We're Back On the Road

I finished up a few things with the car this morning and then began the process of taking it down off the jack stands. Once it was on the floor, I started it up and drove out of the garage. No problems, on issues.

I took the car for a little 3 mile run, just testing out the drive line. It is as smooth as silk. No wobbles, and it shifts beautifully. What a relief and what a great feeling! I brought the car back and plugged in the charger. While I'd been working on the car, I'd made sure to keep the batteries at 50% capacity, which is the recommendation if you're going to store them for over a week or so. So now I need to charge them up.

I'm definitely going to have to do something about the 12 VDC system. The DC to DC controllers have decided they don't like the ambient air temperature here in Phoenix in the summer, so they run their cooling fans constantly. That could be a real problem if I park the car for a while.

I decided to simply disconnect them when the car was sitting idle over the weekend and let the small SLI battery take the load for any 12 VDC demands. In the 64 hours that it was running the show, it dropped from 12.8 VDC to 12.0 VDC. I need to figure out how much energy was consumed during that time. There is a lot to consider and a lot of data I need to gather before I decide what I need to do. But for the mean time, I'm going to have to watch the traction pack when the DC to DC converters are on, or watch the small 12 v SLI battery if I disconnect them. I'll keep you all posted.

But these are minor issues. The EV Z3 is back on the road!!