Electric van for sale, anything I need to investigate?

[Anthonyanarchy]

http://swmi.craigslist.org/cto/4647323465.html
The motor ran on 200 volts with 36 6volt lead acid batteries.

 

[Van-Tramp]

They say the batteries and charger are "missing" which makes it a 2 ton paper-weight. It would cost many thousands to replace those even if you could find the right ones.

Then there is my pet peeve of "no title". YOU CAN NOT SELL OR BUY A CAR WITHOUT A TITLE. Sure you can give them money, but until they give you the title singed over, you can never claim ownership of the vehicle.

 

[Anthonyanarchy]

I've talked to him briefly. He said 18 12v batteries can run it. The title transfer is a good point.

 

[cyndi]

Are you an electrician and a mechanic? It's going to be hard to find someone to work on that.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Yep, even 18 *cheap* 12v batteries will cost you another $2000 and that is still not including the charger. Even if you came up with all that, where/how are you going to charge 18 12v batteries? It would take days with a standard 120v charging system. Lastly, 18 12v batteries will only get you a very (very) short distance between each recharge.

The weight of 18-36 batteries is more than the van itself. Another 3000-4000 pounds in just batteries... on top of the weight of the chassis. Wow.

This van is a novelty. Something that you might use to show off, but not as a practical vehicle. For the $5000 (minimum) that it would cost to purchase and buy batteries, you could get a much better gasoline powered van without all the headaches.

 

[Reducto]

Seems like a nice shortcut if you were already planning on making your own since the motor and battery tray are already installed. Batteries are a tough point and the 20 year old controller may not be working. If it is working, it may not be as efficient as a newer one and probably doesn't do regen braking.

I've bought cars without a title before - you just need to write up a bill of sale and take that to the DMV. It's only really a problem if the person you bought it from wasn't the official owner. They may have never completed the paperwork since it wasn't running and couldn't be registered anyway.

 

[Anthonyanarchy]

OK. Well thanks for the feedback, I'm really leaning towards that this is a bad idea.

 

[jonthebru]

Don't do it.

 

[highdesertranger]

boy if he would sell it cheap enough it would make one h*ll of a parts truck. that thing is clean, someone somewhere needs all those parts. yes you can buy a vehicle without a title, depends what you are doing with it, just be very, very careful. run the numbers if you are unsure. if the seller won't let you do that, run. as far as using that thing for actually driving I would forget it. that's no tesla. highdesertranger