Jim Coate wrote:
> Also replying to several at once. And no, I don't think you 
> have to give
> up your quest just yet. Rather I think you need to quantify how steep
> the steep hills are and then take a hard look at the costs for
> "advanced" batteries versus your budget.

Thanks for the support. 

> Talk to SAFT - somehow I thought that they include a recycling plan at
> the time they sell you the NiCads?

I will.  I don't hold out a lot of hope though.  I found their
website, and found that their nearest sales office is in Australia,
which is 4-6 hours away by jumbo jet.  I just don't think it's going
to be realistic to ship NiCads back and forth.  Lead-acid on the
hand, I know I can get, and I know I can recycle it.

> Just a carpenter's level and tape measure is all you need. OK, people
> may give you strange looks as you stop by the side of the road to
> perform the measurements, but it only takes 60 seconds. 
> Ideally repeat a
> few times up the different hills to get an idea about average and
> maximum grades.

Thanks, and thanks to Roger for the other suggestion on how to do it.
I had better be able to cope with getting strange looks.  :-)

> Yes, there is the possibility of something like the "Red Beastie" - 
> see http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/037.html

It's a nice looking vehicle. If I could start with a shiny new
vehicle I could consider it.  But you don't get many nice looking
ones second-hand.

> Now if you could just walk into the dealership and buy an EV1...

If only!

I've thought about importing a Reva from India, but its top speed
is only 65km/h, better than an NEV but still no good for highway
speeds.

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