Warning sign on its place

A warning sign was placed on top of the battery pack lid. It also states the nominal voltage of the battery pack (76,8V) to easily tell what voltage level is used in the car.

I have driven 409 km at the moment and no big problems have occured. The weather has been mostly rainy with temperatures around 5 celcius. The 300W heater for the windshield has also been good enough so far, but I am starting to get the feeling that it might be underrated on sub zero temperatures.

When I changed the winter tires I noticed that one front brake made quite a lot of unnecessary friction. I removed the brake pads and cleaned them and their surroundings. As a result both front wheels felt similar to rotate. This brake fix had a very positive effect on driving. The battery current reduced approximately 15A at 60km/h and now also the fourth gear seems to be useable! This increased the useable speed range up to 80km/h on even road. With a low powered vehicle such as this one it is truly advantageous to minimize all losses possible.

First electric driven day at work

As the corolla is not highway capable, I drove my 18 km trip to work through smaller roads. The speed limits on the way were between 40-60 km/h which the corolla handles nicely. Only the 2nd and 3rd gears are needed in normal driving. 2nd gear works well on 0-40 km/h and third gear gives a speed up to 65 km/h.

I found four workmates to join me for lunch and we drove there all five of us packed into the corolla. The car's low power was easily noticeable for the driver as full throttle was often needed for a normal acceleration. It was fun though!!

I am not yet sure if the corolla would make it back home without charging. Until it is sure I'll charge the batteries a bit to make it safely at home for a full charge.