Owner | Matthew Parkhouse | ||||||||
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Owner's Other EV | 1972 Volkswagen Van | ||||||||
Location | Colorado Springs, Colorado United States map | ||||||||
Vehicle | 1973 BMW Slash Five Made up from 1994 Ezgo golf cart rear axle/motor unit and BMW frame, seat, front end. Joined with a steel plate subframe I had made at a welding shop. | ||||||||
Motor | Series Wound DC 8HP after market Golf Cart motor. Pulls 150 Aps on take off, settles into 50 to 70 Amps cruising | ||||||||
Controller | Alltrax 650 Alltrax Golf Cart Controller, Input from 0 to 5K pot throttle | ||||||||
Batteries | 2 Deka 100AH (2 X 50AH), 48.00 Volt, Lithium-Ion I replaced the 6 8-volt batteries with four 12 deep-cycle batteries. Lost a bit of range and gained a LOT in handling! Update - 2016 - I purchased a pair of Lithium- ion Chevy Volt batteries. What a difference!! I really have not determined the range yet but they seem to be much stronger than the previous lead-acid ones. Going from approx 280 lbs to 80 lbs sure made a difference as well! | ||||||||
System Voltage | 48 Volts | ||||||||
Charger | 48 volt GC charger Plugs into 110 volt AC outlets | ||||||||
Heater | None | ||||||||
DC/DC Converter | None | ||||||||
Instrumentation | Motive Battery Voltmeter (cheap VOM) Aux Battery Voltmeter 0 to 200 Ammeter with shunt Sigma bicycle speedometer with sender on front wheel spokes | ||||||||
Top Speed | 30 MPH (48 KPH) 25 to 30 on flat roads Slows to 18 on steep hills Up to 35 going down steep hills, I try to keep it below 35 to preserve the motor | ||||||||
Acceleration | Great to 20 MPH! slow after that | ||||||||
Range | 35 Miles (56 Kilometers) This is to 75% DoD (Depth of Discharge) We'll see how the lithium-ion batteries do.... | ||||||||
EV Miles |
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Seating Capacity | 1 adult | ||||||||
Curb Weight | 620 Pounds (281 Kilograms) 420 of that is batteries! Then down to 280 lbs and now down to 80 pounds with the Li-ion ones. | ||||||||
Tires | Honda emergency spare tire/wheel units 13" diameter. I found a pair of 14" wheels and have them in place. I have to say, I can't tell any difference in speed. | ||||||||
Conversion Time | three months | ||||||||
Conversion Cost | $1500 plus old BMW motorcycle parts I already had | ||||||||
Additional Features | LED Headlamps. I updated the LED headlamps (circa 2007) to a MUCH more powerful set up (2016). | ||||||||
There is a lot more available to the experimenter today (2016) then when I built the vehicle. The Li-ion batteries are the big improvement but I am also updating the voltmeter and headlamp. It remains a FUN vehicle to ride around town on on a warm day. |