On Friday, I ordered my batteries: 12 Optima YellowTop D34s, with just the top terminals. Today, they arrived.
That was $2200 and change, which I still need to add to the budget. I'm getting closer, but I've still got lots of room.
Eri brought them home in the van. The guy at the Interstate store had no trouble letting her take them, even without a receipt. "After all," I asked him, "How often do you get orders for 12 batteries at one shot?"
Turns out, quite a lot. And usually for more than 12. Of course, he explained, most of those customers are institutions: UCF uses electric carts, and does some EV experimentation; the Coast Guard uses electric boats that need 16 Optimas at a shot. But from private individuals, sure, you remember the guy who just dropped more than two grand on batteries.
Here we see my lovely wife Eri and I myself unloading the batteries from the van. Not as difficult as I'd imagined, although the Interstate guys loaded it up for her. She says the van handled almost the same with the batteries in it, perhaps even a little better. My brother the mechanic says that's an astute observation, since it's likely expected to be loaded regularly, and designed to work best under those conditions.
And finally, the batteries laid out next to the in-progress EV. I will, in fact, have 8 batteries in back, under the rear seat, and four in front. More detail on that as I put them in.
All those batteries will need connectors, of course. And since I have standard automotive terminals, I'll need standard automotive connectors. I intend to use the clamp-on kind you can get at Discount Auto Parts. There's one just down the street from where I work. I wonder what the guy's face will look like when I try to order 24 of them? :-)