Batteries, batteries, and more batteries.

In the beginning, there were a few battery manufacturers that you could go to for electric car applications.
That was a bad thing.
There was practically no competition, and the few manufacturers knew this, and so would set extremely restrictive conditions for purchasing their batteries.
Among them were,
1. We're going to take a long time. Don't hold your breath.
2. We'll need an unbreakable commitment for a large quantity ahead of time, whether you're going to need all of them or not.
3. Large minimum purchase quantities/cost.
4. Wrong format? Take it or leave it (one company delivered batteries that were TAPED together, rather than deliver them separated for the car manufacturer to secure using more robust means.)
5. Wrong specs? Again, take it or leave it.
6. Did we mention we want lots of money?

Alan Cocconi came up with a novel solution to all this;
Take advantage of the intense competition between laptop battery manufacturers, and you will get the most energy in the smallest space (and least weight) for the least cost.
The only caveat to this method was that you would have to weld thousands of 18650 (a number that relates to the cell dimensions in mm's) together to power a car.
Well, so be it.
Each eBox we make uses 5,088 cells, most of which are in parallel for current, and then in series for voltage.
I've got help now, and that's a rare thing. The third weld station is now operational, and the preliminary numbers on the output from these machines support making the necessary quantities of modules to meet our eBox production schedule.
It's pretty exciting to see it all come together like this, especially during a recession, but I guess electric cars will be a much more effective means of bringing jobs and our economy back from the brink than it ever was before.
We'll see. - George