Battery Vehicle Society

Lo all, probably more for a blog than a post but what the hek

I'm having no luck so far in actually finding an EV , still researching the web all the time re any new ones ' soon to arrive' and the most interesting practical ones I have found seem to be the Smart and the Think. There seems to be quite a bit of info around the web on the Thinks in Norway , wondered if anyone else had any thoughts re them. The trouble is although both definately exist as lease cars no company seems to be giving any info away re an iminent arrival of a ' retail version' which is frustrating.

It does seem likely that both the Smart and the Think will be £15000 - 17,000 which will be a lot to justify ?

I'm still utterly choked that I wasnt as set on an EV when I saw the Berlingo on E-Bay a few months ago but ce la vie.

Would I have more joy perhaps finding a second hand EV in Europe and if so has anyone got any tips re doing this or not as the case may be and where to look.

Cheers Mas

There's a Pugeot Partner (same asa a Berlingo) In Plugged In for sale on the back pages

Join the Society and get the magazine

Would the Ze-O fit your definition of a practical car?
http://www.nicecarcompany.co.uk/e500-Electric.html

It's not available until early next year but the Mitsubishi i miev sounds quite good and you can register interest on their website.

The Ze-O is being launched at the London Motor Show at Excel on 22nd this month

Read it here

Hi Mas,
I'm still looking for one also, I'm hoping John Lilly will get some more used Elcats from Finland soon, they are normally 4 to 6K, he is having an event today in Wales, the Cwmdu Show in Plugged In mag see www.electricvanandcar.co.uk , EV's have been very scarce after the tanker strike, if anyone else has an old EV that needs a bit of work or new batteries give me a PM to. Good luck Mas,
Nigel

Very interesting replies !

What worries me is i have been scouring the web via google and have seen the nice website , but only found the normal nice car which at 40 mph I consider pretty useless.

I have not seen anything at all re the Zeo and E500 until this post.

The Zeo yes practical but that money for lead acid batterieds and limited range/speed seems steep. That little E500 though now that seems to hit the mark in much the same way as the Smart EV and possibly the Think.

He E500 looks a great little package doesnt it ??? all depends on price I could be tempted by one of those. Is it me or is the next 12 months going to be an exciting time for EV ' ers

I do hope I end up with one .

Cheers Mas

What does anyone know about this company.

http://www.avt.uk.com/index.html

I E-mailed them Friday and asked for a conversion price on a Smart 2 seater.

It looks like a viable conversion of the smart and I'm thinking get an old dead smart and give it to them for conversion. Thus you get a smart EV without paying the ' new car out of the showroom ' price .

Any opinions or experience ?

Oh and Nigel could you pop in to the cider farm on the road in to Bath for me please ! , only the best cider in the U.K you lucky b*****

Dear mas
AVT is essentially a one-man operation run by Rober Fowler who is an EV enthusiast and who has converted several different standard production cars to EV. I am sure that he would quote you for any level of sophistication of conversion that you want / are willing to pay for.
Of course, having someone do a one-off bespoke conversion is not cheap.
Robert converted a Rover Metro for me, and it performed well for 10 years before the subframes rusted away. (I now have an Elcat, but the Metro was certainly more nippy.)
Certainly worth talking to him
Jonathan

Whilst I am no dreamer and am totally aware that Lithium batteries would, cost me big time , I am still a bit depressed to find the going rate for 72v by 40mah = about £4100 . A real ooooo to start a project off

All makes some interesting reading though depressing but interesting.