tomsax
Member
As I said, the Leaf does bring into question the idea of a home conversion. In the past there was no choice, now there is.
I totally agree with that statement, but not what you said originally:
I agree. With the $7k tax credit a Leaf starts to compete with the better longer range home conversions. And it comes with a warranty.
That says that you can have a comparable home built EV for noticeably less that $25,000. Without some qualification, that's just not true. You may value your time at zero, which is fair if you enjoy the work, but you can't make a blanket statement to that effect. Claiming that you can home build an EV that will compete with a Nissan Leaf in desirability to the average consumer is a much stronger claim that requires compelling evidence to be credible.
To be fair there are thousands of us. There are also DIY apps for smart phones that do much of what you are suggesting. Truth is the DIY crowd is a bit more advanced than you give us credit for. Personally I like simple and have little use for bells and whistles, but even I have digital readouts of motor RPMs, motor temp, voltage, amps controller temps, battery temps, amp hours used, SOC, and KWs.
I have tremendous respect for the home builders and I'm well aware of what can be done. I've raced my Roadster against White Zombie on the 1/4 mile and been soundly beaten. That was mildly interesting when White Zombie was turning in times in the low 12's and high 11's. Watching White Zombie turn in a 10.400 ET on the 1/4 mile last month, knowing they are just getting started tuning the current setup, gave me a whole new level of respect for what DIY EVs can do.
A few of us Roadster owners in Seattle are so enthusiastic about what John Wayland is doing with White Zombie that we are funding a new charging breakout box so that we can double the EV charging capacity at Portland International Raceway for the NEDRA Nationals on September 10-11. We are going to be making our third trek down to Portland this year to support his efforts and help him attract more media attention.
In my opinion, John Wayland, along with Otmar Ebenhoech, as representatives of the huge EV builder community are EV rock stars right up there with Chelsea Sexton, Chris Paine, JB Straubel, and Martin Eberhard.