Jack, A few thoughts here.
First, let me say that I'm not as negative on this idea as some here seem to be. But I suggest that you try not to get too miffed at the naysayers. There's wisdom in what they say. Hop in and grab what helps you, and leave the rest. Second, I think your original question about using a Leaf drive has been pretty well answered. A lot of the rest of this thread has dealt more with your business plan, which you weren't really asking about. However, that's what I'm concerned with. It's not entirely clear to me what you really want to do with this project. You may have to (I hope patiently) correct my impressions. It sounds like first and foremost you want to build a fast, exciting EV that's to your own liking. Also, and possibly secondarily, you want to show it to potential investors and/or buyers in hopes of developing iterest in it as a limited-edition product targeted at (forgive me) people who have more money than sense. ;-) Your plan, on the surface, sounds great. If the business idea flops, hey, you have the EV you always wanted! However, I see a potential problem unrelated to things like whether you use an AC or DC drive. Understand that I speak here not as a financial expert or business owner, but rather as a longtime EV enthusiast. (I've been following EVs in one way or another since the mid-1960s.) Maybe because for a long time EVs were way out of the mainstream, and investors mostly didn't know much about them, the EV business has attracted a dismaying number of questionable people. Probably the type we've seen most often here on this list is the "free energy" promoter. Some of these guys sincerely think they've invented perpetual motion, when they're actually measuring something that isn't there. Others are outright criminals. Either way, they usually end up being prosecuted for fraud. These are the folks who are going to demonstrate a revolutionary EV that runs forever without ever being plugged in - next week, next month, or next year. They just need your investment to finish it, and then they'll have their highly promoted demonstration at Indy Speedway or wherever. The automotive world will beat a path to their door. They'll sell the design to GM, or the military, or some shadowy figure from Russia, or some oil company oligarch who wants to lock it up forever. Whatever. But for sure, you'll get your 10% cut of the immense profits! Yeah, right. Believe it or not, these people actually manage to get investors. There are also the truly sincere EV lovers who are out to save the world with EVs. You don't see these guys so much any more, now that mainstream automakers have actually (against all odds) started offering production EVs. However, they used to pop up regularly. As has been mentioned, most wanted to convert ICEVs. A few wanted to build purpose-built EV. These guys always failed. The ones with carefully designed business plans, those with large personal fortunes, and those who diversified their businesses, all lasted longer. Some are still in business today. But eventually, they all failed at building EVs for sale. They went bankrupt and saw their inventory auctioned off to pay the bills. Or they padlocked the workshop and left the computer-rendered prototypes up on the website, hoping against hope that someday, some automaker would license the design, or a good-hearted fairy godmother would sprinkle them with fiscal fairy dust so they could go back to work. Or they quietly sold most of the parts and prototypes, maybe keeping a favorite, and carried on with some other kind of business (EV related or not). Either type of EV entrepreneur above is a money sink for investors. No matter how sincere you are about this project, you may be dipping water from the well these folks have gradually poisoned over the years. To a savvy investor (I'm assuming here that you ARE looking for investors), you somehow have to avoid giving the impression that you'd actually be just fine if this venture failed and you got to keep your dream EV. You may have already kind of blown that, because that's the impression I've gotten from reading your posts here. Again, speaking only for myself, if I were an investor, I'd want to see evidence that you're really committed to making this a business - something other than saying "I'm committed to making this a business." (GM said that too about the EV1, and you see where that went.) I don't think that you can get away with a prototype that isn't close to what your production version will be. Short range won't fly, for example. You'll have to be able to demonstrate that your stated goals are attainable. You'll have to be able to say, "It'll be this - or better." You'll also need to make constant, documentable progress toward actually building the cars and selling them. In my (admittedly naïve) view, this would mean moving ahead ASAP with developing an actual (limited) production design. This might include leasing/buying and outfitting a facility which could be used to build cars. It would also include lining up suppliers and assembling a visible staff of outstanding and experienced EV engineers. (You'll find some fine candidates for this right here on this list. ;-) I'll bet others more business-savvy than I am can add to this list. Assuming you're 100% sincere about your business goal for this project, I think it's a reasonable idea. Some pretty smart people in the financial world will tell you that with current trends, the big areas of growth now are in selling goods and services to the 1% or even the 0.1%, not to the shrinking middle class. Who needs volume when your customer doesn't care what the price is (and in fact the higher the better)? Your business advisors seem to be on that same page. You probably already know that Alan Cocconi saw the future in affordable mainstream EVs like the Ebox, not the T-zero. Elon Musk saw things differently, which is part of the reason that the company building thousands of cars is Tesla, not AC Propulsion. There's a lesson there. And if you can redistribute some of your customers' excess wealth by using it to generously pay yourself and the people who design and build your EVs, who am I to criticize? :-) Getting back to design goals, I may have missed something in this exchange, so please forgive me if I'm saying something you already wrote about. However, I agree that while your limited-production EV may not actually be a Tesla competitor, that's the yardstick by which its technical sophistication and most definitely its range will be gauged. Tesla is the gold standard for EVs today, and a platinum class EV has to match or exceed its capabilities. Meantime, your car's comfort, handling, acceleration, and speed will be judged against ICE hand-built custom supercars. This is a high bar to leap, but surely it's not impossible. It IS going to take a fairly substantial pile of cash, however. I agree that you're probably on the right track with the exclusivity of electric drive. Don't let go of that. IMO, there are already enough hand- built limited-production ICEVs. Although the number of EV supercar links Bruce posted is a bit surprising, I expect there will still be less competition for a plutocrat's EV, at least for the next several years. Best of luck in your enterprise! Keep us posted. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. 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