Fixing a Few Things On the Elec-Trak

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New Main Battery Box

The main battery box which also supports the drivers seat on our Elec-Trak was in pretty bad shape from rust and we decided to replace it.

Due to the popularity of the Elec-Track, its possible to get new battery boxes made for the Elec-Trak and already painted in Elec-Trak colors. This was a tempting option, but we decided to make a new box. Part of this was saving some money, part on the idea that we could make a more corrosion resistant box, and part because making a box made it easy to include a support shelf off the back for the new inverter/charger.

The new box is made from Medium Density Overlay (MDO) plywood. This is a tough and weather resistant form of plywood that is used for things like highway signs, chemical tanks, and concrete forms. It is a premium plywood that has resin impregnated face sheets on both sides. I think that it will be more resistant to battery caused rusting and corrosion problems than a painted steel box -- I guess we will see. The box has a sealed bottom that will (hopefully) keep battery juices from getting down to the frame if there is a spill.

The pictures below show the construction of the box.

This is the finished battery box.
I might add a seat later, but its pretty good just sitting on the lid.

The extensions on the back support the charger/inverter when installed.
The SB disconnect hooks up to the charger/inverter.

The finished battery box with the old fenders installed.

The lid:

The lid is made from the same half inch MDO plywood. It hinges on the two bolts you can see in the right picture.

At some point, I'll probably add a seat to the top of the lid.

The whole box was built a little taller to allows 1) for the bottom sheet of plywood under the batteries, and 2) to make sure there was good clearance between the top of the battery terminals and the lid (this can be a problem on the old batter boxes as the newer batteries are a bit taller).

Lid from the bottom.
The 1 by 1 in the corners from the stops when
the lid is down.
It very easily supports the weight of the driver.

Lid from the top.

The lid installed -- pivot bolts in back.

The sheet metal around the back battery compartment is damaged enough that it needs to be replaced. There is enough interest in Elec-Traks that there are a couple sources that will sell you brand new sheet metal all painted in Elec-Track colors and even a new decal to go on it.

In the case of the back compartment sheet metal (which also supports the seat), I decided to make a replacement myself, which is described here....

The front compartment sheet metal was also rusted near the bottom where it attaches to the frame, but I was able to cut away the rusted material and attach a new angle iron the bottom to

Elec-Trak first ride
The obligatory first ride before everything is really ready.