Hi Mike,
Glad to hear you got your new prized possession home safe and sound and managed a few fun packed miles of successful "road testing". The "C5 grin" is a standard accessory
One important point to note is
never push your c5 backwards at anything more than a slow walking pace. The motor will act as a generator and cause a few unpleasant snags with the electrics .
As for the battery, the kit fitted to your c5 means you are able to use any 12v car/leisure battery that will fit in the space allocated. This means you can use a standard car charger when charging your chosen battery - there is also the option of converting the Sinclair charger if you want to.
There are several threads on the forum showing which batteries people use, similar to this ;
http://c5alive.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=632.0The debate about car batteries is a fair point, Adam Harper quite rightly points out that the C5's were not specifically designed to use car batteries and there is the potential for damage to be caused.
All I would say is that all my c5's have been running for a few years now on car batteries and have not suffered any damage as yet.
Plus most of the c5's that took part in the 64mile L2B in May '07 also ran on car batteries with no problems - so I am happy with them.
As always, the choice is yours though.
Enjoy the beastie , and keep us informed of how you get on - don't forget to add a few piccies when you can