It's now 5 years of EV motoring and my Suzuki van has clocked up 300000km, with over 21000km clean green electric power.
As you may know I upgraded the batteries from 15 Lead Acid to 400 Headway Lithium cells in early 2011, then added the final 50 cells a year later.
I've seen other EV owners use mismatched batteries and was expecting problems with the initial charge, but the Batrium BMS balanced the pack overnight without an issue.
The Headway cells perform faultlessly with the only problem being the BMS indicating one cell temp a bit high. Ended up being a loose connection getting hot.
This combination worked well for a couple of years but the Curtis controller needed an upgrade, so in August 2013 I fitted a Soliton Jr.
Power is improved and it's great to have all the added adjustability. A bit quieter than the old Curtis also.
In the past, on long high speed drives, my motor did run fairly hot. I was expecting problems down the track but the following day the Advanced DC motor quit on me, so I upgraded from 8 to 9 inch.
I had to redrill my adaptor plate and make a new mount. Motor weight went from 48 to 68 kg and it only just misses the subframe.
Ohmboy flies now. My next issue is gear change speed. With the bigger armature the old 3 sec is now a 4 sec delay between upshifts. I am considering an auto, but keeping my options open.
Other improvements over the past 5 years include, LED tail lights and front parkers, streamlined mirrors, mag wheels and lowered suspension, heavy duty coil overs and sway bar on the front.
I've been fitting a sound system recently, here is an iPhone controlled head unit I'm trying.
Unfortunately I can't find a head unit where I can play music and show my BMS/controller data simultaneously. The Batrium display, although not essential, is a big part of my EV experience. I may remove the original dash and fit the tablet in front of the driver.
I'll get back to tinkering and keep you posted on progress.
Mark