Lay On The Lithium, Baby: Zoe ZENN Car Gets An Upgrade!
Yep! I finally did it! I upgraded my little ZENN car’s battery pack from lead-acid batteries to lithium ion! And I couldn’t be happier!
Over the past two years, little Zoe ZENN Car, my Canadian-made electric vehicle simple wasn;t getting the range she was supposed to be from her orginal lead acid batteries. And one could argue about the pluses and minus of various batteries brands and installers and battery warmers and coolers, the fact is: lithium ion batteries simply work better in multiple charge and discharge use.
(Can anyone say “lap top” or “cell phone”?)
Lithium ion battery technology has come so far in the past four years and the prices have dropped down so far, that it only made sense to let Zoe keep up with the rest of the EV world. Given that all the BIG Guys, like Telsa, the Nissan Leaf, the Mitsubishi iEV and the Ford All-Electric Focus would never put anything BUT lithium ions in their vehicles…why should Zoe ZENN Car be left out?
So off she went to Manzanita Micro in Kingston, WA for a little “surgery” which included six lithium ion battery packs (each pack contains four battery cells by Caleb Batteries, Six Rudman Regulators to keep the batteries ”talking” to each other and the charger, a super-duper Manzanita Micro charger that can charge off either a Level One standard 110 volt household outlet OR a Level Two 220 volt public EV charging station, a snazzy Rudman Display that acts as a “fuel gauge” (and also monitors the state-of-charge of each of the 24 cells in full living color!) and was completely re-wired, re-cabled a re-done to accept all this safely.
Oh, and Zoe lost 300 pounds during this process… can we say diet? (Lithium Ion batteries are MUCH lighter than lead-acid. AND WOWIE! No more skimpy, wimpy 15-20 mile range. Can we say FORTY to FORTY FIVE miles on one charge? What am I going to do with no more range anxiety?
And she got herself a couple a pigtail, too! Pigtail adapter , that is!
Remember how I said the Manzanita Micro charger can accept power from either a 110 OR a 220 power outlet? Well, so can Zoe ZENN Car now!
The boys as Manzanita fashioned her pigtail adapters that can be switched in and out to accommodate whichever plug I happen to be nearest at the time.
The permanently wired one is set up to charge the car via the original 110 plug end, but can be pulled out and attached to the 220 version and plugged into the 220 charging station. Yeah, so I have to pull the 220 cord out Zoe’s window, but so what! I can now charge up at my local Fred Meyer, Walgreen’s, Sears, Kohls, wherever there is a 220 charging station.
Can we say “We’re Ready to Roam”? Zoe ZENN Car and I can! Let’s go!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FAQ ON PRICING, INSTALLERS, ETC.
FOR MORE PHOTOS, PLEASE VISIT DEB’s FLICKER PHOTO STREAM AT:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30389304@N05/7291574784/in/photostream/
P.S. YES, YES, YES! I DID haircut on the way home from Manzanita Micro on Saturday! Not fair that only Zoe ZENN Car can have a new do! (Besides, can I help it if there is a Great Clips on the way back to Seattle from the Edmonds ferry? Nope! )
Deb, I am a fellow Zenn owner down in Fort Lauderdale FL. I just read your posting and am happy to see someone keeping the Zenn thing going. They are such a brilliant little car!
Do you mind me asking how much it cost to do the conversion? Were you having any electrical problems with the car prior to the work?
I drove 10,000 miles on my Zenn between Miamiand Fort Lauderdale, but after about 18 months had an electrical problem that prevented it from going in drive. (Tried replacing the micro switches which worked at first but then it didn’t seem to do the trick). A frind of mine is an electrical engineer and electric car enthusiast, so I am hoping he will be able to take a look at it, was curious if you experienced similar problems in the past though and if so what was the solution?
Thanks again for your contribution to ZENN society!
– Robert
Hi Robert:
To answer your questions I will start with the general and move to the specifics:
Lead acid to lithium conversions cost between $7500 to $13,000 DEPENDING ON
a VARIETY of factors:
1. The condition of the car to be converted
2. What size battery pack you want (I chose 100 amp hr pack)
3. Whether or not you want to upgrade the charger (I did)
4. Whether or not you want to upgrade the wiring (I did)
5. Which brand of lithium battery you want (I opted for KALB)
6. What kind/which brand of battery management system you want (I chose the Rudman Regulators)
7. Whether you are content with the original ZENN “fuel gauge” or not (I wasn’t )
8. Whether you want any extra battery State of Charge display readout gizmos (I did)
9. Labor charges
10. Whether you want additional upgrades such as having the car be able to use 220v public chargers as well as the regular 110v or just stick with 110v.
Thus said, I went the expensive route for $12,000.00 using Manzanita Micro in Kingston WA’ because I really, really wanted all the bells and whistles.
So, In short: you REALLY need to figure out EXACTLY what you do and don’t want ahead of time and then do some serious shopping around in your area.
As for electrical problems prior: no, she didn’t have any…thank goodness!
The wiring upgrade was not because the old wiring didn’t work, it is because it needed to be beefed up to work compatibly with the Manzanita Micro charger, which is twice the size as the Delta Q (it is mounted in the cargo space of the car as opposed to upfront in the motor compartment…you’ll have to go to the FLICKR URL to see that photo)
Good luck with your upgrade!
hope that answered some of your questions!
Good luck!
Thanksmfor visiting DebGoes Green!
- Deb Seymour (&Zoe ZENN Car, of course!)