There are two Chrylser EPIC minvans for sale on the
GSA auction website.
These are battery operated Dodge Caravans. Not hybrids. They do not use gas. You plug them in. New they had a range of 80 miles.
Here's the auction website:
www.gsaauctions.gov
Chrysler Caravan – San Antonio 71FMPI05342008
Chrysler Caravan – San Antonio 71FMPI05342009
They are in San Antonio Texas.
Current bids are under $3000. (~$2700 and ~$2300)
Originally another person at GreenHybrid posted about the vans in this link:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/y...hlight=caravan
You need to register before you can bid…and it takes a little while for the registration to go through. (It took me 20 minutes?) You have to provide a credit card and they actually send through a “test” charge first. So if you are even thinking about bidding register right away!
I had never heard of these vans. These are
very rare vehicles that were only leased to companies. At the end of the lease the companies were supposed to give them back. Kind of like the EV-1s. But in a very few cases (less than 10?) some lessees did not return them. This is the case with the vans being auctioned by the government.
I WILL NOT be bidding on either of these since it is out of my range of knowledge. But because I had considered bidding on them I did quite a bit of calling around and have acquired a lot of information about the van and parts as well as an inexpensive local San Antonio place to tow and store the van. Let me reiterate, I will not be bidding, but am happy to share information to the winner.
Since I also do some writing on the web, I would like to speak with the winner(s) so that a possible story could be written about these unique vans.
In my quest for information about these EPICs being auctioned I have spoken to the guy who tried to get these vans running. He had the van pictured in lot #8. He stated that it had a “bad run” on the motor
controller motherboard. He tried switching out the motherboard from the other van and still could not get it going. He thought it may have the same problem. He also did some charging to the battery packs.
In the last week I have tracked down some possible sources for these unique EPIC motor controllers. If you purchase the van I’d be happy to share this info with you.
Notice the auction does not include the proprietary standalone charger.
The vans are not currently running.
But...I have tracked down someone who has:
An EPIC Charger with pedestal. (This charger talks to
you. I heard it talk!)
EPIC Output cables.
The EPIC schematic
The EPIC scanner
EPIC pinout boards,
EPIC service manual,
EPIC wiring diagrams,
EPIC performance test,
A cd with the EPIC service manuals
Again, if you win the auction, let me know and I’ll share this info with you too.
I have also tracked down someone who has the exact NiMH batteries for this van. As you can imagine, the batteries ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.
I mean VERY!!
I hope someone with some knowledge keeps these historic vans from being parted out.
But be careful, if you do not know what you are doing you will simply be buying an expensive lawn ornament.
If you are very knowledgeable about electic vehicles, good luck and let us know how it works out.
2 Chrysler Electric Dodge Caravan auction ends Friday at 2pm. Register early.
