Electric Fiat 850 Spider Conversion Project
Overall, the Fiat was the most useful conversion. It was a complete car, with the conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) components yanked out and the electric stuff mounted in its place. And it was a rag top to boot! At that time I actually owned two Fiat 850's, one was electric and was conventional. This allowed me to make head to head comparisons between the two. I found the electric was a bit slower to accelerate than the ICE Fiat. Of course, the ICE Fiat had a higher top speed. However, in stop and go city driving the ICE Fiat got really bad gas milage, only about 12 miles per gallon!
When the battery pack was composed of 7, 12 volt, deep cycle marine trolling batteries, all of the batteries fit neatly under the rear hood (directly above the motor). However, I have to admit, sometimes it seems like I had batteries stuck everywhere! When I was operating the 96 volt system, I had to find room for 16 heavy duty, golf cart, batteries. The total battery weight was about 1000 pounds!
Batteries were in the rear compartment, in a box behind the bucket seats, and in a small storage compartment under the front hood! And to beat it all, there was still room for the spare tire!
A 96 volt electrical system can power more that just an electric car. When I was stationed at Blytheville AFB, Arkansas; my wife and I lived in base housing. One year, we got hit with a monster winter storm. We ended up with a thick layer of ice followed by about eleven or twelve inches of snow! Power was out all over. Mission critical buildings were being run with backup generators, and base housing was not considered to be mission critical. The lights were out for almost three days - except at my house.
For the most part, a resistive load doesn't care if it's using AC or DC power, and a 100 watt light bulb will shine almost as bright on 96 volts DC as it does on 120 volts AC. A toaster oven will still heat up dinner, a small space heater glows bright red, and an electric blanket will still keep you warm at night! Neighbors I didn't know were knocking on my door asking why I was so special to have power when no one else did. It was a enlightening experience to have power for lights, heat, and cooking when every other home on base was dark!
