I have been researching for years about building my own EV and was about to start the conversion on my 99 ranger but the economy went down and my new job is 35miles each way so a commuter is out. Just a background I am a ME and have ready Convert It! by Michael Brown and Build Your Own Electric Vehicle by Bob Brant. The real reason for my post is that I have access to a quite a few 24V lead acid concord batteries. The batteries in question are RG24-11M.
http://www.concordebattery.com/flyer.php?id=40
These are not deep cycle but they are brand new and I might be able to get them for practically nothing. Obviously they don't have the amp hours for a commuter EV but they do stand the potential to be a drag EV battery. With the 24V I could put 6 or so of them into a small car or bike with very little weight but still run 144V. My question is for all those battery gurus out there is; are these even worth bothering with? I know that they wouldn't last long but for a drag bike or car could I get a couple dozen runs out of them? My main worry looking at the specs is that I would burn them out during the first attempt but I figured this could be a cheap way to dip my toe in the water of the EV world.
To use these batteries for a drag racer would not work well. Their max amp draw is 160 amps and a drag racer will want somewhere above 400 amps. I think these would be a waste of time and dollars.
Grandpa Chas S.
Thx for the quick reply. That is what I thought originally too when I saw the CCA rating but I know with these that on a typical on a turbine start these will put out 300 amps each to the starter/generator for 5-10 seconds. The rated peak current (15sec draw) is 504 amps (Ipr) and had a pulse peak of 859amps (Ipp). These are a low impedance AGM which is what made me think they would be good for a racer. Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Kerry
If these numbers are accurate I must retract my last statement. It seems to me for a drag racer only using high current for 15 seconds or so they should work fine. How long they will take that kind of abuse is unknown. Might be worth a try after all.
Grandpa Chas S.
Thx. I am going to go ahead and given it a shot. I have been on the fence about doing a conversion for 3 years now. This gives me a good excuse to dive in, "I already have the batteries..." :-) I got some of them today and I going to order a small charger since the 3 I have are 6/12V. The selection is limited but I did find a few:
http://www.batteryspec.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?action=link&product=131&sub2=1310015
One worry thing is several ones i found say "not for aviation batteries" even though the do list them as compatible with AGM. I think I will try to trickle charge (they are new but 2 years old) and drain one battery and see how the respond.
Kerry