Author Topic: All electric car - model 60/60? (Read 7577 times)

ElectricAl · « **Reply #40 on:** May 15, 2008, 08:52:51 pm »

Bibby,

This one does have an extra terminal to reverse the motor. You'd have to add a second solenoid and switch.

The local go cart race shop could fix you up with some knobbys.

Dave Shepard · « **Reply #41 on:** May 15, 2008, 08:57:02 pm »

Got a Popular Mechanics in the mail today. Had an article by the myth busters guys on go carts. The took two identical carts and stripped the gas motor off of one and put a DC motor on it. Lap times were within one second. Gas weighed 180, electric weighed 300. Electric would launch much harder, but the gas had a higher top end speed. When I was in high school a kid took a 5 hp mini bike and put a starter motor on it with a centrifigal clutch and a big battery. There was no speed control, you just had to keep clicking it on and off.

Dave

StorminN · « **Reply #42 on:** May 29, 2008, 09:29:38 pm »

Have you guys seen these yet? They look cool.

Think Norwegian electric cars

-Norm.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #43 on:** May 29, 2008, 11:01:03 pm »

Transforming a Fiero-plastic Car, made in the USA, is being done in backyards.

It is not that difficult, and, there is no need to spend a lot of money on a sub-sub compact. Might be nice to drive cheaply, and it would probably be a nice coffin.

When I am in a compact car, and run alongside a Semi, all I see is the center of the wheels

Not a comforting feeling.

A set of forklift batteries and a 400-500 amp aircraft generator, and a control system, is all you need, except for the changeover.

Americans, for the most part, are too lazy to do a little extra maintenance, to own and operate an electric car, or make and use Biodiesel, or straight Veg oil, or set up their house for solar and wind power. They want things with no extra effort expended. That's why the prices of petro products are so high. TOO MUCH demand. No extra effort.

StorminN · « **Reply #44 on:** May 29, 2008, 11:32:22 pm »

Well deadheader,

I for one want to try it, and I've been collecting some of the parts. I've got a collection of big L-16 batteries now, and enough big copper cable... but I need a motor and controller. I picked up a small (5"?) 90VDC motor the other day, but it would only be good for a go kart or golf cart, not big enough for even a small car. I'm on the lookout for a scrap forklift or such beast, or a cheap used 8" or 9" DC motor. A lady at work has an all-electric converted TR-8, and she blew up her tweaked-out Curtis controller. A friend of mine is fixing the controller, when he does, I might try and buy her spare controller when the time comes.

The big question is, what vehicle to convert? I completely agree with you about feeling uncomfortable in the small cars... especially after seeing a fatal collision happen right in front of me a couple of years ago, I've been wigged out. I've been driving 6,000-7,000lb vehicles for too long. I've got a Subaru wagon and an Isuzu Trooper that might make OK conversions. The problem is, a couple of months out of the year, I sort of need 4WD. With lead acid batteries they wouldn't have much range, but my commute is only 15 miles and my work has said that they will install a charging station for anyone else that gets an electric car... so range is not a huge issue. If I could get 30-40 miles, I would be happy.

There's a place in town here called evparts, they are one of the online supply places. Their owner has been on the Discovery channel and such, he's got a few converted cars he races (a '29 Ford roadster, a Mazda RX7, a Land Rover, and a Grumman postal van called "Gone Postal"). Anyhoo, they've had a warehouse in the same business park that I work in for a while now, and they just opened a new showroom a couple of weeks ago. They sell EV parts and golf carts, EV scooters, and they will be selling the Zenn NEV cars etc. We stopped by there the other day on the way back from lunch... got to check out some of the controllers and motors there, some neat stuff.

A bike or scooter would be a fairly cheap... an easy first project, I might try that out. I saw a guy online that was running one on three v28 Milwaukee tool batteries... those are 28V lithium ion, nice batteries. I was thinking I could do the same thing with the Ryobi 18V Lion batteries for less money... or source the raw cells and make up a pack myself. Too many projects, not enough time or money!

P.S. I also do have about 1kW of PV panels that I could help charge this thing with, once I got it done...

-N.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #45 on:** May 30, 2008, 08:21:00 am »

Stormin, I was stopped cold, when no one could build my electronic controller.

I converted a Mazda Pickup, with a 500 amp Jack & Heintz aircraft generator. Had it bolted to a homemade bellhousing, that bolted to the trans. Had the clutch and all.

Put a 2 cyl. Onan engine in the engine compartment, that ran a 100 Amp generator, for charging, and the electronic circuit had a re-generative braking feature, that would use the big motor as a generator, to slow the truck on deceleration, and charge the batteries. It was mechanically working, just no controller.

There are a jillion vehicles that would make a slick conversion. There are many good reference books, IF you know someone that is electronically literate.

I also wired it up with #2 welding cable, doubled in homemade copper lugs.

We used the welding cable for the 4KW Wind generator that powered our house for 5 years, but, they don't work either.

Still have the motor-generators, in Florida.

StorminN · « **Reply #46 on:** May 30, 2008, 03:49:22 pm »

Deadheader,

That setup sounds promising. What was it about your controller that couldn't be built? The regen? If you're interested, let me talk to the lady that I work with that has the TR-8EV... her tweaked Curtis controller came from a guy down California (the Bay area?) that I was told builds custom stuff... I'll try and get a number / email for him...

The electronics end of this doesn't intimidate me, I've tinkered with that stuff my whole life... from building tube amps and microphones, to my fair share of DC stuff... wiring 32VDC commercial fishing boats, and a few off-grid PV setups.

-Norm.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #47 on:** May 30, 2008, 04:34:07 pm »

I can wire about anything, AC, DC, 12,500 volts and up or down. Boats, cars, houses, not familiar with 3 phase.

Circuit boards have lots of little parts on them, and they all have smoke in them.

The circuit was not real detailed. We had 3-200 Amp Transistors, BIG Blue, cylindrical Capacitors, and lots of little stuff. My neighbor thought he had the experience to make the boards up, from Breadboard. Didn't get it to work.

He later died, and all his stuff got carried off.

StorminN · « **Reply #48 on:** May 30, 2008, 07:03:15 pm »

well deadheader,

If you still have the truck, I talked to the lady here and she tells me the guy she bought her converted car off of was Mike Bachman, he works for Curtis Instruments, the ones that make Curtis controllers. She has since lost his contact information, but you might be able to track him down by calling Curtis. They are down in Livermore, CA... I think they have a couple of wind turbines down there!

.

-Norm.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #49 on:** May 30, 2008, 10:20:27 pm »

That truck is long gone. I stripped out all the electric stuff, and put in a Wisconsin 4 cyl. air-cooled. It had 1 bad cylinder, and Teri and Ed could not get a launch, to top the hill by our house. I took it to Florida, and my Dad sold it.

Have any of you guys really looked into Hydrogen

StorminN · « **Reply #50 on:** May 30, 2008, 10:57:10 pm »

Deadheader,

I haven't looked into hydrogen too hard, but my buddy (Dangerous Dave on here) has a hydroxy setup that he built and installed in his Dodge gasser pickup that he's been testing the past couple of weeks... so far, he's seen about a 30% increase in mileage, and that's with brute force, no pulser circuit... but I guess this should go in the Brown's gas thread, not here...

-Norm.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #51 on:** May 31, 2008, 02:52:17 pm »

Y'all READY

I got some BIG news. REALLY BIG news.

I was watching a program on the tube last night, and it mentioned that Peterbilt, was designing an ELECTRIC HYBRID Semi Tractor.

I think that's pretty BIG news

CLL · « **Reply #52 on:** June 06, 2008, 03:46:02 pm »

Seen article on TV last night about the hybrid cars. Seems the companies are forgeting a few problems. #1 the average hybrid is $6000 higher than normal vehicle. #2 the average consumer(15,000) miles per year can't justify the cost. Example-- 2008 Saturn Hybrid SUV will take 24 years to come out on. The only cars the test people passed was the Toyota Prius and the Honda Prelude. What was funny the Saturn gas powered SUV actually got better mileage. Looks like the small motorcycles getting 75 mpg is selling like hotcakes. Only problem is, you can't scale 1000 bdft of lumber.

JimMartin9999 · « **Reply #53 on:** June 14, 2008, 10:14:35 am »

I don´t know how to put in the reference some of the other guys use. sorry.
Some talk about the car and oil companies surpressing technology which would save on gas etc.
The same people own those two industries and are trying to maximise profit. They are not dumb. That´s the way things work. Naturally the automotive industry will surpress oil saving technology because for it there is no question of conflict of interest, clearly there is for the consumer but not for the group of people who own both oil and automotive production.

StorminN · « **Reply #54 on:** July 02, 2008, 05:02:17 pm »

We started talking electric cars in the "Solar... It's not a joke" thread, so I figured I'd ask here... has anyone on here completed a conversion of an all-electric vehicle?

I'm thinking I'm going to do a conversion in the next few months, maybe this winter... I've got a Nissan pickup that is the likely candidate.

There are a few suppliers of adaptor plates (to bolt the electric motor to your existing transmission), these are the two main ones that I've found so far:
Electro Automotive
Canadian Electric Vehicles, Inc.

Here's an album with some cars that people have converted:
EV Album

-Norm.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #55 on:** July 02, 2008, 05:13:32 pm »

I made the bellhousing for my Mazda conversion. Used ½" steel plate that I had laying around. Cut the middle section out and spaced it so I could weld it to the outer ring and got the 1" spacing it took to clear the flywheel. Trans had the rest of the bellhousing, so, I got to hook up the clutch and all. It's NOT necessary to use the clutch, but, the torque is at a dead start, in forward or reverse. We had hilly ground, so I figured shifting to a lower gear would help conserve some juice in the batteries.

Used Forklift type batteries. Just couldn't get an Electronics genius to make a working controller.

Had a small gas engine and generator under the hood for charging on the go.

None of this stuff is difficult. Just gotta know what you are doing

Gotta see if Ed can snap a photo of the motor with the bellhousing. I THINK it's still on there

StorminN · « **Reply #56 on:** July 03, 2008, 01:50:54 pm »

Deadheader,

If you could get a picture of the motor / bellhousing, that would be great! What did you space it out with (what separates the inner and outer ring?) and how did you keep it all lined up (the electric motor and the clutch)?

Have you checked out the Zapi controllers? They make some DC ones with regen (check out the H3D)...

Zapi Controllers

-Norm.

farmerdoug · « **Reply #57 on:** July 03, 2008, 03:05:55 pm »

A guy in a town by me, Yale, has bought a Zap Zebra on eBay. The article says 35 miles a 35 MPH.

Fla._Deadheader · « **Reply #58 on:** July 05, 2008, 02:03:39 pm »

UPDATE:

Sorry Norm. Ed tells me the bellhousing is not on that motor

Have NO IDEE where it went. Possibly left in Arkansas

StorminN · « **Reply #59 on:** October 07, 2008, 03:49:03 pm »

Ford was just awarded a $10 Million grant to develop a plugin hybrid...

Ford Awarded $10M DOE Grant to Accelerate PHEV Development

-Norm.

News:

Author Topic: All electric car - model 60/60? (Read 7577 times)