Ever see anyone hauling scrap in one of these?

100% Electric Mazda B2200. DIY conversion of course. Scrap yards trip out when i pull up with this truck. Cannot haul heavy loads due to the 1300 lbs of lead underneath the tilt-a-bed (lead sled). But it is inexpensive to haul my copper, aluminum, assorted buckets of scrap, and other lighter metals. Sure does increase profits. Costs me roughly $.25 - $.30 to charge it for the day. I have never seen another scrapper use one, but I'm in Kansas. Anyone else have one or seen a scrapper use one?

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3f83b3cc.jpg

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...psb2c5dd04.jpg

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...ps461b7772.jpg

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3378e681.jpg

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...pseaebda1c.jpg

Looks similar to one that I saw in Hutchinson at the state fair. Did you do the conversion?

Previous owner did the conversion so it may have been in hutch but he would of had to tow it, range wasnt very far when he had it. I bought it with a dead battery pack. Designed and built a new one with roughly a 60 mile range. The battery pack supposedly takes longer to build than anything else on the truck. So building that and the other additions i have made, i would say i built 50% of it. oh and the tubing and angle i used on the battery box frames was from my scrap pile. Gotta love that.

That is quite an interesting concept. If only they could come up with a way to have power+efficiency. I think electric vehicles are more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. So instead of using gas I'll use electricity which uses coal, nuclear, hydro, and somehow that is better? Gotta love those multi billion dollar marketing firms!

I just drive it to save money. If it really helps the earth that is great too. It is a cheaper form of energy anyway. Wether it is cleaner to produce electricity at the plant than burning oil can be debated. the more people that stop using gas & oil will enable oil to last a smidget longer.

with 1300 pounds of batteries, what's your additional payload?

Very nice . To haul scrap to yard to be recycled in a e friendly machine . Very nice.

Additional payload? Good question. Next time i take it to the yard i will weigh it on the big scale & try & figure it out. However i totally beefed up the suspension adding a helper spring & coil over shocks which did increase the amount of weight it can carry. But of course there is still a limit the axle ect can hold, which would be good to know. I do know i can carry 500 lbs.

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Originally Posted by MetalEarthRecycling

Additional payload? Good question. Next time i take it to the yard i will weigh it on the big scale & try & figure it out. However i totally beefed up the suspension adding a helper spring & coil over shocks which did increase the amount of weight it can carry. But of course there is still a limit the axle ect can hold, which would be good to know. I do know i can carry 500 lbs.

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I googled b2200 payload and some results said 1400, others said 2200, 2200 would be good, beefed up, be even better ; )

Also you to take into account all the parts removed or replaced w/ lighter ones. like the heavy gas engine was replaced with an electric motor, huge difference in weight. No exhaust system, but steel battery boxes welded in its place. spare delete, bumpers deleted, ac delete, & alot of little stuff. Im always continuing to shave off more weight.

on another note, what's on the side of that shed there man, is that sheet aluminum ? (think maybe i'd paint it another color either way haha ; )

No bumper? Isn't a bumper required? I got stopped once for a wood bumper I'd built. It was in a speed trap town tho, and he claimed to be looking for a vehicle with a damaged front bumper, and although the treated wood I had used didn't show it's age, I convinced him it had been on there awhile. He didn't ticket me or nothin, and I'm not sure exactly where the conversation turned to this, but I recall him saying a replacement bumper was ok as long as it was as strong as the one it replaced, and my reply was that I'd figured it was, with all that plastic on em ; )

The sheet aluminum is one of my creations from scrap. Bought a stack of that sheeting at An Auctin for 5.00 and sided my carport with it. May paint it someday But noone sees it, no neighbors.
Been pulled over 3 times & Cops Never mentioned illegal no bumper & in my town they are strict ticketing for anything.

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Originally Posted by MetalEarthRecycling

The sheet aluminum is one of my creations from scrap. Bought a stack of that sheeting at An Auctin for 5.00 and sided my carport with it. May paint it someday But noone sees it, no neighbors.
Been pulled over 3 times & Cops Never mentioned illegal no bumper & in my town they are strict ticketing for anything.

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Nowadays the guys are putting roll pans on their vehicles and eliminating the bumpers.

roll pan ?

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Originally Posted by Bear

roll pan ?

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http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...psef6e2b58.jpg

Stock bumpers increase drag and act as a parachute sort of. I took bumpers off both of my trucks for aerodynamics and want to get a roll pan to help with looks. It isnt huge mpg gains from removing them, but just like with scrap every little bit adds up and if you do enough of the right aero mods to your vehicle you will get pretty big gains in mpg. Most of the mods that really increase mpg make a vehicle look super ugly though and you will get people laughing/staring. But when it comes to saving frog skins i dont care.

I don't care how many frog skins, that's a new one to me and I love it btw, it can save. If it doesn't have a/c you won't catch me driving it too far. And how the heck do you keep from freezing to death in winter ? No gas motor means no coolant and no heat to keep you from chattering your teeth out your head in December. I've always wondered how these pure electric cars would be able to heat and cool the cab.

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Originally Posted by taterjuice

I don't care how many frog skins, that's a new one to me and I love it btw, it can save. If it doesn't have a/c you won't catch me driving it too far. And how the heck do you keep from freezing to death in winter ? No gas motor means no coolant and no heat to keep you from chattering your teeth out your head in December. I've always wondered how these pure electric cars would be able to heat and cool the cab.

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Heck the early Beetles had a gasoline heater in them cause of the air cooled motor.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gTXltjYwo...k/s320/004.JPG

no but I did just haul 800 lbs of boards 60 miles in a 2012 nisson sentra and a 2002 satalite cause I didn't want to get my van dirty :). cool vehicleI'm just tot an electric car guy.

Heated by a 500 watt ceramic heater. they get warm enough and they fit right in where the heater core goes. a/c can be done, but usually you see them on the EV's that have have lithium batteries. Someday I will convert it to lithium. lithium batteries have bean dropping in price over the years and i'm hoping when my floodies start to die the lithiums will be affordable. Im a hypermiler so I hardly even run my a/c in my truck that has one. Its about saving frog skins but It is also a challenge to see how high i can get the mpg's. my other project truck is a stock ford ranger. I have started with aero mods and shooting for 40 mpg. it has been done before with the 4 cylinder rangers.

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Originally Posted by MetalEarthRecycling

Heated by a 500 watt ceramic heater. they get warm enough and they fit right in where the heater core goes. a/c can be done, but usually you see them on the EV's that have have lithium batteries. Someday I will convert it to lithium. lithium batteries have bean dropping in price over the years and i'm hoping when my floodies start to die the lithiums will be affordable. Im a hypermiler so I hardly even run my a/c in my truck that has one. Its about saving frog skins but It is also a challenge to see how high i can get the mpg's. my other project truck is a stock ford ranger. I have started with aero mods and shooting for 40 mpg. it has been done before with the 4 cylinder rangers.

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Wouldn't using the heater decrease you range dramatically ? No trying to rain on your battery cells or anything just curious. I hate fords but would definitely rock any little pickup that could get 40 mpg and still carry a 1200# payload. Got a 96 Nissan I bought to fix to help lessen my fuel costs. Don't need a 3/4 pickup to get 1 fridge.

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Originally Posted by MetalEarthRecycling

my other project truck is a stock ford ranger. I have started with aero mods and shooting for 40 mpg. it has been done before with the 4 cylinder rangers.

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Do you document, post to a forum, or maybe blogged your progress with the Ford?

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Originally Posted by MetalEarthRecycling

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...psef6e2b58.jpg

Stock bumpers increase drag and act as a parachute sort of. I took bumpers off both of my trucks for aerodynamics and want to get a roll pan to help with looks. It isnt huge mpg gains from removing them, but just like with scrap every little bit adds up and if you do enough of the right aero mods to your vehicle you will get pretty big gains in mpg. Most of the mods that really increase mpg make a vehicle look super ugly though and you will get people laughing/staring. But when it comes to saving frog skins i dont care.

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I'm guessing this is your Ford project, what do the mods look like on the front?

Heater does reduce range a lot. But I built the mazda for a commuter truck to get to work & back (20 miles) with the ability to make an additional 10 or 20 miles for store trips/scrap yard. So if I run the heater & go straight to work & back I will be fine on range. EV's are not for everyone, but mine is for a specific purpose & overtime I will save. Havent started documenting progress yet, but will. Just got the ranger a couple of weeks ago. No that truck with the roll pan isnt mine, but this is:

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7fde1940.jpg

So far I have built an air dam & partial grill block. Other mods: spare tire delete & excess steel associated with it, rear bumper delete, shortened antenna, tail pipe dumped over rear axle, passenger mirror delete, wiper delete, & steel rims replaced with lighter aluminum rims. next i plan to remove emblems, block more of the grill, fill in other gaps with weather stripping or something, smooth wheel covers, rear wheel skirts, & much more. I plan on making a build thread on ecomodder.com since that is where i get most of my ideas from.

cool! :) Is that a Pepe' Lopez hood ornament? ; ) I've got a bunch of older wheel covers you might wanna glance at to see if they're anything you could use.

A lot of people are using pizza pans for wheel covers. there aluminum, light, and cheap. Mounting them is the difficult part. if you got some smoothy wheel covers that have something to mount with I would be interested.

I'm really not sure what's there MER, I'll see tho and let you know

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Originally Posted by Bear

I'm really not sure what's there MER, I'll see tho and let you know

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My truck wheels are 15" and 16". wanting to put smoothies on both of my trucks.

Go to the "moon caps" from back in the 60's here is a link; Their all over Google.
moon hubcaps - BuyCheapr.com

http://www.hubcapmike.com/images/smoothie.jpg

Thanks Mech. The prices are for one wheel on that website. They are kinda pricey which is why a Lot of people are using pizza pans & bolting them on. They do look better though.

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Originally Posted by Bear

Do you document, post to a forum, or maybe blogged your progress with the Ford?

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Just started a build thread for the ranger here: Another Ranger being modded - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com

It has some mod updates since this thread.
I will start a build thread for the electric truck as soon as i regain motivation to start modding it again.

Like that website as well.
Got to add a boat tail to that Ranger.

Yeah the boat tails are ugly, but increase mpgs more than any other mod.