1995 Other Makes Solectria Electric GEO Metro

4-door sedan

25KW 3-phase electric

Automatic

2C1MR5293S6736213

Clear

uses 13 12V deep discharge batteries

Solectria electric conversion of a basic GEO Metro 4-door sedan. Externally it is only distinguished by the Solectria decal and no tail pipe. I'm not the first owner and have had the car since 2006. I know nothing about its previous history but while I have had it it has run well, summer and winter. It has a amp-hour meter (on the left in the photo) and a volt/ammeter (on the right) but the volt meter is intermittent. It has 3 power settings--economy, regular and power. In my experience, the range on "economy" with new batteries is ~40 miles and it has a useful limp-home feature. Rather surprisingly, on "power" its top speed is 60 mph but at that speed the range is much shorter. I have not tested it but on level ground it is probably 12~15 miles based on the amp meter. On "power" its acceleration from a stop is also quick due to the high starting torque. It's no Tesla but not a slug either. It needs 13 new deep discharge batteries. I used the batteries to power my house for 2 weeks after Sandy and irreversibly damaged about 1/2 of the batteries. It had Deka Dominators which worked well. I tried cheap Chinese-made AGMs but they were not good. You will need decent deep discharge, high current batteries to get the best out of it. It is overall in good shape with some dings and dents except for the rocker panels. The interior is in good shape but has stains and sun-bleached plastic and the inside roof liner is coming off. The car has been in the northeast and the rocker panels are pretty much rusted out. The photo shows the worst damage on the passenger side. It has dual chargers that run off standard 15A household current so it can be recharged pretty much anywhere. A full recharge takes about 6 hours. I have a Honda Insight that my son gave me so I don't need the Solectria anymore. It is as really nice short distance commuter since you can charge it at home or work without any special charging station--just an extension cord. It is a good introductory vehicle for anybody interested in electric. The car is in the garage so I cannot get a full view of it. If you are local, feel free to come and see it. If you need more information, feel free to contact me.