File037

Think City Electric Car

A fun video on the Think City electric car.

EV Battery Charger

So here is my battery charger for my battery pack. I am going to be using a Minn Kota MK440 battery charger for my main pack. This charger is a 4 bank charger and will supply 10 amps to each battery. The 440 is a multi-stage charger (3 stage) so it does bulk charging until the battery reaches 75% then goes to absorption mode and finally goes to maintenance mode (float). This charger also has temperature compensation which I guess adjusts the voltage so the battery reaches the gassing threshold depending on whether it is cold or warm outside. Higher in cold and lower in hot temperatures. The charger weighs 22.5 lbs.

This charger retails for $379. I got my new one off ebay for $225.95 shipped. That link should bring you to the search listing on ebay.

So why the Minn Kota charger? Couple reasons. First the front of my Beetle is a fiberglass front that isn’t totally sealed. This charger is water-proof, since it is a marine charger and should work well for my application. Second, I figured that if I outgrow it (i.e. add a larger battery pack), it will be perfect to put in my mother’s pontoon.

It fits perfect next to the batteries in the front (my main pack). The accessory battery for lights, taillights, etc… will be under the rear seat (normal location on a stock Beetle). The batteries in the photos below are ones I collected from friends to use as cores. They are all group 31 size approximately 68lbs each. With the battery charger the front is getting heavy… 302 lbs (280lbs of batteries and 22 lbs for the charger).

Minn Kota MK440 battery charger

Front battery rack for the EV

Access to the charger

Just enough clearance

My EV power source

Iowa wind power

Save energy – Ride a bike.

If you don’t like gas prices ride a bike. At least Rep. Patrick McHenry didn’t recommend walking, because that would be taking things a bit too far.

Blog updates and archives

Since this blog is about building the electric VW Beetle. I am currently (finally) at the point where I am purchasing and assembling the electric car components. Since A TON of work has been done just to get the Beetle road worthy, I will be adding posts, photos, info that has already happened (older posts are mostly going to be automotive maintenance/repair – I will try to put them in a separate category). Since the JPEG images from my digital camera have the dates, it should be a fairly easy process to insert the posts where they go.