1987 VW Cabriolet convertable Electric Car EV

This is a 1987 VW Cabriolet convertible Electric Car. EV as is mostly known.  This car was converted about 4 or 5 years ago. It has 16 batteries (6 Volt. 230Ah) for the drive system  and 1 battery for auxiliary items like turn signals. lights. etc.  It is powered with a Impulse 9 electric motor and a Curtis1231C-8601 (96-144Volt) controller. It has an Albright SW-200B/3-12 main contactor.  A special mounting plate was made to attach the Impulse 9 electric motor directly to the existing 5 speed transmission. This essentially drives just like a regular car with a clutch except it won't stall like a gas engine.  Installed is a 110v battery charger and I believe it could be wired for 220 for a faster charge time.  
8 batteries are located in the rear of the car in a compartment.  The other 8 batteries are located in the front of the car.  It has an AM/FM/CD/Aux/Bluetooth/USB radio that will also connect with your phone for hands free phone calls through the car stereo. There is a microphone on the visor for the hands free phone use.
The green seat covers are a bit worn but new ones can be found on ebay.  The green seat covers really look great with the outside color.  The car originally had power steering and that was replaced with manual steering. It does have power breaks and a special electric vacuum system was installed for the breaking system.  There is no heat or air conditioning. so this is definitely a fair weather car. (Especially good for weather for a convertible since that is the preferred method of driving).

I have enjoyed driving this around town for shopping errands and driving kids to and from local sporting events. Last summer I drove this less than 25 miles.  My kids are now older and we are traveling much greater distances so that I cannot use the electric car as much.  The electric car runs great and I've had it up to 70 mph on the highway. but that certainly cuts into the drive distance. You have to train yourself a little to drive without a heavy foot and you would get greater range of travel.  I have never really just driven as far as a could to see exactly how many miles i could go on one charge. It also depends on how fast you want to go and whether there are lots of hills. I can't really give you a maximum range number. I would normally drive this into our local town which is about 8 miles away. Run around town doing errands or going to kids sports games. then drive the 8 miles home.  We do have some hills and some areas that are 55 mph.  The interesting thing is that the battery system will charge itself somewhat just through its own internal chemical reaction if the vehicle sits for a while.   This unit does not have regenerative braking mainly because that would have produced resistance that would ultimately have reduced the range.
I have lots of accessories to go with the car and I do have the back window if you should want to install it. Although not shown. there is a spare tire as well. The inside is not perfect nor is it bad. I'm sure if you look hard enough you will find little things that you would like to restore further than I have already.  The carpet is in fairly good shape with about 2 spots that could be installed better.  As I mentioned earlier. the green seat covers are worn and could be replaced. The White vinyl top was replaced with a new one two years ago. As with any white vinyl top. it could use a little cleaning.  The speedometer works fine but I noticed that the mileage indicator seems to have a problem. It seems like its stuck. I will take a look at it before selling the vehicle but can't make any guarantees that I can correct that.  Obviously there is no warranty with the vehicle in general.
Please ask questions. I'll respond as quick as I can. This has been a fun little car to drive around. Inspected until May 2015.

Also published at eBay.com

Want to buy this car?