Battery Vehicle Society

For those of you who where not at Stoneleigh, and for those who missed it, LiFeBATT launched it's promotional vehicle, an MEV R2.

At the Northern meeting in mid February this year, Stuart Mills and I got talking about his new project, the R2, and agreed almost on the spot that LiFeBATT would buy one, design the drive system and install it with the able assistance of Stuart's Team.

The aim of the project was to prove that electric cars don't have to be slow and that you can get super car performance, for family car money. Also, to prove that LiFeBATT battery modules work “exactly as it says on the tinâ€Â

Great minds think alike Ian

We too had our sports EV at the show which was based on the Haynes Roadster. For those who would like to know what that is it's basically a kit Lotus Seven replica we've gone for the same motor though a Curtis Controllor and Lead Acid batteries in ours but if you were to supply us with some batteries we'd be all too happy to build one with those too.


Our chassis for our Seven replica

Unfortunately we don't have quite the resources that Stuart has at MEV so ours was just a chassis on show at Stoneleigh but it got a lot of attention and I think together with the Jimini we've opened some minds to the possibilities of battery powered kit cars

Did you get any photos of the R2 ? pop them up on here if you have some as people would like to see what it is. As you know I know the car reasonably well as we were pondering it's use too only one of our team had his heart set on the Haynes Roadster and as it's a car you can build totally yourself absoloutely from scratch that's what we did. It would have been far more complete however if we'd simply bought a kit such as yourselves. LOL


MEV R2

Here are a few external shots. I think the styling is beautifully futuristic and really jumps out from the Westfield crowd.

I agree it's very different from the Sevens but we can quite easily make different body styles for our car the Seven is just a starting point

Would be good to get an article in Plugged In on the R2 keep me informed its great to see people producing desirable EVs

Wow thats one nice motor Ian

Certainly something I'd be happy to cruise about in, BUT how much actual use is it really going to be to the average joe in the street .........not a lot I feel
While all these futuristic two seater super fast sports cars are all very well the man/woman on the street wants a 4 door family vehicle they can put the kids into so they can take them to school, get the shopping in the back and if their doing a bit of DIY get all the stuff they need from the likes of B&Q in it as well. They also still want a vehicle thats compareable in speed and acceleration to your modern family motor which is able to do 0-60 in about 10 secs and maintain 70+ for miles on end

If someone could come up with something like that then you'd sell them like hot cakes, I generally get a MASSIVE amount of interest in the Berlingo when I'm out and about but almost everyone says "oh but its only got 2 seats" when I mention the fact that actually its the same as the multispace and another 2 seats could be added they get VERY interested in deed.

So come on folks stop building these uber cool sports cars and make something that the public with 2.4 kids and half a labrador REALLY wants.

Hope I'm not sounding two negative thats not the idea at all I just sometimes think we get two hung up on the whole sports car issue, with the current credit problems I suspect the last thing the public will want to buy is a 2 seater sports car, where as a super economical 4 seater that has practical use will sell faster than I can type to the end of this sentance

ChrisB

Here you go Chris there's the Jimini which you can put passenger seats on the back and a roof and effectively is a self build equivalent to the Blingo. I dare say they will build it for you too or you could get someone else to there's usually several people who will build a car for you.


Jimini Tred-E

The whole point though to the sports car tac is that these get the headlines and consequently make Joe public aware that it can be done.

For example the Blingo has been around for years but how many people know of it? The Tesla hit the headlines before any of them have even come off the production line! I'm sure you can see where we are comming from.

As you can read in another thread, I test drove a couple of MPV's yesterday - the Microvek Fiat Doblo and the ZEV Peugeot Expert.

They fit the criteria you're after, and the Doblo is a pretty impressive beastie. Unfortunately both cars aren't properly sorted and both need more development work before they can genuinely replace their petrol equivalents. But they are certainly getting there.

Classic case of "missing the point" Chris. Why assume a sports car should fill the place of a MPV. I dont look at mass markets as it would be hard to compete with Ford or Toyota. If it were possible to build a "super economical 4 seater that has practical use" then the world would not be waiting for me to develop one. Sounds like all you need is seats and windows in the back of your van. Recognise the limits of taking electric with you and then dream of having some real fun, in a fast car with more torque than an Aston and you may see a niche market. Aston Martin only do sports cars, give em a call on monday and suggest they got it wrong!

Well done Kelvin for getting to Stoneleigh. Didnt get chance to say Hi but I think the layout was good, we were attacking petrol haeds from all directions with yourselves, Jimini and us and the BVS gathering elsewere. I suppose you saw the Toniq R. A nice modern take on a 7 and I believe the panels will fit your chassis. Good luck with the project, dont look at my car as competition, the competition is any petrol kit car. Let me know if you need any help. Cant see Ian giving batteries away but they are amazing and he will give you a good price. Regards Stuart
P.S great mag too, you have been busy!

It is interesting that Aston Martin never made a profit in its entire history. It survived on the back of and because of the enthusiasm of whatever parent company owned it at a particular time.
Peter