I can't tell you about the Leaf packs, but when I built my electric lawn tractor, I wound up with a used Volt pack from HybridAutoCenter http://hybridautocenter.com/HAC4/
Specifically the 48v/47ah Volt pack - http://hybridautocenter.com/HAC4/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=product&task=show&cid=79&name=2kw-h-lithium-battery-pack-chevrolet-volt-45v-45ah-12-cells&Itemid=605 It was $430 plus freight, which brought the price to around $500. I also bought a low end BMS from them for $150, and $165 for a 10amp charger. The BMS does balancing and prevents overcharge, but the operator (me) is on the hook to not over-discharge the batteries. I just watch the voltmeter. 12s pack of Volt modules. Mine has no coolant, but was still bolted together. The charger shuts off at 50V. I stop cutting operations at 42V. When mowing and it drops below 42V, shut the mower deck off and the battery voltage recovers to ~44V and there's plenty left to drive around and return home. (I also use it to plow snow in the winter - the electric tractor has never failed to start, even at -20F) I'm use the Motoenergy motor. I estimate a 100amp draw average while mowing - my 2kwh pack gets me 20 minutes of grass cutting, give or take. That's enough to cut the front yard or the back yard at a decent pace, or both if I do it all in 5th gear. :D Charger takes several hours - I think 8 or so - to restore the battery. It is short enough that I can mow first thing in the morning and do it again in the late afternoon - but also long enough that I can cut the front yard one evening and not feel guilty about letting it charge overnight and resuming the next day. The motor is a permanent magnet, rated at "48v" and does just fine. I keep toying with getting a second 2kwh pack and paralleling them. The current pack sits up front, between the grille and motor. I have room for a second pack between the motor and steering column, still under the hood - and also, I think, room under the seat where the starter battery used to be, above the pulley and main drivebelt for the transaxle. My biggest issue with the 12S Volt pack - I had hoped to run lead, with multiple taps at 12, 18, and 24V available so I could use the tractor as a power supply for my DC spool-gun welder. Drive to the location. Hook the welder to the supply, weld, drive back. Unfortunately, 48V is not only "too much" but beyond the spool-gun's limits as well. (18V is probably the right voltage for general field welding). Perhaps I could tap off the series-connecting "foil" connections on the top of the battery back, but I haven't been that ambitious. I used a 48-->12Vdc converter to run the head lights, and provide a power port for field-operation of the amateur radios - but haven't found an inexpensive 48->18 solution that supplies enough current for the welder. I'll live with it. :) -Tom _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
