1997-03-16

Price of Change

I've had a lot of people wondering about the cost of this experience, both in parts and in labor. Well, I won't even try to guess at the price of labor: opting to say it was a labor of love or some other well worn cliche. As to costs of parts, well, I'll dig through my little basement office at home and see what I can dig up. This table will grow as I find and add more stuff. In the end you should probably add another $200-$300 for all those little trips to Radio Shack or Napa.

Item	Cost Each	Quantity	Total Cost	Source/Supplier
Bycan Charger	$1100	1	$1100	EV America
Zapi H3 w/contactors & shipping	$1700	1	$1700	Gary Flo - InEVations (Mendomotive)
Batteries (Trojan SCS225)	$80	12	$960	EV America
Ceramic heater core w/relay	$80	1	$80	EcoElectric
Vacuum Pump	$160	1	$160	EcoElectric
DC-DC Converter	$180	1	$180	EcoElectric
Cables & Connectors 0/0 heavy guage	$300	1	$300	EV America
Transmission Adaptor kit	$400	1	$400	EV America
DC Motor	$1600	1	$1600	EV America
1985 Mazda 626	$900	1	$900	want ads
Welding	$120	1	$120	Kevin Hook
E-Meter w/dc-dc converter	$230	1	$230	EcoElectric
Misc connectors, fuses, etc...	$200	1	$200	EV America
Grand Total:			$7930

Unfortunately this isn't the EV I ended up with, as there isn't a regenerative Zapi H3 under the hood anymore, but a lower priced Curtis 1231C (about $1000) which doesn't need all of the expensive contactors I bought with the H3. I bet if I started this EV using the Curtis (which I'm not sure I'd do still, given the choice) the cost would be at least $1000 less. There were quite a few extra heavy duty connectors and cable to wire for the H3. In fact my next project for this summer is to cleanup and redo all of the wiring.

Would I do it again? You betcha!