Photo: Craiglist
The U.S. Government seems to be keen on electric vehicles from way before GM built the EV1. Somewhere between 1982 and 1987, it paid $240,000 to have a Dodge B300 prototype powered solely by gel cell batteries. This one-off vehicle is now on Craiglist, waiting for a new owner.
The seller said he could not determine when the vehicle was produced. They also do not make it clear if the EV was created by Chrysler, which does not seem to have been the case because the seller states that it was “designed and built in Chicago,” with “no Chinese parts.”
When you check the pictures in more detail, you see that some components were manufactured by a company named Soleq Corporation. This company also created the EVcort, an electric Ford Escort station wagon. We suspect that the U.S. government paid Soleq to convert a Dodge B300 and that the idea did not work well.
If we correct the $240,000 with a U.S. inflation calculator, we get a fair idea of what that kind of money really was. It was equivalent to $669,754.22 nowadays, quite some money for any vehicle.
Although we have no idea when this prototype was created, it was equipped with 54 lead-acid cells arranged in two strings. In fact, these lead-acid batteries were called gel cell batteries, an improved kind. The electrolyte was mixed with sulfuric acid and silica, creating a gel with many advantages compared to regular lead-acid cells.
Gel cell batteries did not need as much maintenance, didn’t present leaks, were resistant to vibrations, and were deep cycle batteries, meaning they would not die if they discharged too much. On the other hand, they demanded a lot of attention to heating, more time to charge, and were expensive.
Considering the car worked with a total voltage of 108V, these gel cell batteries were not 12V each: they were 2V. If the buyer ever disassembles the battery pack, we’d love to see what 2V gel cell batteries look like. There are some for sale over the internet, but we would like to be sure if they are the same.
The seller suggests that the buyer replaces these cells with lithium-ion batteries and that the van’s roof could house many solar panels. The problem with that is that this unique vehicle would become a very different machine than it was conceived to be.
According to BarnFinds.com, the van has only 2,959 miles on the clock because it sat in a warehouse until the company went bankrupt by the 2000s. The website makes no reference to Soleq Corporation, but it fits the description.
Considering all the story involving this EV, it would be fantastic if the electric Dodge B300 fell in the hands of someone willing to restore it and put it back to work with similar tech and batteries to those it originally had. If you are that person, make sure you bid for this prototype on Craiglist, and good luck!
When you check the pictures in more detail, you see that some components were manufactured by a company named Soleq Corporation. This company also created the EVcort, an electric Ford Escort station wagon. We suspect that the U.S. government paid Soleq to convert a Dodge B300 and that the idea did not work well.
If we correct the $240,000 with a U.S. inflation calculator, we get a fair idea of what that kind of money really was. It was equivalent to $669,754.22 nowadays, quite some money for any vehicle.
Although we have no idea when this prototype was created, it was equipped with 54 lead-acid cells arranged in two strings. In fact, these lead-acid batteries were called gel cell batteries, an improved kind. The electrolyte was mixed with sulfuric acid and silica, creating a gel with many advantages compared to regular lead-acid cells.
Gel cell batteries did not need as much maintenance, didn’t present leaks, were resistant to vibrations, and were deep cycle batteries, meaning they would not die if they discharged too much. On the other hand, they demanded a lot of attention to heating, more time to charge, and were expensive.
Considering the car worked with a total voltage of 108V, these gel cell batteries were not 12V each: they were 2V. If the buyer ever disassembles the battery pack, we’d love to see what 2V gel cell batteries look like. There are some for sale over the internet, but we would like to be sure if they are the same.
The seller suggests that the buyer replaces these cells with lithium-ion batteries and that the van’s roof could house many solar panels. The problem with that is that this unique vehicle would become a very different machine than it was conceived to be.
According to BarnFinds.com, the van has only 2,959 miles on the clock because it sat in a warehouse until the company went bankrupt by the 2000s. The website makes no reference to Soleq Corporation, but it fits the description.
Considering all the story involving this EV, it would be fantastic if the electric Dodge B300 fell in the hands of someone willing to restore it and put it back to work with similar tech and batteries to those it originally had. If you are that person, make sure you bid for this prototype on Craiglist, and good luck!
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