172: Monday 30th November 2010

It's been nearly a month since my last blog. I have been researching a makeover for the Probatron. I am going for a bright metallic red with gold flip accent effect and a nice set of Ace C036 turbofan wheels (with 215-35-18 tyres) as painted alloys. I wanted the chrome ones, but I have been put off because chrome alloys have a tendency to peel and then pit if the car is not kept in a garage and only brought out in nice weather, but painted alloys are much more resilient to the weather. I am not sure what is going to happen about the trims for the front, rear and side quarter windows as I am being told that new ones only come with the glass. It needs new trims, but may also need new glass throughout and this would add considerable cost to the makeover. If this is what is needed then it shall be done. I don't want to have new paint with scruffy window trims as this will spoil the overall effect.

I have clocked over 4000 electric miles now. Since I last fixed the throttle, I have had no further issues apart from reduced range affecting the batteries in this the cold weather.

It was heavy snow last night and I went to work in it today. I had to be really careful, because unlike a petrol car, I have uncontrolled torque and lots of it at low revs and that means wheel spin and lots of it. I kept having to back off the throttle to stop the wheel spin, but I was not developing much forward speed to get me on my way. Using great skill I made it to work and then the journey home was even worse as the ice had been polished by a whole days traffic. My journey to work is normally exactly 7 miles, but today it was 7.4 that means I had wheel spun for 0.4 miles in that short journey. Fortunately I can work from home and I shall if it is the same tomorrow. One good point though, there were no issues with the car itself.

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