Hi,
Speaking from ignorance, as I understand it, batteries that can endure "deep discharge" are the problem. But is it MY problem? I cannot remember when I last did more than about 12 miles in a day (Go to collect my daughter in the morning, take her home in the evening ... 4 x 3 mile journeys.) It must be at least two years since we visited friends in Wales. My sister and her husband visit us, from Dulwich, using some sort of pensioners railway ticket.
The car manufacturers seem to feel required to provide transport for every requirement, all built into one vehicle, when maybe 90% of the time, they could be served by a battery powered Dornier/Heinkel bubble car. Can our younger readers remember those, ... or the sporty Meschersmitts (Spell?), which pretended to be the cockpit from a WW2 fighter, on three wheelbarrow wheels, with handle bar steering? They filled a niche in the 1950s market.
Nowadays it would be a quad-bike with a roof.
Circa mid 1980s, one of the Hot Car magazines featured a Triumph Herald, loaded with batteries, that was used for the owners daily commute. I have to assume that it used regular car starter batteries, but was never put into a deep discharge situation. I have no recollection of what motor was used, but currently, a 40HP canal boat engine (tiny), with what looks like a flange that will bolt up to a normal Hardy Spicer U/J, can be found on the web for about £5,000. I have not yet found details of control units, nor batteries.
Can I assume that four Land Rover diesel starter batteries (giving a nominal 48 volts) at £100 each when I had to buy a battery to start my Disco, will get most of us into town and back?
How many of us still go for a Sunday afternoon spin in the country? I used to drive from Croydon to Heathrow Airport, (30 miles) in the wee hours, because the airport cafe was still open. Not any more I don't.
602