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011 Electric Dodge Neon - Freeway Test Drive

video 011 Electric Dodge Neon - Freeway Test Drive

Tom and Ben take Tom's battery-electric Dodge Neon conversion out for a spin on the freeway.
Conversation includes heat in an EV, energy used, and how NOT to get a speeding ticket....

8 comments

Jul 18, 2011. 3:14 PMmjordon says:

how much does all that caust all in all not including the car itself just all the parts n motor? im a big fan of ev's and have some good ideas to help the battery last longer and i need to save money on gas its killing me lol

Mar 13, 2011. 10:36 PMtriniton says:

would it be better to use deep cycle batteries?

Mar 14, 2011. 7:48 AM

bennelson (author) says:

Flooded deep-cycle batteries are an excellent choice for an electric car, especially the 6V versions.

In this car, it requires 12V batteries to be able to reach the voltage required by the AC drive system.

In this case, the batteries are inside the passenger compartment, so you really wouldn't want flooded batteries because of that.

With the high voltage, very low amperage is pulled from the batteries, allowing them to extend their life, and have more flexibility in choice of batteries.

A big part of what started this project is that the builder, Tom, got a pallet of batteries for FREE. He later traded some of them out for a slightly different version of the battery, but he got a really good deal on even that!

Jan 9, 2011. 7:54 PMDoneitmyself says:

I didn't watch all your videos, but judging from the camera pans in the back seat. I trust you have some sort of electrical fire suppression chemical along with a master kill switch in the driver seat, in the event of a short?

Jul 9, 2010. 9:56 AMCEWMusik says:

I recognized a few roads in this video because I go up to Milwaukee every now-and-then. I live in Antioch, Illinois, and I go up into Wisconsin quite a bit.

Jan 19, 2010. 2:17 PMERCBIENG says:

how does the shifting work?

Dec 9, 2009. 7:26 PMwicolt says:

Tom and Ben,
Did you guys shoot this video on I -894 in Greenfield, I noticed the Loomis Rd. exit. I am originally from the area and my whole family lives in the area surrounding Greendale and then further south in Waterford.

I live in Knoxville, TN but would love to meet you guys and see the car on my next trip to WI which will probably be next summer.

Great work on the car so far and keep the videos coming!

Dec 9, 2009. 8:00 PM

bennelson (author) says:

Yep!
The Milwaukee Electric Car Club usually meets at Tom's house in Greenfield, Wisconsin.

Look us up next time you are in town!

-Ben