New Guy, Intro and Questions

Hey all, I'm dipping my toes into the world of microprocessor programming, and looking for a couple opinions.

Myself, mathematics student with a few programming courses under my belt, mechanically inclined. Among other things, I would like to convert a small truck to run on batteries. My long term goal is to learn enough to create something that can;

monitor and log each battery's voltage, system current, electric motor rpm and transmission gear selection;

communicate with a pc installed in the truck to display that information in real time;

indicate when a battery's voltage falls below a certain value through the pc and;

control relays during the recharging of these batteries to direct charging current around the batteries that reach full charge before others.

Questions,
Is attempting something that can perform the voltage monitoring, logging and display an easy enough task to learn on?

What kind of hardware would be required for the whole shebang, I'd rather buy something I can do the whole project with for learning then something that I'll quickly outgrow.

Phew, that's it for now, I appreciate any help/info anyone can throw my way,

Robert

(Edit, should have included that I'm looking at a 40-50 cells in my battery pack)

an easy enough task to learn on

I would say it is too difficult for a first project but a good long term aim once you have experimented with it a bit. Break it down into parts and do each before trying to integrate them

I'd rather buy something I can do the whole project with

The Arduino is something that is capable of doing this project if you make suitable add-ons.