EVD VRLA Impressions

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sirsnafu
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EVD VRLA Impressions

Well I got the EVD about a week and a half ago and I have to say I am quite impressed, the shipping crate was somewhat difficult to remove, and we were doing it under the cardboard box in the rain... But does it move, the main units are MPH unlike the XM series and it seems to have the same realistic top speed as the 3500li. I still need to test the speedometer against a car before a cop decides to test me, but I just try and keep up with traffic and it works fine. I think I will notice the difference in battery life come summer because its been about 40F here constant and its either somewhat covered outside at work or in my garage which gets kinda cold anyway. I have not mapped out the range so far, my 16 mile round trip at 40mph most of the way, up to 50-55 for a mile or two pulls me to about half charge when I am giving it decent throttle uphill, so say 30 miles is pretty reasonable at that speed in the rain and wind at about 40F. I believe the ratio is something like every 15 degrees drops the lead acid capacity by 25%? I may have it backwards or something like that but I think them saying 50 mile range is believable.

On a very slight downhill I pull 55 pretty easily (speed limit is 45) and on the way back I can manage 50 but it takes me a bit, sometimes cars get kinda annoyed but lets see them do it in one gear. I am also tucking a decent amount when riding it which helps greatly, in the rain when tucking the windshield does its job and I do not get rain on my helmet. Feels stable at the higher speeds although I am getting used to it still and am sure it will get even better. One thing I have noticed is occasional controller lag, could be how I am riding it but there seems to be a throttle delay sometimes.

I have noticed a few things as to build quality, overall very solid, front fairing seems a little janky but I can live with it. Brakes feel like I can stop pretty well although I need to loosen them a bit because of rubbing. Front wheel developed a squeak about 2 or 3 days in and some Tri-Flow fixed that right up. The side shield for the brake and the swing arm had one bolt in the back of the two holes welded improperly so the screw would not go in more than half an inch and I stripped it out a bit as is, I got a decently sized zip tie that fit right in there and it matches the black so its mostly invisible and does the job, I keep an extra on me just in case it breaks. There is a small gap in just one or two places I have noticed that the plastic does not fit properly together and I can't tell why but its only noticeable if you are riding it and look straight down (not advisable unless stopped). My seat pops up pretty quick and has actually nailed me in the face on two separate occasions, the first time opening was one of them. I still love the seat however, there is a hole at the base near the spring and right now I have a 35 foot outdoor extension cord coiled up in there that I can just leave attached to the charger and it takes up almost no otherwise usable space, there is batteries and stuff down there so it coils up and pulls out but never goes anywhere as far as I can tell. Charging at work with that extension cord is fairly painless, there is enough of a gap in the seat to allow for plenty of airflow and if you live and work downtown it might be hard to charge but you would probably only need to every couple to few days.

I have the VRLA (Lead acid) version that is cheaper than the lithium and I can not even imagine the performance difference between the two. To go lithium would be 1500 more and I figure in two years when these need replacing I will get me some capacitors fitted instead. Or just buy an electric car.... Anyway I highly recommend this scooter to pretty much anyone, registration has been somewhat difficult surprisingly but I am fairly sure it will work out just fine.

Ask if you have questions.

PJD
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Re: EVD VRLA Impressions

I wouldn't wait for ultracapacitors. They are largely in league with things like the "air car".

Hopefully the VLRA battery boxes are of a dimension that will facilitate conversion to lithium. Having gone through a couple SLA packs before changing over to Thundersky LiFePO4, I have come to the conclusion that VRLA's, while a necessity for two wheel vehicles because their spill-proofness, perform poorly and will end up costing in replacement and headaches much more than the cost of the Lithium cells. The inability to do the equalization charging like conventional flooded batteries really limits their life - and all it takes is one bad cell in one of the batteries to mess up the pack.

I used my scooters on a daily basis, except winter, and I never was able to get satisfactory performance for more than one full season, plus a bit, out of a VLRA pack.

sirsnafu
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Last seen: 15 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Saturday, November 1, 2008 - 17:08
Points: 16
Re: EVD VRLA Impressions

That's too bad that the batteries did not last as long for you although I believe I can still install a BattEQ (which I think is my only option). I wanted to put a bank charger on there, one Soneil 1212 5 amp charger per battery, but do that math and I would need a 25 amp circuit to hook up to wherever I went to.

I hope I cant get at least a year and a half off these, I can charge at work and home and with the way technology is advancing we may not have ultra capacitors but there will be something far more powerful then LiFePO3 that I can upgrade to. That's a brand new chemistry as is so give the tech a little time for more exponential growth and we will see some sick stuff fairly quickly. Besides throughout 2009 there are supposed to be several legitimate cars released, that happen to be propelled electrically.

P.S. I have been using mine in nothing but winter as of yet, rain and fog, 30-50 degree temps depending on when I am riding it... maybe electronics just like me for some reason.

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