ion is lighter and can store more energy per unit weight and unit volume. Li-Ion also tend to have a higher number of cycles/lifetime (~1200 versus 500-800 cycles).

So at a hypothetical 1200 cycles/lifetime and 1 cycle/day (average), that's 1200 days or 3.28 years. For my situation of $2100/year for diesel, my battery pack would have to cost less than $7000 to break even, and that will not include charging costs. If production of Li-Ion cells that are more durable and longer lasting takes place, then then cost could conceivably be reduced. But it will not happen until the industry sees a demand for it.

$4000 will buy less than two years worth of diesel.

$4800 buys 30 Optima Yellow Tops, that's 360volts. I'm pretty sure I can get a donor and do most of the conversion for $5200. EV for $10k, that sounds good to me.

How long will those last, and how much will it cost per mile to drive? If they really only last 800 cycles, that's not much over two years. Plus the cost of electricity.

It may be cheaper than diesel in the end, but I bet the battery life seriously cuts into your savings. It may even cost you more than diesel in the end.

Ya, but how much do you think diesel will be in 2 years? Look at a weekly chart of oil

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?jav=adv&vol=Y&grid=Y&divd=Y&org=stk&sym=CLJ8&data=E&code=BSTK&evnt=adv

Print it out and draw a trendline over top of the chart. You are looking at about $130 BBL in 2 years, which would translate into about $5 gallon. Now I am also going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction that I think there will be spikes higher than that in the next two years, and places where you will not be able to buy gas at any price in the US. I mean there will be local supply disruptions. I've traded commodities for twenty years.

Yep. Present prices for batteries, conversions, and the production vehicles that are already electric are still out of range for most people. If you can find a cheap EV they are either severely range limited or butt ugly. But the realm that I am headed toward is the lack of need for crude oil. Most developing countries are putting money into EV research/production simply so that they don't wind up as dependent on oil as the U.S. They don't have the budget to invade other counties for their oil. But I will not pursue that debate here.

It simply comes down to a person wanting to take a personal stand on the issue. I'll present the facts, but I let people make their own decisions. I would recommend that people try to limit their use of oil. But even I will eventually want a nice sportscar someday. If it runs on batteries, good. But if I can't find a nice, brand new roadster with 330+hp for under $50,000 (2007 U.S. dollars) that runs on amperes rather than gas, then I will be buying the gas burner.

Somehow, I seriously doubt the point of what he's doing is to save money...

Here's a link to a site that offers conversion kits. A lot of the cars they focus on are much smaller and lighter, but, if you strip down the benz, you might have something workable. Even if you got it to the point where it would get you 30-40 miles on a charge, that would be one cool commuter!

http://www.electroauto.com/gallery/vp914.shtml

Keep us posted on your progress Mistel and good for you for thinking in this direction, best of luck!

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1984 300TD Wagon