- Home
- About
- Local groups
- Community
- News
- Resources
- Offer Support
- Contact us
Electric Vehicle - Toyota Starlet Conversion
I have embarked upon converting an old (1991) Toyota Starlet to an electric neighbourhood vehicle.
My common daily driving needs in Coromandel rarely exceed 40Km. And that is often broken in two or three journeys with times at my home office in between. So a short-range electric vehicle will be a perfect solution for me.
My project is in the construction phase at the moment. The petrol engine is removed and the local engineer is currently building an adapter plate to mount the electric motor to the manual gearbox. There is no clutch required. Most of the driving will be in second gear. I chose a 72Volt system with six 150Ah deep cycle lead-acid 12V batteries in series and a controller that turns the engine into a generator when breaking to reclaim some of the energy of the car for charging the batteries when decelerating or driving down hill. The projected range on one charge is 50Km with a top speed of 80Kmh, which is well and truly enough for my needs. Good bye petrol for my daily driving!
I will keep you posted on my progress and will make parts list and perhaps even parts for other do-it-yourselfers available once the system works.
With New Zealand being the enviable position to have ample renewable electricity generation capabilities I see the future for short range commuting squarely in the electric vehicle arena. With advances in battery technology in the pipeline the range of such a vehicle could well triple in the next five years. My current lead acid batteries are recyclable at the end of their 3 to 5 year lifetime and the lead and other components can be refashioned into new batteries. There is an onboard charging system so I will be able to recharge wherever I am allowed to plug in. The onboard KWHr meter will allow me to pay as I go for the power I use.
Thomas
»
- everth's blog
- Login or register to post comments
I look forward to seeing the pics
It would be great to have pics as the project progresses. It increase the interest factor and generate questions for sure. :)
I Am currently looking into this too
I have been looking into an AC system more in the 200-300V range
What KW motor have you gone for, DC i assume?
Electric Starlet
Hi Thomas,
I've been toying with the idea of converting our trusty and thrifty 1996 Suzuki Alto to electric ,it typically does runs of no more than 20km which seldom involve motorway driving or more than 2 occupants. Car does not have power steer or aircon so conversion should be fairly straight forward, though for a small car it is very roomy so shouldn't be too much of a problem when fitting batteries. Looking forward to following your progress.
Cheer Graeme
Susuzi Alto
Hi Graeme!
Give it a go! There is a guy in Christchruch who has just converted a Susuzki Alto as well. You can contact him here:
http://www.evalbum.com/1672
Thomas
Making progress
On the weekend some significant progress was made on my Starlet.
The gearbox and electric motor came back from the local engineering shop in Coromandel where a coupling had been custom made to mount the motor on the gearbox.
Finally the engien is in. Today I will start on the battery mounts....
Stay tuned
Thomas
It running and its great!
Finally I got the car completed and running. Its great!
I took it for a brief test ride to confirm the basic parameters and all is well.
I will post more on the testing to come.
Thomas
wohoooo, congratulations!!
wohoooo, congratulations!! :D
Extensive test drive results
I took it for a more extensive test drive today.
I got up to 80Km/hr in 3rd gear on the straight and ran for just under 30Km before getting low on battery.
The battery system will 'wear in' and I hope to get a better range with time. Also, I was trying for performance today and that would have cut down the range as well, so did a few hills in the drive.
All in all my smile is going from ear to ear as I am 'whining' through town. What a worth while experience!
Engine room under construction. See the recycled PC-Company PC as electronics box!
The 'no comments needed' shot...!
The front end, now finished. See the small 12V vacuum pump to supply power braking on the left front side of the image.
The rear compartment with three batteries and the chargers as well as the AC distribution and circuit breaker box.
AC box with KWhr meter, breakers and a relay that disables the drive when AC power is present.
E-Meter to display battery state, AMPs, Volts etc. and emergency cut off switch.
I totalled up the cost of the whole schbang and including the car (a $2100 trademe deal) I spend $11,000 or there abouts on the project. This includes GST and importation duties for the parts that came from the USA (engine, controller and 12V brake assist)
Thomas
Home made electric car
Hi Thomas,
Congratulations! It looks great.
I know I am a bit of a critic of the elctric car but that is more around the mass production of new electric vehicles. The thought of replacing NZ's car fleet with a roll out of new plug in and hybrids is in my opinion....BAU consumerist insanity....so i have been talking down the idea of electric vehicles because that is the last thing I want to see happen.
But conversion of existing cars IS another matter. (which is why I liike the idea of local organic ethanol). So, awesome stuff with what you have done with the Starlett.
I have seen it done also with an old ford ute up in Kaitaia. Bruce (can't remeber his last name) used something like 16 lead acid deep cycle batteries, could get a top speed of 160km/h (from memory) and could cruise for 80Km/h at 90clicks. All rather impressive really, probably a bit of overkill but it was designed to cope with the long distance rural roads up there, not just zipping back and forth to town.
The battery side of things and the drain on the grid still concerns me but definietly worth a big HURRAH!....Good stuff.
Cheers
Richard
Grid and Electric Cars
Hi Richard!
Thanks for the nice comments!
On Grids and Electric cars: This is an area misunderstood often. The current grid is constraint mostly on short times during the day (mornings and evenings mostly) when there is a clash between domestic high demand and industrial demand. During the rest of the time often generators have to bid for the right to dump power for FREE into the national grid because that is cheaper for them than to turn off their generators for a time only to ramp them up later again. This is especially also so for Wind Farms who sometimes have great capacity avaialble when the Gird dose not need them.
A fleet of electric cars charging overnight, especially if the chargers are on ripple control or something more intelligent in the future and can be turned on when the power companies have spare capacity, will not actually call for an increase in generating infrastructure in NZ but just a better utilisation of what is already in place.
The long distance vision is one where a large number of grid connected cars attached to their charging stations not only take charge on demand but even allow the power companies to run the chargers in reverse to buffer the grid for brief times of high demand.
Having millions of batteries attached to the grid could become an important part of grid stabillity and load balancing.
With electric cars being so much more efficient than internal combustion cars, the overall savings for the country would be significant.
I am assuming that I need 20KWhrs of charging for each 100Km of driving. That is $3.20 at our current price of $0.16/Kwhr. The same distance in the old car would have cost me 6 Liters at $2/Litre or $12 in fuel, a saving of $8.80 / 100Km. In a year at 15,000Km that is $1320 saved in fuel. With cost of conversion being about $9000 (not counting the donor car) that is a very handsome return on investment indeed. And even when I take a set of batteries into account every three years at $2000 it is still not bad.
Cheers!
Thomas
Electric cars
I hear you Thomas , makes sense about the grid but it still doesn't quite fit right for me,
Electric cars still sounds like a very nice way for all the car companies to mass produce to the mass consumers. That is where I think the Governments Energy Strategy is aimed at NOT toward retrofitting the existing car fleet. So, I am just not convinced that the electric car is good for Transition.....I fear that it is just a good way to clean up the edges of Business As Usual. One particular energy company is already tallking about importing a small fleet of new "plug ins" to target the commuter market......This is one area where I think embodied energy is of huge importance.
Whereas, I think Local Organic Polycultural Ethanol Cooperatives fueling existing cars is a better strategy to transition to a less consumerist economy.
If however the local mechanic offers the service of converting ICE cars to electric.....then bring it on.
Cheers
Richard
New versus retrofit
Retrofitting is certainly a good thing.
However in the long run the second law of thermodynamics combined with Murphys law will render all existing cars to heaps of rust. So if we give up on the idea of anything mass produced in the future, transport will revert to horse, cart and foot. Perhaps that is the inevitable end of it all but I am totally unconvinced that this has to be so.
New purpose built light weight electric vehicles will be in the end far superior in performance and efficiency.
The three renewable energy flows that civilisation can tap into (solar, geo-thermal, tidal) are all many many magnitudes larger than what we would need at todays demand if we develop the technology to tap into them with better efficiency in the future. While perhaps many people despise of technological solutions and rather see civilisation to return to a medieval state of affairs, I seem to think that this is not what will, should or must happen.
I do agree with you that locally produced Ethanol is an interesting contender for the future.
If I look at my 220KG massive battery pack that gives me 30Km of range and then look at a 2 Litre bottle of Milk next to it, which, if it was filled with petrol or Ethanol woudl do the same, I am scratching my head....
Cheers!
Thomas
new vs retrofit
Good one,
I too don't think we need to go back to the dark ages either. Nothing wrong with producing new stuff, just not the way we do it now.
Cuba's car fleet for eample tends to be the old hulks left over from the 50's. They can still make them run because those cars were made to last......these days, you are right, they are certainly not made to last!
Remind me of when I used to work in the bush in Aussie. In one particular place after a bushfire, I found an old car dumping ground. There were a bunch of old early wrecks from the 50's rusted and burnt out but with chasis and body that could still be restored (some infact did get taken away to restored!). the cars from the 80's on though, were nothing but a rusted ruined chasis surrounded by a pile of rusted metal flakes! Virtually nothing left.
So yeah, electric cars will be great if sustainability principles like cradle to cradle are implemented through the whole system but.......well can you really see that happening?
Cheers
Richard
Sustainable manufacturing
Yes I can very well see sustainable manufacturing being introduced. In the end this will be much cheaper than digging for new metal and throwing it way when its broken. The throw away society arose on abundant cheap oil which meant abundant cheap mining etc... All this is going to be reworked and I bet you that from an engineering perspective there is a lot that is possible that has not even been tapped into, like plastics from plant material that is bio-degradable to a re-purchase of old cars to be remade to new, to increased use of Aluminium which won't decay as fast as steel to other novel materials still to come.
I am an optimist in regards to the potential of technology once the right economic pessures are - automatically - brought to bear.
Also, the chap I bought my Toyota Starlet of works for a scrap metal place as a dealer. He said that already today they recycle about 80 to 90% of the materials in old cars. The entire care gets run through their schredder, plastics and all. The small puzzle size bits get sorted automatically. The sorted material streams (plastics, rubbers, metals) get mostly sold to China (NZ has still to wake up to the material stream leaving our costs...)
Anyway, I think that while we should not underestimate the tsunami of Peak Oil and Climate change coming our way, there will be a very important part to play by a well designed high-tech industrial process to make things a lot smarter, better and sustainable than today.
Cheers!
Thomas
Sustainable Manufacturing
I so hope you are right Thomas........I'd much rather be in what Holmgren describes as the "Greentech" scenario than the "Lifeboat". Though I think Holmgren feels that Greentech is a less sustainable option than the later....which always troubled me a bit.
You are right there are huge leaps to be made in engineering and huge efficiencies to be made around energy in manufacturing and also in the inputs and processes used. I was using a biodegradable plastic pen derived from corn during my studies in the 90's but your avarage disposable pen these days is still 100% oil derived unsustainable plastic.
Henry Ford had prototype car bodies manufactured from hemp ressin in the 30's and 40's (sounds like Cheech and Chong movie I know....but it is the truth). Much of the knowledge is already there and much more is still to be found. Its the implementation of that knowledge that is the challenge. Market forces will eventually contrict as energy declines and consequently will push manufacturing to take on the cradle to cradle approach but it could all just as easily fall over with that energy the decline of energy......especially when you consider the tenuous nature of the credit fuelled growth fetish that is the current economic system.
Perhaps it could be a Transition Intitiative to take your electric car that one more step and using true kiwi ingenuity develop the first cradle to cradle, biologically degradable sustainable electric vehicle :o)......I'd be into that one, instead of waiting for the global monoliths to embrace such strategies maybe we should do it ourselves!
Cheers
Richard
I found a blog where a guy
I found a blog where a guy does a similar thing and I was wondering how much it will cost. I checked the list of <a rel="follow" href="http://michaelcarnell.palmettobug.com/2008/11/12/fixing-cars-and-finding-parts/">Toyota parts</a> prices and it seems it would be better to buy the electric car instead of transforming it. I applaud your initiative and I know that people like you are trying to make a healthier environment for our kids.
The cost of conversion
I spend about NZ$9000 on the parts of my conversion and some expert labour I needed like making of an adapter plate between the gearbox and the electric motor). I did most of the other labour myself and that is not counted in the cost given here.
If I were to produce the necessary parts in a small series the cost would come down obviously.
The car will save me NZ$1000 in fuel cost per year (already counting for the electricity I am using to charge it up at NZ$0.17 per KWhr which works out to NZ$3.50 / 100Km driving).
Therefore the expense of $9000 is 'earning' a return of $1000 per year tax free (its a saving not an income). Beat that at the bank!
Then I am saving all the usual car maintenance cost (cooling system, ignition system, fuel and air filters, oil....). That money (about $600 per year at least) I am putting aside for a battery replacement in three years time.
New electric cars are all in the range of NZ$50,000 or so at the moment, if you can get any at all.
Cheers!
Thomas
Conversion Costs & Pay-back
Hi Thomas
We converted a light ute to DC Battery Electric in a similar manner to yours in Dunedin recently. It is an around-town commuter, shopping basket type vehicle for us. It cost a similar amount to convert even with a second-hand 8-inch motor and controller. We also followed the cheaper capital lead-acid battery route for power storage, hence the ute chasis for carrying the 700 kg of batteries. We need a fair bit of range amongst Dunedin's hills. If I am honest with myself, I don't think it will "pay-itself-off" because car driving in New Zealand is very cheap. Don't get me wrong, petrol is still expensive in some people's eyes. But it is actually a real bargain for what it provides people.
We did our conversion because it was actually one of the identifiable ways of reducing CO2 waste for our family. We are working on the other things - veggies in the backyard, electricity load reduction, insulation in the walls (cold down here at times!). But, offsetting the significant amount of neigbourhood car driving, most of us still do, is significant. We also want to be an example to others. We ran a number of presentations around the South island on the experience of doing a conversion. We got 230 people to one of the afternoon sessions, the rest were around the hundred.
I was attracted to converting old cast-off NZ vehicles for the recovery of sunk energy. Sure, a person can go out and buy a newly converted Hyundai Getz EV or a new Mitzubishi MiEV for under $50,000 nowadays. But, you are simply perpetuating the consumerist BAU model. If the global crude oil depletion drop offs are as steep as suggested from our current vantage on the Plateau, then the global business model that brings shiny new EVs may not be available when people decide it's the smart time to go BEV (i.e. at petrol price $8/litre). The sole choice for families and neighbourhoods that want to preserve a car option for, say, ferrying the elderly and disabled, may be to have people with the skills to demonstrate backyard guerrilla-style EV conversion with whatever materials are available to them.
You have taught yourself. If you are like me, there is now an obligation to pass it on to others. Good work with the conversion by the way!
Electric Cars...
Good on you for making your conversion! Have you put your car onto the www.evalbum.com site?
Its a great site to share your design ideas with others.
I just went to Hamilton to get mine certified. I am almost there. Have to do a few small changes and the certifier is happy. Then its up to paying road user charges (like my old diesel van...) etc.
I have done now almost 800 Km without a hitch. Its fun to drive and cheap to operate once the conversion cost are factored as an investment into a better future.
I taught myself indeed and I am happy to share the experience and my knowledge with anyone who wants to try too. It is a rewarding journey. I found especially interesting how much my consciousness is now tuned towards the energy required to get around. The AMP meter can not be fooled and it is so evident how much of our habitats on steep hills etc. are in the entirely wrong place once petrol is no longer a cheap way cheat...
All best to your project!
Thomas
Electric cars
Hi Thomas
My ute was on EValbum, but seems to have dropped off recently, but you can go to it directly via:
http://www.evalbum.com/1514
I need to update the page and get it off "Under Construction" status.
Certification was a lengthy process for me, but I got through in the end and I pay the Road Users Charges with pride. I won't be gutted if the policy change removes the RUCs. I currently pay more per kilometre on RUCs than electricity.
I'm at about 900 km of running since September. You're right about the amp-meter though. It gives instantaneous feedback on the energy consumption. I'm old enough to remember the vacuum gauges fitted to petrol cars in the 1970's during the last major oil crisis, and the amp-meter is a similar type of feedback to the driver. If you accelerate hard you end up looking down to see you are pulling 300 Amps! I avoid that sort of abuse on the range and the life of the batteries unless it is really necessary (e.g. accelerating uphill). It isn't necessary to squirt around town. I can stay below 120 A with gentle acceleration and planning my moves. I caught myself saying to another that everyone should drive an EV even if they intend staying with a fuel car. The driving efficiency EVs teach is quite noticeable.
The confronting thing about EVs and the prospect of Peak Oil is that you value the things that you have if you realise the things available now in terms of performance, convenience and low price aren't permanent. With petrol at $8 a litre in the future, our EV is going to be the most desirable car on the street. People won't be scoffing at its 60 km range and need to plug in between uses any more. That's no a boastful thought, its more an observation on our frame of reference and how it can change so quickly. Anyway, the process of undertaking an EV conversion does change your frame of reference in ways that I am only beginning to appreciate.
Cheers
Jens
RUCS
Hi Jens!
At which point in the bureocracy were you told to start buying RUC tickets? I somehow still wait for that to happen... not that I am pushing either...
When the local WAF guy finally entered the car back into the system after fitting the new Cert Plate he came accross the computer screen that asked if it was a Diesel vehicle. Truthfully he selected NO. Thereafter nothing appeard to select 'Alternative Fuel' or 'Electric Car' or whatever and the WOF was issued.
Then when registering the car at the local PO nothing further happened either. Now what?
Perhaps there is a crack in Bureocracy space for now that gives the few electric DIY guyes a hands up....?
Thomas
Now well over 1000km done...
Just an update on my Starlet:
I received full certification in November. By now I have done well over 1000Km without petrol and love it.
The car actually seems to get slightly faster as it has gone through the first 1000Km. Perhaps due to brushes on the motor wearing in or so I am told.
The car has been a full success for my lifestyle and work here and dose all it needs to do for me.
I also took up dealership for Wisper electric bicycles here in Coromandel and they too are a great addition to the transition toolbox.
Cheers!
Thomas
Hi thomas, Your project has
Hi thomas,
Your project has made for very interesting reading, congratulations for seeing the need for EVs and taking the initiative to modify your own vehicles.
If you're interested in keeping up to date with our vehicle, please feel free to sign up to our mailing list http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.nz/microsite/imiev_v01/register_interest.asp
Good luck with the rest of the project, we'll keep watching with interest.
Regards
Email please
Hi Wellingtonian!
Can you send me an email please? I would like to chat to you about your batteries!
everth@te-software.co.nz
cheers!
Thomas
Mitsubishi EVs
Thanks for your encouragement. I registered on your list and will look forward to getting some info about the iMiev.
When do you think it will be released?
My car has now completed well over 1500Km and no problems. It still dose exactly what I needed in an EV around here despite its modest range (40Km) and speed (70Km on the flat). Charging up after each trip, no matter how short, seems to be the strategy. This way I always have full batteries and can look forward to getting everything done with the car that I need to do. For a serious EV initiative in NZ it would obvisously be very beneficial to have parking meters or so equipped with plugs to plug in. This way vehicles such as yours would have no problems in larger areas such as the AKL region.
I could imagine to see shopping malls etc offer such a service to start with in order to attract customers. Set asside a few bays for EVs only with a plug in point for each. $2 in a coin slot would give 2hrs of charging. Something like this.
Cheers!
Thomas
Hi Thomas, We are hoping to
Hi Thomas,
We are hoping to have the i MiEV on sale in NZ by 2010.
Having Meridian Energy on board as a partner in this project is a very promising sign for the development of the infrastructure EVs will need in NZ to be a success.
Your idea about charging points in shopping malls is also very valid, and something we see as being a reality of the future. Just look at the EV charging stations being implemented for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
This video might be of interest, its from the author of '2 billion cars'
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=218370&title=daniel-sperling
Regards
I picked up an old beater of
I picked up an old beater of a car from toyota richmond and am converting it my self.
Good on you!
What sort of conversion do you have in ming (voltage, motor, controller) ??
It looks like they put a
It looks like they put a battery any place it could fit, got to give him credit though thats quite a project to take on. I read an article about a company in the states that came out with a new deep cycle battery that could hold a charge a lot longer than any other. It would be great in hybrids. My wife and I rented a prius from fox rent a car while on holiday and were amazed at how little we need to stop for gas since we were able to recharge it so many places over night.
Hamilton Fiat conversion
Hi Thomas,
I am across in Hamilton and hope to be starting a conversion of a Fiat uno (or similar) soon hopefully making use of newer and cheaper LiFEpo4 batteries if i can aford it. I have a couple of questions though:
1) Where did you source your electric motor from.
2) Have you got any performance specs for your finnished vehicle and
3) Did the placement of the front batteries have any effect on the handling of the vehicle and did you have to upgrade the springs at all etc.
Cheers.
Fiat Uno Conversion
Hi Katesfb?
I wish you luck with the LiFePo choice and would love to hear how it all goes once you are rolling.
I decided on Pb batteries for cost reasons. I priced the LiFePo bank as about 5x as expensive as Pb. Good if it lasts 5x longer. Not if not. I hope you plan a good battery management system for your batteries.
You can find all my details on the car as well as a buch of sources for parts at:
http://www.evalbum.com/1772
What sort of motor system do you have in mind: SepEx DC, Serial DC, Ac?
Cheers!
Thomas
some more specific answers:
I beefed up the rear spirings as the car was riding a bit lower then normal and the rear battery box was close to the ground. Now its working really well. Front is lighter than before if anything.
Specs: Max Speed ~70Km/h, Range Max ~40Km on flat., Accleration good. Home drive is 1/5 for about 50m and the car manages in 1st gear.
Hope that helps
New affordable EV on the way soon.
Hi Thomas,
Well done on your EV conversion. I think your sustainable views for this form of transport in NZ are spot on. We are ideally suited to it with much of our electricity coming from renewable resources.
I am doing a cut and past of a letter which I am starting to post onto many NZ forums much like this one, I hope you find the letter to be a source of motivation to spread the word, we can have EV's today.
Hi folks,
It is time for us to become involved in active discussion with our Government to create a new classification to allow low powered, low speed electric vehicles to be used on limited speed roads.
In the UK they have a Quadricycle classification and in many States in the USA they have a similar classification called NEV or its more popular name LSV (Limited Speed Vehicle). These two countries have had these classifications for over two years now, many more countries now have similar classifications.
I find it hard to swallow when our government rushed in to be the first to sign up up to the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme to reduce our carbon foot print. But in the process has neglected the fact that NZ cars are some of the most polluting vehicle fleets in the developed world. In fact 48 percent of our total carbon emissions come from the transport sector.
Today I heard from Mitsubishi NZ that their new developed electric car the MiEV, developed from their icar has been put on hold for the NZ market for another 18 to 24 months. This was due to the cost of the vehicle, around $80,000 to $90,000 NZ dollars due to the low production of the current manufacturing process.
I fear that even when the production has been increased Mitsubishi will still sell this vehicle at a price well beyond eighty percent of the NZ public. Especially when 70 percent of the NZ public fall into the low income demographic.
I makes me wonder if the worlds large motor vehicle manufacturers who have so much money and capital invested in fossil fuel engines are really all that serious about developing zero carbon affordable electric vehicles.
I have been developing an electric vehicle with an off-shore low volume EV manufacturer which I can get onto our limited speed roads today using one of our current classifications. The cost to the NZ public, about $7,200 to $8,000.
The design has been patented and I have the NZ agency for our EV. But there are a few gray areas which the NZTA could use to stop this vehicle from being sold on a large scale, simply because these gray areas exist.
I hope to have my prototype on the road here in Auckland New Zealand within the next two months.
It is in this regard that I am looking for support from various public and industry groups that are supporters of low cost, low maintenance, zero carbon emission vehicles. Together we can encourage or lobby various politicians to push through a new classification for this new form of transport which is highly suited to NZ's renewable energy resource.
It is time the NZ government stopped the false economy of used car dealers dumping thousands of the high carbon emission used Japanese cars onto our city streets when we have an affordable zero carbon alternative.
The revolution starts here and now, join me in an effort to reduce the NZ carbon foot print without the need to tax the NZ public. Release us from the grip of foreign oil companies, change public perception and give them hope for a sustainable future. All these efforts are the only current real world options we have to save our planet and reduce our dependence on foreign oil supply which has been predicted to run out by 2048.
Yours Sincerely
Paul Snell.
Phone/Fax: 09 523 3502
pssnell@hotmail.com
Sounds great!
Hi Paul!
This sounds like a great thing. As the rest of us I am waiting to see more about it.
Hamilton Fiat conversion
Hi Katesfb,
How did it go with your conversion? I am also in Hamilton, have a Diahatsu charade to convert, I have a motor and batteries so far.
regards,
George
EV vehicles
Did I read this correctly? It is possible for you to manufacture, ship here and sell to us an electric car (?it sounds like a car) for $9000? If I had the choice between a petrol car at $20k and electric at $9k I know which one I would be maxing out the credit card to buy.....
Now, does your wardrobe contain white pointy shoes? ;-)
Toni
EV Vehicles - more
Forgot to ask - website? Photo? grey areas?
Toni
Yes that was $8000
Yes Toni it is an $8000 NZD electric vehicle.
It will function with the same classification restrictions as the UK and USA EV's do ie, limited to a 50km/h speed, residential roads - no motorway use.
It is only a two and a half seater but will travel up to 160km. Suited to traveling in the busy city streets.
If you travel around 150km a week it will pay for itself within 3 to 4 years when compared to the running costs of a 1500cc car at $3000 a year.
I will post photo's and specifications once it has been landed in the country, about two months away. I am keeping all the details all hush, hush until I have a good product that will keep the skeptics at bay. It does use Deep Cycle Lead Acid GEL batteries which at the end of there use can be reconditioned for approx $75 per battery which will give you an almost new battery.
I have already said too much and I want to keep any hawkers at bay until I have more than just a verbal Agent contract with my supplier.
If it all works out you will see the vehicle in the media soon enough.
Hope this satisfies your curiosity until then.
Regards Paul.
EVs
Well Paul, I take my hat off to you.....
I look forward to hearing more in the very near future.
Toni
E-Let (Electric Starlet) going strong after over a year
It has been well over a year now that I started up my electric Starlet for the first time and it is going as strong as ever! I have covered well over 5000Km with no petrol in sight and the vehicle is my main mode of transport. The old diesel van waits for the occasional trip with either many people (seats 8) or for a long trip out of town, which happens not very often.
I can only say that the $9000 spend on the conversion was well spend indeed. The batteries seem to show no sign of diminishing at present. I was hoping for three years on one set of batteries (before they get recycled) but at the moment I would think that with a bit of luck and good management that might be a goal set to low....
I can only encourage others to convert a car to an EV. The parts are available from various sources.
Best of luck!
Thomas
Ev's
That sounds too good to be real Paul , not saying I disbelieve you, just it's hard to grasp… I know hawking for buissnes probably frowned on, but I REALLY hope you find a way to make this work. I would sign up now! Let us now when we can be the 1st customers eh?
Gearboxes
I'm just at the very begining of thinking about making an EV conversion, and have a potential donor with a body in great condition, a 1994 BMW 318.
It has an auto transmision which I know has to go (its broken as well as inefficient) , so my question is this: Given the donor car has a rear-wheel drive, is it feasible to connect the electric motor directly to the north-south drive shaft?
Any suggestions or leads on how to calculate suitable electric motor power to weight & gearing ratios greatly accepted!
Gearboxes
I would go for a donor car with a gearbox as this gives you a vital ability to match your motor performance later to the driving conditions by selecting the right gear for the task. Without a gearbox you have less options.
>>> I goofed below:
Most likely the car will underwhelm in the speed it can attain. You will need a high voltage system without a gearbox as your motor will turn at higher revs.
<<<<
really it should read:
Most likely the car will underwhelm in initial torque and hill climbing ability and draw heaps of AMPS. Gear Boxes reduce the Motor RPM to Wheel RPM, the lower the gear the higher the reduction. Driving the drive shaft directly would be like being stuck in 6th gear or worse.
RUC for EV's
If you are being hassled by the RUC police then why not incorporate a small petrol (weedeater) motor and couple it to an alternator to "charge" (or supliment the charge)and you have a petrol hybrid car which does not require to pay RUC. Even if you never use the petrol it is still legal.
Great site and excellent projects.
Ian
Small Generator
Hi Ian!
Yes that idea has been tossed around a number of times. In order to make a significant contribution to driving an EV a generator has to be large, in fact you are looking at something on the order of the original engine of the car you converted.... do the math with efficiencies of alternators, charging etc..
A small petrol generator will have the same effect as a PV module on the roof. Not much.
EVs are currently exempt from paying RUC in NZ. This law is currently poised to expire again in a few years.
Thomas