MakerFaire Austin 2007 - Electric kit car
An electric kit car display at the 2007 MakerFaire in Austin, TX.
The car is made by these folks...
http://www.zwheelz.com/
ELECTRIC CAR - Part 1
http://tinyurl.com/electric2-car
It isn't really a complicated process to do an electric car conversion, but you will need to obtain certain specialized parts.
You will need: an electric motor, deep cycle batteries, a controller, a battery charger, an adaptor kit, and various other small parts.
But first, you are going to need a vehicle that you can do your electric car conversion with. Any vehicle can be used for this project, but some work better than others.
Heading the list are small cars and trucks, as they are light and strong. Your first consideration as shown in the detailed plans is to find the lightest vehicle that will still do the job of hauling you and whatever cargo you carry around.
Next, you will want a large DC motor that will produce power for your electric car. The larger the motor, the more power your electric car will have.
Don't worry that it will be slow either. Many people have the wrong impression of electric cars; they accelerate as fast as any vehicle on the road and travel at least 50 mph.
What about batteries?
You will need to locate about 16-20 deep cycle batteries for your car as well. The plans outline sources of batteries, even free batteries that you can find with a little effort. The same source will probably have free DC motors too.
It's just a matter of asking.
Why do you need this many batteries? In order to achieve a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge.
A controller is needed to fix the amount of current flowing from the batteries to the motor which determines how fast you go. The controller is connected to your old gas pedal linkage for smooth control of the vehicle.
In order to charge your batteries between trips, you will need an on-board battery charger. That way you can just plug it into any common AC circuit and get charged up again.
Doesn't this sound like fun?
Isn't it time you got started on your own conversion project?
Electric Starion EV - Electric Car Conversion - Part 3
Welcome to the third installment. It's taken a bit of preparation time, which is essential rather than diving in to find something we've done is not quite right - both Nathan and I have been guilty in the past of making stuff only to discover a better way of doing it. But parts availability has been the biggest issue; delivery time has been long delayed for many reasons too complicated to discuss here. In this video we re-assess engine bay mounting; most of the battery racks are welded up now and the battery management has arrived (except the master unit, d'oh!). We discuss battery management, the most efficient use of space in the engine bay, as well as the AC motor we received that will drive the air-con/power steering. (btw, the AC motor and BMS come from www.bev.com.au where they are custom-made). Also an older previously unused segment stripped in about removing weight, as this is crucial in gaining mileage. Oh, and a mention of power cabling which we will try to get through some of the sub-frame rather than running under the vehicle or lumping under the carpet (as the power cable sits inside a plastic flex conduit roughly an inch diameter), so long as it's legal which we'll check with someone who knows (guessing it's something like 600mm distance between u-clamp affixing). The Zivan will sit in trunk/hatch area to the left near the charging 'fuel' port; not sure about tire placement yet, but it looks like we'll keep our back seat which is good thing (and did you know that there is an under-seat sub-frame area roughly two inches high? Hmmm... possibilities....). As for the battery tank at rear, we're looking at ducting hot air from it using PC fans and 'Exhaust' steel piping. It'd be nice to get them through the side vent follies on the pillars, but this would mean a lot of work (they'd probably be part-exposed in the interior, angled down rather like roll-cage bars). Overall I would have loved to have progressed a bit more than we have but there have been circumstances beyond our control and parts supplies have been an issue all the way along - which in a sense is a good thing so we don't rush too-obvious solutions that would otherwise cost in time/energy to undo (in a circumlocutory sort-of way ;-) ). I'd like to thank Christina for her camera work during the making of these videos, shot on a two-year old Nokia N93 still going strong, as well as Linda for filming the air-con motor, without them I'd be stuffed for making videos about this car.
Behind the scenes of building an electric car - The journey
Follow us on a journey of the successes and dissapointments that were tse_10.
Team Swinburne Electric 2010, AKA tse_10, was the first year a group of Swinburne engineering students endevoured to develop and build an Electric Vehicle for the Formula SAE competition. The team hit trouble when they blew up their motor controller, just over a week before the competition. The team then borrowed another motor controller which also ended up blowing. The team then borrowed ANOTHER motor controller, to which they had some success, until the night before the competition, when it also blew up. In total the team blew up 3x $4,000 controllers, 6 times (after repairs). It is thought that the motor is faulty and is causing the issues.
Team Leaders:
Stefan Smolenaers
Matthew Femino
Final Year Members:
Joel Moses
Jason Whittle
Non Final Year Members:
Wayne Murphy
Jacob Vu Tran
Adrian Cowen
External Support
James Kirk
Ken ?
Kevin Woodhouse
ATA and MEVIG
Warning: Although edited, this is behind the scenes footage and may contain some course language and/or offensive behaviour.
93 Eclipse Electric Car Conversion #1
The first video of the 1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse Electric Car Conversion project. http://www.yorktownev.com for info on how to convert your car. Don't pay big money for gas.
Volt914 - An Electric Porsche 914
A descriptive video of my 1975 Porsche 914 that has been converted to electric using an AC conversion kit from Electro Automotive
Teenager Builds Electric Car - $.02 a mile to operate!
Tyler Griffin reports on a 19 year-old who decided to build an electric car to save money on parking and gas at his high school. Mark King is the young inventor behind the electric car which only costs two cents a mile to operate.
Electric EV Miata MX5 - First FULL POWER Test and Drive
First ever test of the battery electric MX-5 Miata running at full 144VDC/800A. http://acuteaero.com for details, up to date project progress. This machine is FUN, crazy torque!
FAQ-Top speed: 70 tested (it'll go higher) Range: 11 mi tested (it'll do more) 0-60: not yet tested. Burnouts: yes. Powerslides: absolutely. Still not totally finished project- STAY TUNED!
Kaylor Kit Electric Motor Demo
This is a video of our demo flick for our Kaylor Electric Conversion Kit for the older VW platform. This is an older style Starter/Generator Military Shunt DC motor with a custom made adaptor plate and flywheel from Kaylor Energy Systems. These are no longer being made but can still be found. We are testing a modern PWM electronic controller specifically designed to run these special motor. They are able to do regen too. This motor can push a stock steel bodied VW Ghia to 62 mph with 12 6 volt batteries. It is a 72 volt system. It works perfect. Perfect for a nice fun all electric buggy. Or Bug or Ghia.
Home Made Electric Car
pyramid car will go over 250mph in a high speed air flow tunnel system.
http://www.dreamcar123.com/
Homemade Prototype Electric Solar Car Vehicle
#1) Project ForkenSwift electric car conversion: 1st powerup
http://www.ForkenSwift.com - First power-up of the freshly installed forklift hydraulic pump motor in our beer budget, low speed, Geo Metro electric vehicle conversion.
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Project ForkenSwift is an electric car conversion made using parts from a Suzuki Swift, Geo Metro, Baker electric forklift and a golf cart.
http://www.forkenswift.com
