Montelle' speedster

This is E-V Concepts oldest electric vehicle concept car. E-V Concepts owns the fiberglass body that was designed by Spherical Fiberglass Designs in 1979 just for this electric vehicle concept. Much of the styling was conceived from the early Ferrari Boxer Berlinetta.

E-V Concepts main concern was to create a safe vehicle capable of highway speeds. The biggest problem in the past for all lead acid electric vehicles was how to add 2000 pounds of lead to a car designed to only weigh 2000 pounds. With our knowledge of racing 3500 pound cars on road courses and oval tracks in the SCCA and NASCAR racing series we knew our only safe and accurate alternative was to build our own cars from the ground up designed to perform safely carrying 2000 pounds of lead batteries.

As our stripped down race cars with no engine, gas tank, radiator or exhaust system weighed 1500 pounds with their fiberglass bodies. Adding the 2000 pounds of lead to our 1500 pound race car with adjustable suspension was our safest, fastest and best handling car we could create.

E-V Concepts has waited thirty years for better battery technology that the American oil companies would not be able to buy the patents and stop the world from using as Chevron Texaco did with the nickel hydride batteries.

In 2007 E-V Concepts began testing lithium batteries from several manufactures with different chemical designs and patents. The new lithium batteries are safer and more cost effective in the long run as well as being lighter, smaller and maintenance free. We can now replace 2000 pounds of lead acid batteries with 200 pounds of lithium batteries. You can see the advantage. With these small light weight batteries we no longer have concern for overloading the vehicle suspension as we did with the lead acid batteries. For these reasons E-V Concepts no longer uses lead acid batteries.

It should not be assumed that Lead is the budget option, since it’s just not true anymore. While Lead Acid may be cheaper up front, there has always been the safety issues using lead batteries filled with acid. At no time do you want to be in contact with the chemicals in the lead batteries. It is very corrosive and will burn the flesh off any living thing. During charging lead acid batteries expel explosive and toxic hydrogen gas. Also it is difficult and not cost effective to recycle the toxic chemicals in lead acid batteries.

With the thousands nice used cars with bad motors there are an abundance of late model donor cars available for conversions. New and used donor cars can be purchased at any sales and service shop near you. Your local newspaper and internet (eBay) are your other sources. Complete donors can range in cost from $20 to $2000.

Any four wheel car can be modified for use with the Montelle' fiberglass body and retain the vehicle license from the donor car. The classification of the vehicle will change and you will no longer be required to get the vehicle smog equipment checked or certified. We have found this to be the fastest and most cost effective way to building an exotic Montelle" speedster. With the use of E-V Concepts light weight lithium battery packs the total weight of the converted vehicle is less than the original gas powered versions. You can retain the same top speed and acceleration of your original vehicle if you desire with the added range that was not possible with lead acid batteries.

Electric Vehicle State Laws in the United States: MSV (medium speed vehicles) with lights and windshield wipers on your electric vehicle you can drive on streets marked under 45 mph with no vehicle license and drive at 35mph. NEV (neighborhood electric vehicles) if you drive your e-v on streets marked 35 mph and you drive under 25 mph you do not need a drivers license.

Below are the basic components required to modify your donor car for use with the Montelle' fiberglass body? Spherical Fiberglass Designs manufactures the body parts for the Montelle' speedster for the cost of $2500. Mounting the body parts to your donor car and having it finished ready for final paint color $3500. All other electrical components and lithium battery pack can be purchased and installed by E-V Concepts. Prices range from $5000 to $20000 depending on the range and performance you desire.