Electric Car Conversion 14

[MiketheEngineer]

With the price of gasoline approaching $4.00 / gallon I am seriously considering converting and old car (VW maybe) into a an electric vehicle to drive back & forth to work, store, pharmacy, etc - maximum of about 50 miles per day.
I am a decent mechanic and know enough about electricity not to kill myself - so this seems a reasonable project.

Has anybody tried this and/or what insights do you have.. Yes - I have found a TON of Net info - but not sure who is telling the truth. One book says you can do it for $300 - that I seriously doubt. But the neighborhood of $3,000 to $4,000 seems doable??

Thanks for any insights or paths to pursue...

 

[dgallup]

If your goal is truly to save money, get a bicycle. If you want the challenge (frustration) of creating a usable electrical vehicle, go right ahead. Just let us know when you are on the highway so we can take another route.

 

[IRstuff]

Consider that a typical hybrid runs about $30k+, and that's with some level of economy of scale, while a typical sedan of a similar class runs about $20k, you're looking at a $10k+ premium for the modifications. And that's with existing designs, and cheap factory labor.

TTFN

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Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[MikeHalloran]

Thirty-five-ish years ago, a guy who worked for my Dad converted a VW bug to all-electric drive, and used it for commuting, maybe 40 miles a day, for a while.

ISTR he used about ten, 12V car batteries, mounted pretty much everywhere, and a big DC motor and custom controller, all of which he got for free because it was such a new idea at the time. He painted the car real nice, and put a few tasteful decals on the outside to advertise the battery company. The motor and controller came from the prototype shop of a huge company that was thinking about going into the electric car business, but subsequently didn't.
The big company's name did not appear on the car or any of the parts.

Nowadays, you'd probably have to pay for it all yourself, but on the bright side, motor controllers that should be appropriate have gotten relatively cheap.

I'm guessing that $4k plus the car is do-able. I'd want something with better brakes than a Bug, though. I'm thinking maybe a Subaru would make a decent substrate.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[swall]

You could look for a first generation Prius that is at the end of its battery life, yank the engine, then put in batteries of your own choosing.

 

[evelrod]

The VW electric drive conversions are reasonably common around here. I've seen several articles in the paper about them. My neighbor built one several years ago and the total bill, including the old car, was $3000...Most of that in batteries...24, I think. All I know for sure is that it was a big motor bolted to the VW gearbox and it had batteries EVERYWHERE!
Never saw it run, but I'm told it was not all it was cracked up to be. A golf cart might be better would be my editorial comment today.

Rod

 

[evelrod]

This looks pretty much like the one.

http://compare.ebay.com/like/200369...e6904cc&itemid=200369951280&ff4=263602_325002

Rod

 

[TheBlacksmith]

I was thinking "street legal" golf cart, which is a vehicle class in North Carolina or apparently most of Florida, which without too much "bling" would fit your budget.

 

[GregLocock]

50 miles range is a bit of a stretch for a cheapy. GM Volt gets about 35 miles from a 16 kWh pack, so you need 24 kWh. So that's 20 100 Ah /deep discharge/ lead acids. Plus a bit because you don't want to discharge them fully. That's about 900 kg of batteries, if you go lead acid.

Next problem is motor and controller.

You'll want at least 30 hp, preferably 50 hp.

Golf carts use a fairly inefficient technology, if you go down that path you'll need more batteries.



Cheers

Greg Locock


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[berkshire]

One of the considerations overlooked with electric cars, is what is the terrain like where you live.
I have a friend who converted a VW squareback into an electric car. It had a range of about 65 miles and would top out at about 70 mph, not bad for an all electric car.
His problem with it, was the fact that he lived on top of a hill.
Returning from a trip, if the batteries were down, there was a serious discussion, as to whether, or not, he was going to make the last 1/2 mile up the hill.
B.E.

 

[Gearloose1]

For a tiny fraction of the trouble, you can get a used diesel car like a VW.... and have your cake and eat it.

 

[bradleyelwood]

Mike,

I read an article in the Ag newspaper "CapitalPress" about a farmer in Haines, Oregon who converted a 1986 Ford F-250 to electric power. The farmer's name is David Anderson and the mechanic who did a lot of the work is Ken Myers. Maximum range is about 50 miles, and max speed is 50 mph. From the article, I think that they kept the four wheel drive, transfer case, transmission and cluth. The conversion cost 13,000 dollars. As an added feature, the truck is also remote controlled at low speed!

Myers also converted a 1965 VW Beetle to an electric drive, and has more than 100,000 miles on it. Anderson can be reached at 541-519-3030. He

 

[NickJ67]

Wondered about this a few times myself. Do like an internal combustion engine though!

Have seen some quite detailed information for DIY conversion of Triumph Spitfires and even some video of one in service somewhere in the US - that would do 70mph (dunno how long for) and seemed pretty quick off the mark too.

There's a bit about one of them here

http://www.totallytriumph.net/TriumphCarForums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47

with links to his original build thread.

He used lead acid tech to begin with and definitely had weight issues. He's now gone to lithium tech. He's not saying how much that cost but I'm betting it was alot.

There are some addvantages to starting with old cars (lower weight, simplicity etc) but the old car disadvantages come through as well.

I also watched a lengthy video diary made by a guy in New Zealand who converted a mid 80s Toyota (I think) - that seemed to work pretty well.

 

[chicopee]

You may be better off to have your vehicle with fuel cells to drive a DC motor; the reformer would break down fuel such as gasoline into its hydrogen component for the fuel cells and the other components can be the fuel for the reformer.
You may be able to double you mileage per gas tank with the fuel cells incorporating a reformer.

 

[chicopee]

By the way, there are European car manufacturers in the process or are already using fuel cell technology to power AC units while the vehicles are parked.

 

[GregLocock]

Well, if you could do that reliably you could buy a Rolls Royce for every day of the week and two for Sundays.

Reformulating hydrocarbons to hydrogen for use in practical fuel cells is very hard to do on board a vehicle. It also takes about 20% of the calorific value of the HC to do it, not exactly a great help in achieving a mighty leap forward in efficiency.





Cheers

Greg Locock


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[patprimmer]

Greg

If I could do that I might go for a Lear Jet for every day of the week, and a Cessna Citation for the hangers on.

Regards
Pat
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[chicopee]

Granted these european cars have no reformers. Hydrogen is stored in containers for the moment.

 

[ChrisDuncan]

For about $10K you can get a used 2nd gen Prius (2004-2009). Then you can convert it to a "plug in" for about another $2000 to $3000.

Essentially what you do is install another 2 stock battery packs, sourced from salvage. So 3 stock battery packs total. Then you install another programmable ECU that piggy-backs on the stock ECU.

This turns the car from a hybrid that mostly runs on gas to a hybrid that runs mostly on electric with about a 50 mile range. When the battery pack runs out then the controller shifts it back to a primarily gas hybrid.

You get the equivalent of about 100 mpg on a cost basis. The plug in charging system is another major component in addition to the extra battery packs and add-on ECU.

this is a total DIY kit, the turn key kits run about $5K to $10K.

This car is pretty high performance when the gas motor kicks in.

Toyota is coming out with a plug in version of the Prius in 2012, IOW this fall. It's the 3rd gen and will go for $25K to $30K.

 

[dgallup]

Where do you put the other 2 battery packs? On the roof?