Odometer is 2768. That's 15 miles of driving using just 35% of the charge. So the range is now over 42 miles per charge (if I wanted to run the batteries down to zero). I've been told that maximizing the battery cycle life means seldom discharging the pack below 50%, so the effective range at the moment is just over 20 miles between charges.
If it is interesting to anyone, the batteries are Exide Orbitals. At $135 each, replacing all 13 is going to cost nearly $2000. Scary? Maybe... but in the Sparrow EV group I see people with over 1000 charge cycles on Exides. How long will they last? Unknown. Right around that 1000 cycle mark, though, the cost for energy storage and use is under 10 cents per mile. This is very close to the (current!) cost of gasoline in a 30mpg car. Factor in that I never have to go to the gas station except to instigate obstreporous behavior, that insurance is a third that of a car, and that I never ever need a smog check, and the answer I get is this cute little car makes a lot of sense!
No comments:
Post a Comment