Battery Vehicle Society

First of all hi ,im a new member to the forum and to using electric vehicles

Can you help??

Ive got a 2003 berlingo electrique with 7k on the clock i get roughly 52 miles per charge at speeds from 25-45 on average 35mph ,
ive owned it 3 days and im hopeing the tad lower on average miles these should do is because it is freeeeezing out there and i have read this does cut down the batts life considerably .

when i bought this vehicle the diagnostic light was on and still is but didnt get user manual with the van so didnt know what this light was untill i just downloaded the manual and found out and now my heart has sunk .To me it just looks like an electric sign arrow etc ,

any ideas ,should i try and give it back?

many thanks
please help

Hey Sticks, welcome to the forum.

I doubt it's a serious problem since the van drives.

Just to be on the safe side, I would not recommend driving the van until you get the problem sorted.

You'll need EVlite to read the fault. EVlite can also clear the fault memory.
http://www.tuer.co.uk/evlite.htm

The berlingo electrique has two main areas that require regular checking/servicing. These are the motors brushes and the water watering.

You will need to find out when the vans batteries were last watered.
(Your van is 2003, so your batteries should be in good condition. )

You will also need to check if the vans brushes are in good condition.

As cianof says, you need to get a EVlite or a main dealer diagnosis unit plugged into it and find out what the fault is and clear it and see if it comes back.

I suspect it maybe the good old insulation fault, which means somewhere on the vehicle the insulation is breaking down, quite often this can be due to carbon build up in the motor.

52 miles in the current weather is pretty good, I've only ever managed 63 odd miles in the warm and I "think" thats about the average, not sure if anyone else get more mind you.

ChrisB

PS moved the the thread to the berlingo section

cheers guys starting to feel better already,i am really green about ev's,
all i know about 100 miles ago it wouldnt charge and the company took it tp citreon and was told the 12v batt was shafted so it got changed,on the recipt it says...
manufacturer service time based RTN
charging circuit -battery R&R
engine management-fault diagnosis INV

this was all done about 100miles ago as said by citreon

so i rang them and they said The van seems good but the fault light kept coming back on and they couldnt do no more about it maybe dead batts/cells,

does that ring any bells with you guys,

also does anyone live in north london with evlite i would come to you and give you a drink,

cheers

sorry forgot to add ,when i tested the range and got 52 the headlights were on the whole time not sure if that makes a difference,

I have a 1999 berlingo the fault light came on, ev-lite told me it was insulation fault trace fault to field coils tried blowing it out didn't work,
removed motor strip it down cleaned coils in contact cleaner washed them and dried them still no good 2k at 500volt.
on the bottom coil I could see were it has been arcing across it look like it could have had water in.
Took the coils to a re-winder was quoted £300 to rewind the one coil does this seem a reasonable price?

I agree with ChrisB. It's really sounds like an insulation fault.

To be sure you'll need to hook up EVlite and see the error code.

You'll also need to inspect the brushes. (Make sure you remove the fuses before you do this.)

You could also consider using a vacuum to clear out any carbon from inside the motor.

do you think the brushes were changed by citreon
on recipt it says....

manufacturer service time based RTN

No idea if they were checked, no harm in checking though. (I've had some bad experiences with main dealers.)

Driving the brushes down to their copper wire is one sure way to kill your motors commutator, so it's worth knowing what state your brushes are in.

hi cianof,

could you tell me where the brushes are located and fuse ,

ive searched the forum but cant get no pics info etc,thanks