Well, our next project should be arriving on Thursday or Friday. We are really looking forward to getting started on the design. Our next client has chosen to do a 2008 Mazda 3 which is a great little car. It already uses electric power steering so that is one big piece that we won't have to work out.

Even cooler is that he wants to invest in Lithium. So... we have been searching for some good pricing on advanced batteries. At this point, with the manufacturer that we have been talking to, his budget will cover a roughly 65 mile range at 60 mph to 80% DOD. That will give him roughly 82 miles "emergency" range if he takes the pack all the way down. (Which you DO NOT want to do) If he drives even more conservatively, things look even better, but he definitely needs to be able to get on the freeway. Top speed should be well over 80 mph (but that would reduce the range a bit...[grin]).

The car could hold a LOT more battery than what we will be purchasing. We will be building the system so that he can expand it in the future. Chris thinks he may have a lead on some better pricing on similar cells, but my guess is that this is what we will end up with. We'll see. I hope I'm wrong. I really would like to build a > 100 mile range car.

So, this post officially launches the Mazda 3 project. I will tag all of my sporadic posts about it with Projects: 2008 Mazda 3 if you are interested.