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1. When running small gauge wires front to rear use 11 2 times the length of the car in wire That will give you enough slack for all the ups and downs and twists and turns between the start and finish You will have a little extra wire to cut off at each end but you won t come up short To measure cable you need to be more precise If you are using PVC hose fasten it temporarily in posi tion Take a 6 length of rope about the same diameter as the cable and fasten it to the very end of the PVC hose in the front of the car Then lay it along your intended cable route to the destination of the front end of the positive cable Mark the cable at this point and label the mark with a masking tape flag as F Do the same thing for the front negative cable Move the rope to the rear of the car and repeat the procedure for the two rear ends of the cables To determine the length of the positive cable measure the rope from the PVC hose end to the F mark and from the PVC hose to the R mark Add those two measurements together and add the total to the length of the PVC hose itself Then add 6 to each end to give you some extra slack Do the same calculations for the negative cable and cut both cables to suit Now it s time to feed the cables and wires into the PVC hose call this feeding the snake because it s kind of like force feeding an uncooperative boa constric tor Take the cable that extends farthest into the
2. Battery Racks amp Holddowns Battery Boxes amp Vent Fans Heavy Duty Springs Torsion Bars amp Shocks All Mounts amp Brackets SUBSTITUTIONS amp OPTIONS The following items can be substituted in any of the above kits Large Advanced D C Motor see note add 225 00 Wiring Loom All Nuts Bolts amp Hardware 2 0 Fine Strand Cable Lugs Copper Strap Battery Interconnects Belleville Precision Tension Washers Shrink Tube Anti Corrosion Compound High Performance PMC 1231 Controller add 570 00 for Voltsporsche Kit 595 00 for Voltsrabbit Kit Westach Gauge 0 500 Amps amp 500 amp shunt No Extra Charge Voltsrabbit 108V Option add 550 00 Note the large motor cannot be used in the Voltsrabbit kit because they will not fit in the space available Cable Lug Crimper Cable Shears Battery Filler Temp Correcting Hydrometer Special Tools amp Supplies Body Graphics Installation Instructions Convert It Manual Electro Automotive POB 1113 Felton CA 95018 phone 831 429 1989 fax 831 429 1907 email electro cruzio com web site http www electroauto com CONVERSION KITS FROM ELECTRO AUTOMOTIVE AC systems offer the benefits of increased efficiency regenerative braking and the option of direct drive Most of these components are also available separately However it is more economical to buy them in the kit package All parts carry a 1 year warran
3. If you are really brave you can encase your loom in shrink tube This is a thin flexible tube that shrinks to fit when heated You d better be absolutely sure that your loom is just the way you want it because shrink tubes like diamonds are forever Once it is shrunk into place the only way to get into the loom is to cut the shrink tube off Even before shrinking it is not Page 87 easy to separate a single wire from the loom to direct it elsewhere Shrink tube is most appropriate on very short runs of wire The third principle is good connections Most electrical failures on gas or electric cars come from poor connections Two bare wires twisted together and taped over do not constitute a good connection Use the right size of automotive crimp connector for the wire you are using They are color coded for wire size red for 22 18 gauge wire blue for 16 14 gauge wire and yellow for 12 10 gauge wire Connectors come in varying qualities so get good ones prefer the ones with nylon insulation It gives a good crimp without cracking Also use a good quality crimping tool Cheap ones will loosen at the hinge pin and give poor crimps A good quality crimping tool will give you secure connec tions To crimp a connector strip the insulation from the wire about 1 4 from the end without cutting the wire A good crimping tool will have calibrated stripping notches for different sizes of wire If you strip too little in s
4. If you really like lots of data you can always put shunts in both places and have two gauges or one gauge with a toggle switch The outgoing cable from the motor will connect to one of the large shunt terminals using 3 8 lug It doesn t matter which terminal From the shunt or from the motor if the shunt is elsewhere the cable connects to the motor negative terminal of the controller with a 5 16 lug The final cable is from the battery negative termi nal of the controller to the most negative cable from the battery pack using 5 16 lugs on both ends You will notice that the controller A2 terminal is Page 101 not used This terminal is for an original equipment manufacturer OEM industrial vehicle application that does not apply to passenger car conversions Installing Batteries When all the other wiring has been completed it s time to install the battery racks and boxes permanently install the batteries and wire them up Install the batteries according to the layout draw ings you made earlier paying special attention to the proper orientation of the positive and negative posts Before connecting the batteries be sure the circuit breaker and ignition key are both turned off Batteries can be connected with short lengths of 2 0 cable or with copper straps prefer the copper straps These should be 1 wide and 1 16 thick and all but the contact ends should be insulated with 3 4 shrink tube The straps shou
5. ance and or safety also do not recommend building any of the components other than battery boxes and racks and miscellaneous mounts and brackets You do not have the resources to build components comparable to those avail able commercially and the potential safety risks cannot be justified by the money saved Motor Adaptor Controller amp Potbox Charger Main Contactor Circuit Breaker Fusible Links Ammeter amp Shunt Page 20 When you buy your components there are certain principles that will help insure that you get quality and value for your dollar Voltmeter DC DC Converter Power Brake System Shocks amp Springs Clutch Parts Battery Racks Battery Box es Cable Lugs Batteries Miscellaneous Component Mounts Miscellaneous Wiring 3 Optional but highly recommended Only necessary if donor car had power brakes 3 Will be included bolt in kits only For other kits you will have to source these parts yourself Generally not included in kits Before we move on I d like to say a word about buying kits vs separate parts There are several advan tage to buying a kit besides convenience First you know that all the components are compatible with each other When buying components separately especially older models of components it is possible to get combi nations that will not work together Second it is usually cheaper to buy a package than to buy the same pieces separat
6. round automo tive style gauges bottom left and a digital gauge bottom right Note how the face on the leftmost panel meter is faded from the sun For these reasons prefer standard automotive style and quality round analog gauges find them to be accurate readable durable and attractive also discovered a critical visibility factor in these round gauges Traditional round automotive gauges are designed and built to be installed in the dash at the factory more or less in the direct line of sight of the driver In a conversion however the dash is often fully occupied already by the speedometer clock and other original gauges and would be very hard to modify This means that the EV gauges are often mounted to the right and down even possibly on a console On a conventional round gauge this can mean that the numbers along the top of the face are hidden behind the bezel of the gauge There are two solutions to this problem One is to fabricate a mount that sits at an angle to correct the line of sight for the driver took the other solution contracted with my Page 72 A fully charged system is actually about 8 3 higher than its nominal voltage gauge manufacturer to build gauges upside down That is the face is located on the bottom half of the circle with the numbers reversed so they still read correctly and the needle still sweeps from left to right Another advantage to standard round auto
7. Charging Station MUNICIPAL UTILITY 0 97 79 i GRAPS A third suggested range extender is the quick charge station This may become a reality but it isn t here yet One problem is that quick charging requires massive amounts of current and demand would probably coincide with other peak demands for power during the day Another problem is that batteries can be damaged inter nally unless the charge is delivered in a carefully controlled manner A fourth suggested range extender is the exchange battery pack This has been used with some success in purpose built race cars but has problems for ordinary conversions For one thing the typical battery pack weighs 1 000 pounds or more It will require specialized equipment to handle this effectively Also in almost any car except a pickup truck the batteries are not in one easy to reach module but are in two or three separate packages in places where it s impossible to get a hoist or forklift For the private individual swap ping battery packs means the added expense of a second pack For battery swaps in a service station situation all models of cars would have to use identical battery configurations an impossibility with conversions and highly unlikely even with ground up designs Page 10 best range extender for an electric car is a rental car A final suggested range extender is regenerative braking In regenerative braking the braking action of the car is
8. I ve been a professional mechanic for twenty eight years and built some race cars along the way My experience with cars has been very hands on not theoretical and this has given me a healthy respect for the ways things can go wrong Having my own shop for seventeen years also taught me about drivers learned what people expect from their cars and how they are likely to neglect them misuse them or be confused and intimidated by them believe the interaction between the car and driver is as important as the internal workings of the machine In 1979 during the second gas crisis one of my customers asked me to build an electric car for him had just quit racing and was ripe for an interesting project As the owner of a gas station could see a promising future for electrics built the car which was a VW Bug chassis with a Fiberfab Aztec body and learned a lot in the process One of the things Page 5 Build cars today with parts that are reliably available today learned was that there were no good sources for parts There were scattered suppliers many of them unreliable Most people were building cars with scavenged surplus parts from aircraft and homebrew concoctions that were often frightening By the time the car was finished Electro Automotive was born a conversion parts supply business spent several years researching available production components and seeking out manufacturers who would build
9. In fact this manual was written for the hobbyist or student We ll start out talking a little bit about what you can expect from an electric car just to be sure that the finished reality will match your hopes We ll talk about how to choose a car to convert and about how strip it to make the conversion easy We ll go step by step through instal ling each component and talk a little bit about why we chose the component we did and why we installed it the way we did At the end we ll test the system and talk about charging driving techniques and suggested main tenance It doesn t matter whether your car starts life as a gas or diesel car front or rear drive or even a pickup truck or kit car We ll address all of those variations along the way We re going to be spending quite a bit of time together for the next hundred or so pages so we should get to know each other a little first already know you You re intrigued by things that are a little out of the ordinary or ahead of their time You find a kind of beauty in systems that are clean efficient and simple The proper engineering term is elegant You re concerned about increasing pollution and the increasing complexity of the internal combustion engine And you re excited by the idea of driving an unusual car that you built yourself It s only fair that you know a little about me and my automotive background First I m a car person and have been all my life
10. Index Illustrations in bold face AC charger input 95 96 95 controllers 67 definition 9 motors 39 Adaptor hub types 41 42 installing 42 44 43 44 45 parts of 40 41 40 41 Alignment 112 Anti corrosion compound 98 103 Batteries 12 volt tap 76 adding water 118 123 124 auxiliary 36 76 77 89 97 breaking in 1 14 buying 52 charging 11 17 76 77 78 96 119 120 125 containment 17 18 58 costs 49 50 current path 54 55 dead 9 deep cycle 49 50 76 drained reading 73 117 equalizing 76 77 123 exchange packs 10 failing 120 full charge reading 73 120 gassing 16 17 76 77 118 gel cells 50 hazards 16 18 heating 61 installing 102 interconnects 51 54 71 102 102 103 104 106 isolation 18 37 76 77 89 lead acid 49 51 50 120 low charge 9 74 77 113 114 116 118 126 maintenance 123 marine 50 76 ni cad 50 51 number of 11 51 52 opportunity charging 78 120 placement 52 53 post styles 51 51 quick charge 10 recessed 53 53 Batteries cont d recovering charge 9 114 126 recycling 13 replacing 12 scale drawings 56 57 solar stations 10 10 specific gravity 120 123 123 124 split packs 52 53 52 54 55 58 104 starting 49 surface charge 120 traction 50 50 types 49 51 uneven pack 76 120 Battery Box assembly of plywood 60 design 59 61 insulation 61 62 SI materials needed 60 multilayer plywood 59 61 packing straps 60
11. Now it s a simple matter of filing a couple of forms and visiting a smog referee to collect a tax credit Other states may have similar or other incentives including sales tax exemptions income tax credits registration incentives and even insurance subsidies There are also some federal incentives in place and others on the drawing board but it is not clear whether these apply to conversions by private individuals or only fleet conversions and new vehicle purchases Check the current incentives in your area If there aren t any call your state legislators and ask why not Page 23 factory repeat factory manual for your make model and year of car is essential for your conversion Advisors There are a few people in your town who can be valuable advisors on this project They include the dealership parts man a good aftermarket parts man a wrecking yard man and a welder They may also include a machinist or plastic fabricator And by the way some of the best parts have known have been women In dealing with these people be as professional as possible They are often harried and overworked and they deal with more than their share of vague and con fused customers Always go in armed with complete infor mation This means besides make and model any special designations DX or GT body type 2 door 4 door hatchback wagon and the Vehicle Identification Number as extra insurance
12. Shrink Tube Westach Gauges amp Shunt amp Anti Corrosion Compound Light Vehicle Direct Drive Kit 10 840 00 This kit eliminates the transmission for smooth driving without shifting gears on front engine front wheel drive vehicles The kit includes Solectria gearbox and halfshafts with inner CV joints You will need to take the halfshafts to an axle shop to cut to the appropriate length and fit with appropriate outer CV joints for your chassis Suitable for compacts sports cars and kit cars up to 2 400 Ibs original curb weight INCLUDES Cable Lugs amp Belleville Solectria AC24 Motor Zivan NG3 Charger DC DC Converter Precision Tension Washers Solectria DMOC445 Controller Solectria AT 1200 Gearbox Westach Gauges amp Shunt Shears Shrink Tube amp Wiring Interface Kit Supports amp Halfshafts amp Anti Corrosion Compound Heavy Vehicle Manual Transmission Kit 9 722 00 This kit mounts the motor to the car s original manual transmission one custom piece that is included is the motor transmission adaptor We have a substantial library of adaptor patterns and often an adaptor for one model of car will cross over to another model that you might not expect If we do not have a pattern for your transmission we make one easily Suitable for mid size sedans pickup trucks SUVs and minivans up to 3 500 Ibs original curb weight INCLUDES Cable Lugs amp Belleville Solectria AC
13. This is easy to do in a bench vise Figure out the angle you need bend it carefully then leave it alone Too much bending back and forth to find the right fit will fatigue and weaken the lug In general the assembly sequence for mounting a cable to a terminal of any component should be compo nent terminal cable lug flat washer lock washer nut The flat washer is there to keep the lock washer from gouging the cable lug On the controller you have flat terminals instead of threaded stud terminals In that case you start with the bolt and follow the same sequence ending with a nylock nut The following wiring instructions assume that you are using an Albright main contactor a Curtis PMC con troller and a series brush DC motor since these are by far the most commonly used choices Starting at what will be the most positive cable out of the battery pack the circuit breaker is the next component in the circuit unless it s located between two batteries in the pack Connect the cable to the breaker terminals using lugs with 3 8 holes as opposed to the 5 16 hole lugs you will use for the batteries The cir cuit breaker terminals are not polarized Mount the breaker however is most convenient The next component is the main contactor The cable from the battery pack and or circuit breaker will mount to the large diameter positive terminal of the contactor using a 3 8 lug The next connection is between the unmarked termina of
14. contrast would be even more pronounced if EVs were meas ured against these typical older model cars The percentage of improvement goes even higher when you realize that gas cars are dirtiest on short trips when they don t get fully warmed up and in stop and go driving which is exactly the kind of driving they spend most of their time doing Finally we must remember that every gas car as it ages and deteriorates becomes dirtier and dirtier An EV having no tailpipe emissions at all stays as clean as it was the day it was born In fact the utility power plants supplying electricity to the car are contin ually meeting stricter and stricter standards so the EV actually gets cleaner the longer it stays on the road The next question is If we have a lot of electric cars won t we have to build more power plants The answer is EVs charge primarily overnight when utilities have excess capacity By using that capacity EVs help utilities level their demand load and run their plants more cleanly and efficiently A study by Southern California Edison indicated that the utility could absorb 600 000 EVs without increasing capacity For scale that means that if every Toyota sold in the whole country in 1987 had been an EV and they had all moved to Los Angeles they could have been charged from existing power plants This number also represents about 10 of the total cars in southern California There are other automotive pol
15. most positive pack Use the same touch test technique you used when installing the fusible links Turn the circuit breaker on again Measure the voltage between the most negative terminal of the second pack and the circuit breaker battery pack positive termi nal of the main contactor The reading should be the sum of the two packs If you have more than two packs continue down the circuit this way until you have checked and connected them all When all the packs are connected in series check for full pack voltage between the battery pack positive terminal of the main contactor and the battery negative terminal of the controller This can be done at the test point if you wired one in If the meter does not read full pack voltage recheck all previous connections 4 4 Checking for full pack voltage Connect the voltmeter between the controller termi at a test point nal of the main contactor the negative terminal and the most negative terminal of the most negative battery pack The reading should be 0 volts Connect the chassis ground cable or strap to the auxiliary battery negative terminal Turn on the ignition key Nothing should happen If you hear a click from the main contactor and the voltmeter reading goes from zero to full pack voltage do the following checks Recheck that the potbox arm rests at full off which opens the potbox microswitch If the lever arm is at full and the mi
16. negative terminals of this battery pack The reading between them should be about 48 volts for an eight bat tery pack For other sizes of packs it should be the voltage of each battery usually 6 volts multiplied by the number of batteries If the voltage reading isn t correct check all the interconnects and check each individual battery for full voltage lt We 2 RNS i 5 Turn the circuit breaker Use the voltmeter to check the voltage between the circuit breaker battery pack positive terminal of the main contactor and the neg ative cable out of the most positive pack The voltage should be the same as in the previous test If the voltage reading isn t right check for an open circuit between the main contactor and the most positive terminal of the battery pack Turn the circuit breaker off again and move to the next battery pack in the circuit Do not connect the cable between this pack and the previous one yet Install the final interconnect containing the fus ible link for this pack using the same touch test as before Use the voltmeter to measure between the most posi tive and most negative battery terminals of this pack The reading should match the voltage total for this pack Page 105 If the voltage reading isn t right check battery orientations and interconnects against your diagram Install the negative cable from the second pack to the first
17. nobody notices all the miles of reliable EV driving only the one time you walked home Even among ourselves problems stick in our minds The media and general public already have negatives about EVs in their heads EVs are small weird looking slow have short ranges and are likely to run out of juice and leave you stranded Don t feed these stereo types Before you open your mouth remember the doctor s principle first do no harm Don t tell the reporter about the time you goofed Page 125 people drive ten or so miles to work plug in all day and have a full charge when they leave Running Out Of Electricity Negative What happens if you run out of juice before you get home Most electric car owners have tow bars for rescues Positive When a gas car runs out of gas it stops dead right now An electric will simply start to slow down gradually over a period of several miles If you finally must pull off the road you can park for ten minutes and the batteries will regain some charge just by resting You can then drive a couple more miles and rest again if need be Try that with an empty gas tank Long Trips Negative You can t take long trips in an electric car Positive An electric car is not intended for long trips just as a microwave oven is not intended for frying foods or baking angel food cakes Most people who have a microwave also have a conventional oven Most households in America have more th
18. the more important the venue for the story the more likely that it will come out downright negative Electric cars can t not yet still limited Knowing that you are an ambassador for EVs and facing a skeptical world here are some things you can do to improve the results Choose Your Forum Not all publicity is good If you are invited to participate an eighty mile Clean Air as the only electric among a pack of methanol and CNG cars and you know you will limp in dead last if at all don t go just to show the flag The flag doesn t show well dragging in the dust Don t participate in events which you know will make your car look bad by comparison Prepare Your Car Even club rallies which are events within the EV family attract a lot of general public and some media Be sure your car is as clean and professional looking as you can possibly make it If the paint is old there are products to buff it up At least wash and vacuum it Clean the battery terminals Take a few minutes to tie wrap wires tidily out of the way Above all do not give rides to reporters if your car is not fully charged or not up to snuff for any other reason Too often major media have ridden in undercharged or ailing cars and written about their pathetic performance Don t give them another opportu nity Accentuate The Positive As they say nobody notices planes that land safely only the ones that crash Likewise
19. ventilation 62 62 96 96 welded polypropylene 12 23 60 61 62 Battery Holddowns 58 59 60 61 62 Battery Mat 59 61 Battery Rack design 53 materials strength 58 Voltsrabbit front 58 Voltsrabbit rear S3 Battery testing charts 121 122 Belleville washers 103 Brakes Charger 110 volt input 78 79 78 95 220 volt input 78 79 78 adjustments 77 79 120 early types 77 ground fault interrupter 78 123 input voltage 78 interlock 18 91 95 96 96 97 isolation 78 output voltage 78 79 shut off 120 size 77 78 smart 77 wiring 94 97 95 Charging see Batteries Circuit breaker DC vs AC 18 70 70 placement 54 70 75 99 104 rating 70 safety disconnect 18 70 wiring 58 99 Clutch driving with 115 116 maintain in conversion 31 mounted on adaptor 44 parts to save 36 Component board 66 67 66 76 Controller chopper 65 high pedal lockout 68 118 installing 66 67 low voltage cut out 118 overheating 115 118 checking 124 desirability of power 32 79 vacuum switch diode 80 94 dragging 118 maintenance 124 upgrading original 80 vacuum pump 79 80 79 34 vacuum reservoir 79 80 79 vacuum switch 79 79 94 Braking regenerative 11 115 techniques 114 116 Cables front to rear 58 84 most negative 54 58 most positive 54 58 Cargo space 8 29 pulse width modulated 65 65 66 66 resistors 64 65 66 SCR 65 66 series parallel 64 66 test poin
20. 4 Bar ADVANCED DC 8 OR 9 MOTOR OTHER MOTORS MAY HAVE DIFFERENT TERMINAL POSITIONS HIGH CURRENT WIRING DIAGRAM Use two wrenches when fastening lugs to controller terminals The next connection is on the motor itself Ona series motor running counterclockwise the A2 motor terminal needs to be connected to the S2 terminal Check the markings on your motor to identify which terminals these are On some motors they will be side by side and on others they will be diagonal to each other The motor terminals all use 3 8 lugs When these terminals are in a straight line it is easy to connect them with a copper strap Insulate all but the connecting ends of the strap with shrink tube The final cable from the motor attaches to the S1 terminal and goes from there to the shunt On such as a Honda where the motor needs to rotate clockwise the wiring will be reversed The input to the motor will be the A2 terminal and the A1 will connect to the S2 The S1 terminal will be the outgoing cable put the shunt here in the circuit because prefer to have the ammeter read motor current find this to be the most useful information The other choice would be to put the shunt between the battery negative control ler terminal and the battery pack most negative cable This gives the battery pack current reading If you were to do this the cable from the motor would go directly to the motor negative terminal of the controller
21. An Anderson connector has two identical halves of rigid plastic that snap to gether to make a connection and maintain proper polarity BATTERY CHARGER eins 120 VAG 20 Attach the wires from the battery pack to one half of an Anderson connector Attach the other half to the charger as per the manufacturer s instructions For the AC input to the charger we ll start at the wall and work our way in to the charger You will use an extension cord between a wall socket and a male connec tion on the car This cord should match the specifica tions set by the charger manufacturer For example for the K amp W BC 20 charger this means the cord must be no less than a 12 gauge three wire cord and no more than 25 feet long If the cord is too light or too long it will overheat in use On the car the cord will attach to a male fixture which can be a cord end or a solid male receptacle This should be mounted somewhere convenient yet protected from the weather A favorite location is the original gas fill opening Inside the car wire the white and the black wires from the male fixture to an AC charger interlock relay that is normally closed and opens when AC is applied As Page 95 mentioned earlier this relay should be wired to inter rupt the 12 volt circuit either just before or just after the new fuse block If your batteries are enclosed in boxes they will need to be vent
22. Kit Cars If you are a very hands on person and want a more ambitious project and a more unusual final product you can build a kit car as an electric Their lightweight fiberglass bodies make kit cars excellent performers as electrics Since you assemble the entire car from pieces you have the opportunity to make minor modifica tions to the chassis to aid in the conversion 7 r J 2925 The Jackrabbit kit car is a If you are interested in building a kit car do some high quality kit and can make serious research before buying your kit Be sure you are an excellent electric buying from an established and reputable supplier Ask Photo courtesy of Herb Adams for references from customers who have the kit you want VSE Try to see a finished car in the flesh so you can check out the quality of the kit and its potential as an electric Find a local kit car club and get advice from more experienced builders Most of us will be converting existing gas or diesel steel bodied cars There are several aspects of the car to be evaluated before making a choice Weight Increased weight decreases range and performance The same heavy cars that get poor gas mileage will make poor electrics Look for a car that s under 2 500 pounds curb weight before conversion Under 2 000 pounds would be even better and 3 000 pounds is the upper limit Remember that even after stripping out the inte
23. This is for a pre fabricated bolt in kit including better quality materials such as powder painted battery racks and welded polypropylene battery boxes Your costs may fall somewhere between these two if you use a non bolt in kit but better quality materials You can easily spend 50 000 on a conversion if you want to use high tech drive systems or exotic batteries but this is completely unnecessary should say a word here about tax incentives won t get too specific because these change from state to state and from year to year Simply be aware that there may be some tax breaks to help you finance your conversion Contact the nearest electric car club to find out what is currently available in your area For example California passed a law effective in 1991 that established tax incentives for conversions The law was cleverly given zero publicity but we found out about it anyway Basically the law stated that a conversion kit if duly certified by the state was exempt from sales tax and eligible for up to 1 000 in state income tax credits The law will lapse in 1995 When we called the state to find out how to get our kits certified they couldn t answer us No one had bothered to figure out how to implement the bill My partners and especially Dick Rahders spent many hours wheedling and badgering the state into writing the proce dures to implement the law We were the first company to get our conversion kits certified
24. about gauges we mentioned a DC DC converter This is an electronic device that takes the place of the alternator in a gas car The electric car still needs a source of 12 volts to operate the lights horn and some of the EV components It isn t a good idea to tap off the first two batteries in the pack to get this voltage because those batteries will discharge more than the others An unevenly charged pack will not perform as well When charging the rest of the batteries will be overcharged and gassing which is not good for them while the charger is still working to bring the two low ones up and equalize them This will shorten the lives of the batteries Finally some components need a source of 12 volts that is grounded to the chassis The traction batteries MUST NOT be grounded to the chassis For all these reasons you need a 12 volt auxiliary battery However the electric car no longer has an alternator to keep this battery charged You could add one but it would use up horsepower that is better used to move the car The early EVs ran a total loss 12 volt system This means the 12 volt battery got charged at the same time as the others and then was gradually drained while the car was driven This was a less than optimum situa tion A normal car battery couldn t take that kind of abuse so it was necessary to use a heavy duty deep cycle marine battery Even so it didn t take long when using the lights or wipers to start d
25. also be flipped manual ly if you suspect a problem or if you simply want to disable the system for safety while the car is parked displayed or being worked on For manual operation the breaker must be mounted so the driver can reach it Ideally this means in or under the dash mount mine so the position is toward the passenger side In an emergency a simple swipe of the hand toward me will flip it off Another location could be near the floor beside the driver s seat If it is necessary to mount the breaker outside the passenger compartment it can be cable actu ated by a pull inside the car have done this witha knob installed on the firewall and one customer used the bright red heater lever in his Porsche 914 Be careful that the breaker is not mounted where it will be accidentally tripped by a foot or knee If the breaker is installed in a remote location it will be inconvenient to get out of the car and reset it However if something caused the breaker to trip you should pull over and determine the cause before contin uing anyway Although the car will pull several hundred amps of current momentarily under acceleration the breaker need not be rated that high A 250 amp breaker with a built in delay curve will withstand 400 amp draws for five min utes which is more than adequate This delay prevents nuisance trips due to non harmful momentary surges The breaker MUST be a DC breaker not an AC unit The pe
26. arm holes You will rarely get this lucky On the Voltsrabbit mounted it on the passen ger side shock tower and used the original diesel throt tle cable along with a couple of pieces adapted from the original fuel injection linkage You will have to exper iment with the best location mounting bracket and linkage for your car Take the time to be precise in this operation and it will serve you well later Incidentally the potbox contains the first of five emergency disconnects that should be in the system This is a microswitch that functions as a deadman switch Any time the throttle is released the microswitch opens the main contactor shutting off all power to the con troller Page 68 main contactor with a diode to suppress voltage spikes Main Contactor The main contactor is the second emergency discon nect This contactor allows you to turn the system on and off with an ignition key just like a gas car The main contactor should be mounted as close as possible to the terminals of the controller since they will be connected Some people have tried to eliminate the contactor in effect leave the car all the time After all there isn t any electricity flowing when the car is standing still and you still have the circuit breaker right Wrong In most layouts the circuit breaker must be closed during charging This leaves the components vulnerable to the incoming electricity know
27. broader range of input voltages and a higher frequency of operation 15 kHz which makes it virtually silent The company has evolved also PMC is now a division of Curtis Instruments They manufacture more than 200 000 MOSFET PWM controllers a years for applications ranging from wheelchairs to large industrial vehicles A PWM controller is the best choice preferably the MOSFET version but an SCR controller is acceptable In fact SCR controllers are still used in very large motor applications such as diesel electric trains and electric transit trains If you have an SCR you will need to accommodate its larger bulk Since its contactors and components are all exposed you should provide some kind of weatherproof enclosure while still allowing cooling airflow Resistor and series parallel systems are not accept able The controller should be mounted with its terminals as close to the motor terminals as space permits On the PWM controller the terminals can face in any direction except straight up In that position it is possible for moisture to collect and seep along the terminals into the controller and short it out like to mount the controller main contactor and shunt all on one component board which is then mounted in the car These three components want to be mounted close together and the detachable board allows me to do Temperature control is the most critical factor for controller performance the i
28. charge gained Beyond this range extension ideas start to include windmills on the roof perpetual motion machines and other schemes that are unworkable because they violate several laws of physics Let s get back to the original question of what to do about a long trip First how often do you drive farther than the electric car can go Second do you have a gas car available for those trips If not then the best range extender for an electric car in my opinion is a rental car Recharging If your battery pack is drawn down completely it will take ten to twelve hours to recharge using a 110 volt charger This can be reduced to 6 8 hours with a 220 volt charger When we get to the section on chargers we ll talk more about the pros and cons of each Development is underway on the concept of pulsing chargers that can charge batteries much faster without damaging them Number of Batteries Most conversions use 6 volt lead acid golf car batteries We ll discuss different types of batteries later In general pack voltage determines speed A 72 volt system twelve batteries is the minimum just barely acceptable for a road going vehicle This is only acceptable in a very light car that is never intended for freeway use It will have performance similar to the original 1200 CC VW Bugs Most conversions use sixteen batteries for a tota pack voltage of 96 volts For higher performance heavy cars or work vehicles such as light pic
29. chassis at any point This reduces the danger of shocks as well as reducing the danger from failures of connec tions or insulation An interlock on your charger is a good idea This will prevent the vehicle from being driven away while still connected to the power source recommend three types of safety power disconnects which operate manually or automatically All three should be used together The first is a main contactor This is an electromechanical disconnect which is operated manually by your ignition key This gives you a way to disconnect the batteries from the drive system when the car is parked if you suspect a problem while driving and during charging It is part of the normal automotive operating procedure that we are all familiar with already The second safety disconnect is a circuit breaker between the battery pack and the main contactor or within the battery pack circuit This could be used manually as an emergency shut off if the main contactor failed in a closed position It will also operate auto matically in an emergency such as a motor short or in case of driver abuse if the car is being pushed beyond its abilities The circuit breaker must be rated appropriately for your battery pack and components It must also be a DC circuit breaker not an AC breaker The operating characteristics of the two are different and an AC breaker might not trip at the appropriate time in an emergency The third disconnect is a
30. com mon gas car tachs won t work It is necessary to use a magnetic or optical sensor to count either the teeth on the flywheel or protrusions on a plate mounted on a second shaft at the rear of the motor The tach must be calibrated to match the sensor If you are lucky you may have some round gauge you no longer need such as oil pressure which you can replace with an EV gauge If you are really adventurous you can try to install gauges in unused areas of the original gauge cluster behind the steering wheel but don t recommend it The space behind the dash is tight full of wires and difficult to work in In newer cars much of the circuitry is built into the dash itself as a printed circuit board You are likely to cause yourself Page 74 much grief Sturdy and attractive gauge mounts are commercially available for standard round gauges These usually mount on top of the dash You may also be able to fabricate a mounting plate to fit into a blank or unneeded part of the central dash area such as below or above the radio or in place of a coin tray Lower down in a central console may be another possibility The primary consideration for gauge placement should be visibility for the driver The gauge should be as close to eye level as possible Sometimes this isn t possible Give placement priority first to the ammeter then to the tach if you have one then to the fuel gauge and last to the low voltage gauge Check that the ga
31. connections Turn off the car put it into neutral set the handbrake and remove the jackstands Connect the charger at the Anderson connector then test and adjust it according to its manufacturer s in structions Do not attempt to break a bottle of champagne over the bumper or even pour it over the bumper It s bad for the chrome and paint and a waste of champagne Besides you re not done yet Page 108 Suspension amp Tires Springs When you remove the jackstands and lower the car you will immediately notice a change It is lowrider This condition needs to be remedied before you do any serious driving Drive the car carefully just far enough to get it properly settled on its springs If you don t have any serious interference problems you might want to drive it to the public scale and get it weighed again the whole car and each end separately Then remeasure the ride height at all four corners Compare these numbers to the pre conversion numbers in your Project Notebook You now know exactly how much weight it gained and where and how many inches of ride height it lost Or gained If a car is heavy one end and light on the other the leverage effect will cause the light end to sit higher than before Often adjusting the heavy end will automatically correct the light end too However it is better for handling purposes if the weight is more evenly distributed in the first place The s
32. don t like them because they don t look like they belong in a Car In fact they don t A panel meter is intended to work on stationary equipment inside buildings It is not built for the vibration heat dust etc of a vehicle traveling down a road Heat from the sun will loosen the face and warp it causing the needle to stick Road vibrations will damage the delicate mechanism Dust will work its way inside Page 71 Also panel meters are not backlit for night use In a futuristic car like an EV there is a tendency to go for digital instruments If you are a real techie a digital gauge can give you all the precision and detail your heart desires However these also have drawbacks One problem is lighting Both LEDs and LCDs are hard or impossible to read in full sunlight LCDs are not lit for night use A second problem has to do with constant fluctua tions The EV system in motion is continuously changing its voltage and amperage readings Under acceleration and deceleration the numbers may change so quickly that it is impossible to get a sensible reading from a digital gauge A third problem is psychological It requires more concentration to read a number and interpret its meaning than to glance at the position of a needle The two operations use different parts of the brain The second one can be done much more quickly and automatically 555 QV CONTROLLER An LED bar gauge top panel meters center
33. for conversion A few cars have special idiosyncrasies If you get a Honda be aware that the crankshaft rotates in the opposite direction from almost every other car in the world Your electric motor supplier should be able to adjust the motor so that it runs most efficiently in the proper direction for your car Subarus and rotary Mazdas have a design that recesses the flywheel into the back of the engine This requires a very thick and expensive adaptor plate for the electric motor For that reason don t recommend them Transmission amp Drive Axle Conversions can be front wheel drive or rear wheel drive Having the engine and the driving wheels at the same end of the car makes packaging easier but isn t essential Four wheel drive is not a practical option at this time Automatic transmissions are also not practical for individual conversions at this time They can be done but performance is marginal and they can t really be economically justified except for fleets One problem with automatics is a loss of power which electrics can ill afford Another problem is that an automatic transmission depends on a continuously idling motor to provide fluid pressure Without it there is a serious lag in acceler ation from a full stop An electric motor doesn t idle When the car isn t moving neither is the motor If you idle the electric motor like a gas engine you are wast ing energy and defeating its efficiency Adding a sepa ra
34. from falling into it and damag ing it During driving normal road splash will not be a problem but you shouldn t try to ford any puddles that might actually immerse the motor A small amount of belly shielding is recommended expecially in areas where roads are salted or gravelly Be sure the shielding does not obstruct airflow for cooling If it does duct air from another area to the motor Prestolite and G E motors should have an external cooling fan This is not necessary on the Advanced D C motor Torque Rods We mentioned a torque rod earlier A cradle type mount circles the motor but does not actually bolt to it Under power the motor will try to rotate in place A torque rod is needed to counter this force The easiest way to build a torque rod is to adapt one that someone else already produces A Honda torque rod is good This is a dogbone shaped piece a straight rod with two rounded ends with bushings in them The larger end can be unscrewed 5542 Install the torque rod between the chassis the Page 47 nearest bolt hole on the motor side top edge of the adaptor Locate the torque rod so that it will not interfere with anything else Build a U shaped bracket to allow you to bolt the small end of the torque rod to the chassis Unscrew and remove the large end of the torque rod and replace it with a bolt with a nut it Build an L shaped bracket to connect that bolt to the bolt on the motor adaptor The bra
35. however speed varies greatly Perma nent magnet motors are least efficient at the low rom used most in stop and go driving Brushless DC and AC motors are available primarily from a company called Solectria in Massachusetts While they are slightly more efficient than series motors their control systems are much more expensive They are good equipment but are generally used only in production and race cars and very high end hobbyist cars Then there are the various exotics These are at the opposite end of the spectrum from aircraft genera tors Most of these are the unproven dreams of tomorrow They are laboratory animals available only as hand built test prototypes They are still being debugged and are not commercially available in regular production Even tually some of them will certainly mature into valuable EV components and you can always upgrade to them Until then don t design your electric car around some thing that is still a pipedream If you are converting a Honda be sure to inform your supplier when you buy your motor Honda engines rotate in the opposite direction from everything else Some motors can run in either direction On the Advanced D C motor the supplier can make an adjustment so that the motor will be most efficient in the right direction Some motors will not work in this reverse application Adaptors Once you have your motor you need to install it in the car The first step is attaching it to the
36. in the dealerships When the engine and transmission have been removed from the car and separated there is one more measurement to take call this the magic number This is the distance from the rearmost surface of the engine where it mates to the transmission to the rearmost flat sur face on the flywheel This may or may not be the fric tion surface of the flywheel The measurement should be accurate to three decimal places in inches distance between the rearmost surface of the engine and the rearmost flat surface of the flywheel If there is already a pattern on file for an adaptor for your transmission this number is unnecessary However if have to design an adaptor will need this number to determine the thickness of the hub As you take the donor car apart do so with a scalpel instead of a machete because you might want to graft some of those pieces back together later Remove all the wires at their connectors instead of cutting them and label them with tape and a marker Be sure it Page 35 As you disconnect wires label them with tape and an indelible marker is an indelible marker Otherwise you may steam clean the engine bay and end up with lots of pretty little white flags with no writing on them Save all the original nuts and bolts in baggies and label what they came from These may allow you to re use original holes or brackets It is generally easier to remove both the engine and t
37. is it and how much does it weigh 2 What input voltage s does it accept 3 What output voltage s does it provide 4 fast will it charge my car Inverters If you were using an AC system you would also need and inverter to change the DC electricity in the bat teries into AC electricity for the motor to use Since AC systems are not generally used by the individual enthusiast won t go into more detail about inverters here Power Brake Vacuum System If your donor car has power brakes you definitely want to keep them The converted EV will be heavier and needs all the braking it can get The original power brake unit used vacuum from the manifold to operate it Since you no longer have a manifold you will have to provide another source of vacuum This can be done easily with a small 12 volt elec tric vacuum pump a reservoir and a vacuum switch Most power brake units require about 14 inches of vacuum use a switch that kicks on when vacuum drops to 17 inches A reservoir can be built easily from an 8 Page 79 length of schedule 40 ABS plastic pipe two pipe caps 1 prefer ABS to PVC for aesthetic reasons black ABS looks like it belongs and white PVC always looks scuffed Be sure the hose you use is actual power brake hose A diode should also be installed in the circuit to protect the vacuum switch There are various vacuum pumps available shopped around until found one that was fairly co
38. machined to fit together At Electro Automotive we use a 5 8 thick transmission profile plate and a motor ring that varies from 5 8 to 2 3 4 in thickness MOTOR RING FLYWHEEL a MOTOR TRANSMISSION PROFILE PLATE There are two reasons for this design The first is weight and economy The minimum thickness needed for the plate is determined by the space needed for the hub If the profile plate were this thick it would be very heavy and expensive The ring which is the diameter of the motor rather than of the transmission is much more light and affordable Page 40 second reason is that it allows the car to be upgraded to a newer or larger motor by simply changing the ring instead of the entire adaptor The other section of the adaptor is the hub This connects the motor shaft to the flywheel This must be made of steel not aluminum The motor shaft has a square steel key in it that fits into a slot in the hub If the hub is soft aluminum that steel key will eventu ally 00 out the slot and start cutting into the hub like a machine tool bit This is not a pretty sight especially at 50 mph An adaptor showing the trans There are several styles of adaptor hubs Most of mission profile plate the them are problems waiting for the worst possible time to motor ring the motor shaft happen All the power of that motor passes through this bushing and the hub little hub the si
39. of a car is preferable to the luxury version Air condition ing eats almost as much horsepower as it takes to move the car down the road Also air conditioning technology is now in a state of transition due to the CFC problems Probably within the next few years a new air conditioning system will emerge that is environmentally benign and suitable for an electric car Power steering is another energy eater but most of the potential donor cars in a suitable weight range don t have it anyway Luxury models also usually have more sound dead ening which is not necessary in an electric car Power brakes on the other hand are easily accom modated with a vacuum pump and are highly recommended due to the added weight of the batteries Power windows and stereos don t use enough energy to hurt anything Enjoy The Right Stuff There are three ingredients in a good electric con version a good chassis the right components anda well designed and carefully executed installation Just because a particular car is readily available or cheap does not mean it s suitable and a poor chassis will give you a poor EV Making the right choice at the beginning will go a long way toward a satisfactory final product Page 32 Measure the ride height at all four wheels before you start stripping the car Removing The Internal Combustion System Before you can install the electric components you will have to remove a lot of original equi
40. of one man whose controller overheated during charging started a fire and nearly burned down his garage all because he decided he didn t need a main contactor E Cheap contactors fail fail in a closed full on position Use a contactor that is intended for use in an electric vehicle The Albright seems to be the most widely used It will withstand repeated openings and closings without wear since it is never opening or closing under load It includes a magnetic blow out feature to suppress arcing at the contacts It is also advisable to install a diode across the small terminals on the positive side of the contactor to protect the 12 volt electrical system from the voltage spikes generated by turning the contactor off The band on the diode should be toward the top of the contactor where the large terminals are Since the contactor can produce a spark it should be mounted below the level of the battery tops That way any potentially explosive hydrogen will rise away from the contactor Page 69 DC circuit breaker Circuit Breaker The third emergency disconnect is a circuit breaker As mentioned earlier this should be installed between the battery pack and the main contactor or between any two batteries in the circuit The breaker operates in two ways In case of a problem involving excessive cur rent draw the breaker will flip automatically and shut down the system However it can
41. small offset plates to go between the chassis brackets and the cradle in order to shift the cradle forward or back to a better position It may be neces sary to install a support member either above or below the motor to serve as anchor for the cradle A cradle type mount mounted to For a transverse engine car use a plate mounted to original black motor mounts the anti drive end of the motor and extending into a and grey setback plates mounting bracket A mount for a transverse There may be some bolt heads exposed on the case of motor the motor DO NOT loosen these or in any way try to use Page 46 Honda torque rod modified for use in an EV them for your mount They hold the field coils in place inside the motor and they are installed at a specified torque Loosening them will cause damage to the motor The original motor mounts are metalastic pieces That is they have a rubber part bonded to a metal frame This is great for reducing vibration and noise so you should use the same technology Design your mount to attach to these mounts If the original mounts aren t too misshapen use them for your design phase then buy new ones for the actual installation If the original style of mount won t work try to find another style from a different model of car at your auto parts store Keep the motor commutator covered with a cloth or masking tape while you are working on the car to prevent any tiny chips or debris
42. systems The industry is still trying to live down the poor performance they had 72 volt system is the bare minimum for a road going passenger car This will give performance compar able to that of the original gas powered 1200 CC VW Bugs It will only be adequate for a very lightweight car that is never intended to be driven at highways speeds As we noted earlier most conversions have a 96 volt system which means sixteen 6 volt batteries This seems Page 51 The Voltsrabbit has a typi cal split pack with eight bat teries under the hood in a split level arrangement and eight behind the back seat 7 7 ae to be the optimum weight power balance A typical steel bodied conversion will have a range of 60 80 miles in average commute conditions mostly flat roads some freeway time some stop and go in town traffic It will have a top speed of about 60 mph Some of the more aero dynamic cars will do better A lighter weight fiberglass car will have a range of 80 100 miles on a charge and a top speed of about 90 mph If there is room for the batteries the system can go as high as 120 volts In fact this is recommended for pickup trucks where some payload capacity is desir able Very soon there will be chargers and controllers available for systems up to 144 volts However the ad vantages of the extra voltage will have to be weighed literally against the expense bulk and weight of the extra batteries Whe
43. the main contactor and the battery positive terminal of the controller again using a 3 8 lug for the con tactor connection but a 5 16 lug for the controller connection If the contactor and controller are mounted very close together it is almost impossible to get a tiny length of cable in there but a short piece of cop per strap will work nicely It should be insulated except at the connections using shrink tube In the Voltsrabbit this requires a specific twist in the strap using a bench vise and a large crescent wrench Any time you are making connections to controller terminals use two wrenches and be careful not to put any force on the terminal itself It is possible to crack the potting around the base of the terminal which could let moisture seep inside and short out the cir cuits There are two options for the next connection One option is from the battery positive controller termina to the A1 terminal of the motor The second option skips the controller and connects directly from the unmarked terminal of the contactor to the A1 motor terminal The motor can be connected either way depending on which is more convenient The contactor and motor both use 3 8 lugs while the controller uses 5 16 lugs Page 99 CIRCUIT BREAKER MAIN CONTACTOR CONTROLLER OPTION B a OPTION A ae ete CURRENT SHUNT 100 TRACTION BATTERY wey
44. the meter reads 0 volts check the wire between the main contactor positive terminal and the right most terminal of the potbox microswitch for continu ity If you don t have continuity fix the wire Once the main contactor closes as it should and you have full pack voltage turn off the ignition Connect the cable between the battery negative terminal of the controller and the negative terminal of the last battery in the most negative pack Be sure the car is in neutral Turn the ignition on Actuate the potbox either with the throttle pedal or by hand The main contactor should close and the motor should start turning If the motor does not start turn ing do the following checks Check for full pack voltage at the key switch input terminal of the controller Do this by con necting the voltmeter between the battery negative terminal of the controller and the key switch posi tive terminal top 1 4 male terminal and then actuating the potbox If the reading is not full pack voltage check the wiring for continuity between the key switch input terminal and the potbox relay If there is continuity check for full pack voltage to the movable arm terminal of the potbox relay If there is not full pack voltage to this terminal check the wire between the relay terminal and the circuit Page 107 If the wheels turn backward recheck the motor connections breaker battery pack positive terminal of the main contactor for conti
45. the shop etc Reliability Tne EV when properly built is very reliable because it has so many fewer parts to fail Most of the components are solid state electronics with no moving parts Longevity An electric car has a virtually infi nite lifespan The components will probably outlast the chassis The batteries need to be replaced about every three to four years The motor brushes need to be replaced at about 80 000 miles Pollution amp Efficiency We all know that EVs are supposed to be cleaner for the air but some people wonder how accurate that is when the big picture is taken into account Sure there s no smoky tailpipe but what Page 12 Gas cars are dirtiest on short trips and in stop and go driving about the utility generating plant It is much easier to clean up one utility smokestack than hundreds of thousands of tailpipes Even including the pollution caused by generating the electricity the EV is much cleaner than a gas car How much depends on the source of fuel for the electric generating station In California where there is a great deal of clean hydro power an EV is 85 97 cleaner than a gas car Even in the east where the power sources are less clean an EV is 27 cleaner than a gas car lt is important to realize that these numbers based on new car emissions Most of the cars on the roads however are older models that do not have as sophisticated emissions controls as the new cars The
46. this hose There may be an appropriate route where the fuel lines or exhaust system were removed There may even be brackets in place that you can adapt If so this is where the carefully labelled baggies of hardware you removed will come in handy If there is nothing usable in place it s easy to fabricate a few L shaped metal brackets with a hole in one side of the L and a slot in the other just at the corner These can be pop riveted to the chassis at intervals and the hose secured to them with hose clamps Cables in a PVC hose sheath Once you ve determined how and where you will run with mounting brackets this front to rear bundle of wiring you need to figure out exactly how much of which kind of wire you need For small gauge wiring count how many wires you will need then add two to four extras That way if you decide to add some other component or gauge at a later Page 84 Four in one trailer wire makes a tidy ready made loom date you will already have usable wires in place Record the colors of these spare wires in your Project Notebook Four in one trailer wire is very handy for this kind of front to rear small gauge wiring This is a ribbon consisting of four color coded 16 gauge wires lightly joined together at the edges It makes a tidy ready made loom for running the length of the car At each end you can peel the individual wires away from the ribbon one at a time to route them to the appropriate components
47. to revive An EV needs a deep cycle battery This means it can be discharged to 80 of its capacity and recharged Page 49 repeatedly Conventional starting batteries and other non deep cycle batteries such as gel cells can provide high short term performance for a race car but not continuous daily use Traction Batteries Not all deep cycle batteries are appropriate Marine batteries or standby power batteries are not intended to handle the occasional brief current peaks a car requires They will not provide as much range or cycle life as a true traction battery A traction battery is designed for high current draws and repeated deep discharges both of which are needed to move a vehicle down the road The type of bat tery most commonly used in EVs is a golf car battery a 6 volt deep cycle battery typically rated at 220 240 amp hours This is an excellent choice because it is well developed very available and affordable Lead acid batteries the new There is also now true traction 12 volt battery 12 volt traction battery and available from U S Battery This is the model 1450 the conventional 6 volt golf which can be ordered through U S Battery or Interstate car battery dealers While this battery is too new to have full life cycle testimonials from EV owners it was developed by a company with an excellent record of producing quali ty batteries suited to EVs The 1450 would be highly recommended for very s
48. transmis sion with an adaptor Page 39 This diagram shows exploded view of an adaptor using a two part plate and a two part taperlock hub A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and so it is with an electric car s drivetrain All of the horsepower and torque needed to move the car down the road must pass through the adaptor on its way to the transmission and wheels This like the motor is no place for half measures The adaptor needs to be designed machined and installed precisely This does not mean laying the transmission face down on a piece of cardboard and tracing the outline and holes with a pencil to make a pattern A professional adaptor manufacturer will measure and machine each bolt or dowel hole as well as the thickness of the plate itself to be accurate within a few thousands of an inch This kind of accuracy assures a secure fit between motor adaptor and trans mission Any sloppiness in fit will eventually cause poor performance and could damage the motor or transmis sion Okay let s look at what an adaptor is There are two sections to an adaptor the plate that mounts the motor to the periphery of the transmission and the hub that connects the motor shaft to the flywheel and physically transmits the power The plate can be made of aluminum in order to save weight It should be no less than 5 8 thick for adequate rigidity The plate may actually come in two parts as long as they are precision
49. variation from in the chassis can sometimes drive you to distraction when you are trying to mount components to it If you get a donor that runs you can recoup some of your investment by selling the engine This is best done while it s still in the car and can be test driven Be sure the buyer knows that you will be keeping some of the parts such as the flywheel Make amp Model The first criterion for make and model is availabi lity of parts Look for a make with a strong dealer presence in your area and a model with a long production run and a large number of them built and sold This will mean availability of dealer only parts and expertise of aftermarket parts and of junkyard parts Orphans make This Rabbit is more than ten poor candidates for conversion even if Aunt Minnie has years old but there is still one behind the barn that she ll give you for free How good parts availability for it ever a twenty year old car might still be a good candi because there were so many of date if it s in good condition and there is good parts them built availability In general terms it is harder to find a suitable American donor than it is to find a foreign one This is Page 30 Using the clutch gives a much smoother ride because American manufacturers have only recently become interested in producing small aerodynamic cars They are often American in name more than content Japanese cars seem especially suitable
50. withstand the high current involved Mount the car s connector in some spot that is convenient to use yet protected from road splash Keep in mind that the car will be sitting and charging for several hours at a time and it is pref erable if possible not to have to leave a door hatch or hood open for charging Page 96 Soldering something as big as 2 0 cable is an invitation to third degree burns An offboard 220 volt charger complicates the fan and interlock situation which is another argument in favor of the onboard charger An interlock can be done in the same manner as we did with the onboard charger However a 220 volt relay is more expensive Also if your char ger has an automatic shut off the interlock will also cease to operate when the charger turns off The fans are more difficult It is very hard to find high voltage non arcing fans If your charger has 12 volt output for the auxiliary battery you can tap into that to run some 12 volt fans as well If not you can run a separate 110 volt AC cord to operate the fans and an interlock This is one more cord strung across your garage and one more step in charging for you to re member If you are lazy or forgetful two of your safety features the fan and the interlock become non function al You could wire a more complex interlock relay system using two relays so that the charger would not work un less the fans were plugged in Again this is one more exp
51. 55 Motor Solectria DMOC445 Controller Zivan NG3 Charger Precision Tension Washers Adaptor amp Wiring Interface Kit Westach Gauges amp Shunt Crimper Shears Shrink Tube DC DC Converter Vacuum Power Brake System amp Anti Corrosion Compound Heavy Vehicle Direct Drive Kit 9 257 00 This kit eliminates the transmission for smooth driving without shifting gears This can be accomplished in different ways with a standard 3 5 4 1 rear axle connect to a 1 6 2 1 reduction using Gates PolyChain belts amp pulleys a transfer case or a gearbox Or you can use a modified high ratio rear axle connect directly with a flange amp yoke Suitable for mid size sedans pickup trucks SUVs and minivans up to 3 500 Ibs original curb weight INCLUDES Cable Lugs amp Belleville Solectria AC55 Motor Solectria DMOC445 Controller Vacuum Power Brake System Precision Tension Washers Zivan NG3 Charger amp Wiring Interface Kit Westach Gauges amp Shunt Crimper Shears Shrink Tube DC DC Converter amp Anti Corrosion Compound Electro Automotive POB 1113 Felton CA 95018 phone 831 429 1989 fax 831 429 1907 email electro cruzio com web site http www electroauto com
52. A zero point must be arbitrarily chosen and set Since an EV Page 73 does not run out of fuel abruptly but simply goes slower and slower you must choose the point at which you consider the batteries drained You will also have to experiment to determine what constitutes for your Once that is done the watt hour meter will measure the electricity as it goes into and out of the batteries and display a current balance This kind of instrument can give a great deal of detailed information for those interested in technical details or diagnostics However it isn t cheap and does require a certain amount of calibration and periodic recalibration This is an instrument more for the seri ous EV enthusiast than for the casual driver After the fuel gauge or voltmeter for the high voltage system a third type of gauge you may want is a voltmeter for the 12 volt system This typically reads from 6 to 16 volts and reports on the condition of the auxiliary battery that powers the lights wipers etc This gauge is optional if the car has a DC DC converter but it s still nice to have if there s room for it Automotive style gauges built upside down for better visi bility and the shunt for the ammeter 25 amps A Ny gt A fourth type of gauge is a tachometer This is very nice to have but is a little more complicated to install In an EV since there are no spark plugs
53. A car that starts out as a two seat sports car will probably end up as a two seat high performance electric with little or no cargo space At the other extreme a converted four door sedan or a small truck can provide quite reasonable per formance while maintaining full passenger room and most or all of the original cargo space Pa Today s NEW Country mancr Speed Most modern EVs can do highway speeds of 50 60 mph A car that is very heavy before conversion will do less well A very light car such as a kit car or a very aerodynamic sports car may have a top speed of 80 90 mph Acceleration is good and is directly related to the weight of the car and the quality of the components used Horsepower Itis difficult to compare electric motors to gas engines because their horsepower is rated differently Gas engines are generally rated on dynos rather than in cars with no load on them not even things like alternator belts They are rated at their peak horsepower Electric motors on the other hand tend to be rated under load and at their continuous duty rpm Atypical EV motor will have a continuous rating of 10 20 hp which is all most cars need for cruising It will have a peak rating of around 60 70 hp Range The typical modern conversion should have a range of 60 80 miles in normal driving This means some freeway but largely stop and go surface streets with speeds of 30 40 mph Higher perform
54. CONVERT IT By Michael P Brown With Shari Prange 222 2 3 GROE gt 25 8 5 a2 J 5 75 Rene _ Cea am _ s pr Step By Step Manual 277 For Converting 7 Internal Combustion Vehicle To Electric Power Convert It by Michael P Brown with Shari Prange A Step By Step Manual For Converting An Internal Combustion Vehicle To Electric Power Published by Future Books an imprint of South Florida Electric Auto Association 1402 East Los Olas Boulevard Ft Lauderdale FL 33301 Electro Automotive 1993 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical or electronic including but not limited to audio recording video recording computer files and photocopying without permission in writing from the copyright holder Printed in the United States Printing history First edition published in the United States by Electro Automotive 1989 Second edition published in the United States by Electro Automotive 1990 Third edition published in the United States by Future Books an imprint of the South Florida Electric Auto Association 1993 NOTICE Every effort has been taken to insure that the information in this book is accurate and complete as of the date of printing Author
55. Page 85 engine compartment and crimp lug onto the end See crimping instructions on page 95 Mark the end of the cable next to the lug with masking tape and an F or F as appropriate Measure back the distance you marked on your rope add the 6 of slack and mark the cable with a crayon or tape This mark indicates where the cable should emerge from the PVC hose Without crimping on the lug do the same labelling measurement and marking including the 6 of slack for the other cable Lay the two cables out side by side on the floor with the marks lined up Do the same proce dure label measure add 6 and mark on the far ends of both cables as a double check These marks should auto matically line up at what will be the far end of the PVC hose and the distance between the marks should be the length of the PVC hose Wrap the cables together with a single turn of electrical tape at the front PVC hose mark but don t cut the tape off the roll yet Now you want to nestle any small gauge wires or four in one ribbon into the trough between the two cables If you know approximately how far these wires extend into the engine compartment from the end of the PVC hose you can measure them and align them with the hose mark If not split the difference so that about the same amount of wire extends on each end of the PVC hose Once the wires are measured and nestled against the cables secure them with another wrap of electrical tape
56. The engine size will be important even though you are throwing the engine away because many other parts such as brakes and suspension are keyed to the engine size The exact production date month and year can be important especially on Japanese cars since there may have been running production changes This date can usually be found on a metal plate somewhere on the driver s door or door pillar The parts men may ask seemingly irrelevant questions such as How many head lights does it have and what shape are they Believe it or not this may help you get the right clutch parts The best plan is to explain your project briefly show them this manual and get them personally interested in and excited about your conversion A bag of cookies or a box of doughnuts can also help cement your relation ship The dealership can help you get specific details on your car and identify possible useful crossovers from other models Some parts are available only from dealers For other parts an independent aftermarket parts house can offer the same kind of help Look for a store that caters to the trade with a lot of guys in blue uniforms as customers There will be at least one person in that store with a wealth of product knowledge in his head Franchise stores that sell to the public usually have staff who only know what s in their catalogs and computers A wrecking yard can be a cheap source of the inter change parts that you identified wi
57. a hybrid There are two types of hybrids In a series hybrid a generator is used to provide electricity for the motor through a battery pack which acts as a storage buffer In a parallel hybrid the engine is actually an optional or auxiliary drive system for the car have been personally involved in the building of both types and found them both to be unsatisfactory for several reasons For one thing the hybrid concept violates the principle of simplicity Everything in the internal combustion system and in the interface between the systems is a potential problem Also this reintro duces all the pollution maintenance and expense we had eliminated by converting to electric One has to ask Is this hybrid any cleaner than the original internal combustion system It might actually be dirtier Also is the gas mileage any better An electric car requires approximately 10 kw of energy just to maintain cruising speed Electricity comes in two types AC and DC Alternating current AC is household electricity Its name comes from the fact that the flow of the current regularly reverses its direction Direct current DC is battery current and it flows in one direction only Since generators are designed to put out AC current this must be altered through a rectifier to DC to go into the batteries Take a look at the size and price of a generator that can produce 10 kw DC Hybrid systems are also bulky noisy and expensive In my opini
58. a substitute using the swing set or the garage rafters Check your factory manual for instructions Make secure connections to the proper places on the engine and be sure that your cable or chain has the proper strength for the job Batteries Chemical Danger Burns Sulfuric acid which is contained in the battery will burn clothes paint tools and most impor tantly skin Battery acid destroys cotton materials so recommend that you wear synthetic work clothes Keep a box of baking soda handy Use it to neutralize any spills immediately then rinse with plenty of water For further care of spills on skin or eyes or ingestion of acid call your nearest Poison Center or other emergency service Handling To protect against accidental splashes don t move batteries with the caps removed Also be aware that pressure on the endwalls of plastic cased batteries can cause acid to spurt through the vents For this reason it is recommended to use a battery carrier to lift batteries Be sure it grips the battery securely The type of carrier with teeth that bite into the battery case works fine on old rubber case batteries but not on the newer plastic cases If you lift a battery by hand grasp it at opposite corners y Explosion Hydrogen and oxygen gases released during normal battery operation particularly at the end of the charge cycle They are increased by rapid charging or discharging or by overcharging H
59. against a station ary contact and allows another much higher voltage current to pass through the relay to components beyond The first relay call the keyswitch relay Its purpose is to turn on the DC DC converter and battery pack voltmeter or state of charge gauge with the ignition key Connect the 12 volt wire from the ignition key to the leftmost terminal of the potbox microswitch with a tap then continue the wire to one of the pull down coil terminals of the keyswitch relay If you have an auxiliary 12 volt battery gauge connect to the keyswitch relay with a tap then continue the wire to the positive terminal of your gauge Connect the negative terminal of the gauge to chassis ground gt gt Connect the other pull down coil terminal to a good chassis ground Next run a wire from the positive large diameter terminal of the main contactor to the movable arm side of the relay Connect to the relay with a tap then continue the wire to the same terminal on the second relay which we ll talk about in more detail in a minute This wire will carry full battery pack voltage but very little amperage so it can be a 16 gauge wire Finally run a wire from the stationary side of the contact to the positive input terminal on the DC DC converter and the battery pack voltmeter or state of Page 92 You have a 50 50 chance of wiring the ammeter to the shunt the right way the first time charge gauge using th
60. an one car For long trips take the other car Cost Negative It s expensive to buy or convert a car and to replace the batteries when they need it Positive An electric car is very cheap to operate Even including replacing the bat teries every three to four years it still costs only about a third as much as a gas car That s because there are no tune ups oil changes mufflers starters water pumps radiators etc And how do you place a dollar value on all the time you save not taking the car to the shop and had to walk home Don t tell them how much extra effort you take to plan your routes carefully Is it really that much more effort Don t tell them you worry about having enough juice These are the things they will blow up into headlines There are only about a dozen questions that everyone asks but the same facts can be given in different ways with different results Is the glass half full or half empty Practice answers that are stated in a positive way No sentence should start out An electric car can t or With an electric car you have Emphasize Normal If your car is a Citicar or a home built chassis or a souped up race car with batteries everywhere be sure the media and the public know that this is an unu sual car If possible try to have a friend with a very ordinary looking electric sedan included in the inter view The world in general already knows electric cars can be w
61. ance cars will get 100 miles or more Range will decrease with weight hills or excessive stop and go traffic There are many things that can be done to the car and to the driver s driving style to improve range We ll talk about these Page 8 Just try to park an empty gasoline car and grow in more detail later There are two common questions that come up about range The first is What happens when run out of electricity You should be familiar with your car and its range and you should have a gauge to give you a continuous reading on your state of charge so dead batteries will not suddenly sneak up on you Also an electric car does not quit abruptly like a gas car Instead in the bottom 20 or so of its charge perform ance will begin to fade gradually If you misjudge and reach the point where the car is moving too slowly to be safe in traffic pull over and park for a few minutes The batteries will grow amps and recover some of their charge simply by resting In five or ten minutes you can drive on again If neces sary you can do this several times over several miles until you get home although it s not recommended as regular practice However just try to park an empty gas car and grow gas Range Extenders The second question is What if want to take a trip Can put some kind of range extender on the car The most common strategy uses an internal combustion engine and the car is called
62. arger is engaged p PVC fittings can be very useful for ventilation ducting Elbows of various diameters and degrees of bend are available as well as adaptors to fit round hoses to square holes Aluminum Volkswagen accordion hose and clothes drier hose are both useful options While you re cutting holes in the battery box for ventilation remember to also cut access holes for your cables Checking Dimensions Once you ve chosen your battery layout and rack and box options it s time to start on a specific design In Page 62 your plans add 1 16 to each dimension of each battery The reason for this is that batteries swell as they age If they are fitted too snugly at the beginning it will be impossible to remove them when they are worn out know of one pack in which the center battery had to be emptied of acid with a siphon then cut up and removed in pieces Before you start actually fabricating racks and boxes check your dimensions against reality Add the thickness of the battery rack and holddown material the thickness of the box material and any insulation the dimensions of the batteries themselves and the 1 16 per battery allotment for swelling The total of all these measurements should give you the maximum dimensions of your pack Now build a dummy pack to those dimensions out of cardboard or foamcore Install it in the car and see if it fits with the hood in place and closed You may find surprise interferenc
63. at it turned on and off each second This ranged from about 02 kHz kilohertz or thousand cycles per second to about 4 kHz This frequency range is audible as a growling sound Unfortunately the SCR controller had some efficien cy losses and they tended to be worst right in the middle of the performance range where most real life driving is done The next step in the evolution of the controller was the transistorized pulse width modulated PWM chopper When this type of controller was introduced by Frank Willey and then further developed by Steve Post at PMC it quickly dominated the EV market The transistorized PWM controller varied speed by varying only the pulse width operating at a constant 2 kHz frequency This was a much higher frequency than Page 65 controller contactor and shunt mounted on an aluminum component board which also serves as a heatsink for the controller that of the SCR and reduced noise to a slight whistle The transistorized PWM controller was smaller lighter quieter smoother more efficient more reli able and simpler to install than the SCR controller Later models came in sealed weatherproof aluminum cases with extruded heatsink fins Since then the PWM controller has evolved again The Darlington transistors inside it have been replaced with MOSFETs metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors The result is a more streamlined package without the heatsink fins a
64. ationary mark It s easier to see in this photo with the electric motor already in place than in the original car with the gas engine If the car can be driven get it weighed the whole car and each axle separately This will help you try to match the original weight distribution and adjust your suspension The first piece to remove is the hood Before you do use a scribe to trace the outline of the hinge in the paint on the underside This will make it easier to reinstall the hood precisely later A slight misalign ment can cost you hours of tinkering while you try to get the hood latch to work properly Before removing the engine measure the distance from the top of the transmission bell housing to some mark on the firewall If your car has a transverse mounted engine lay a flat piece of steel or wood across the fenders at a point you can mark and duplicate later and measure straight down from this piece to the bell housing This measurement will help you reinstall the trans mission with the electric motor in exactly the same posi tion This is important for such things as driveshaft angularity and shift linkages Another thing to study before disassembly is the throttle linkage Make notes about how the pieces go together and measure the travel distance from full off to full on at both the pedal and the carburetor or fuel injection system These measurements will be critical when installing your electric throttle co
65. atteries should be held down inside the boxes as well If you hit a bump at speed they can fly up against the box lid To prevent this attach small blocks to the lid at the corners of the batteries When the lid is closed and strapped down the blocks will hold the batteries down inside the box The box itself can be bolted to the rack beneath it using large carriage head bolts which are recessed into the bottom of the box so they don t interefere with the batteries This is not recommended for 1 4 thick plastic boxes and should not be considered a substitute for holddown straps across the top of the box Page 60 A polypropylene battery box Note holddown straps Insulation Heating amp Ventilation In colder climates it is recommended to insulate or heat battery boxes Insulation can be done with 1 2 sheets of polyurethane foam inside the box Do not use styrofoam as it reacts badly with battery acid If space permits insulation can be built into the battery box floor and lid as well There are battery heating blankets available for use in large diesel trucks that can be adapted to a battery box and plugged in like a A two layer battery box bottom block heater Be careful that any heating system does with insulation not harm plastic components or the Battery Mat Insulation can be simply a second layer between the box and batteries or it can be a third layer in the mid dle of a sandwich box wall or floor In t
66. block heaters However there are many happy EV owners in New England Canada and even Alaska so cold weather need not be a hindrance So that s what an EV is and does It s not a heavy work vehicle or a vacation vehicle It can be souped up as a race car but that s not what this book is about This book will help you build a reliable economical low maintenance clean car for daily use It be a sedate commuter or a flashy show car but it will be unusual and special Now if this sounds like what you want let s get into specifics Page 14 Safety DON T SKIP THIS SECTION know you re anxious to get started and you already know all the basic safety rules Take a minute to review them anyway Basic safety procedures should be practiced as a matter of habit The one time you bypass them will be the time you get hurt This is not meant to be a compre hensive list Eye Protection Always wear eye protection when using power tools handling batteries or working near machinery A full face shield is best but safety glasses or goggles are the bare minimum This is to protect your eyes from small sharp flying pieces as well as from any acciden tally splashed battery acid Power Tools Know the proper handling techniques for the equip ment you are using Be aware of what is behind or under neath the area you re working on so you don t saw through your power cord or drill into a battery Use sharp saw blades as du
67. c or inch sizes as end wrenches Allen sockets 3 8 drive 5 32 amp 5 16 sockets Page 25 Tap amp die set Assorted sizes flat amp crosspoint screwdrivers Diagonal blade wire cutters Pry bar Hacksaw Coping saw Steel measuring tape at least 18 Steel straightedge 48 Metal square Scribe or ice pick Center punch Punch set Chisel set Pop rivet tool Torque wrench Caulking gun Dial caliper Battery lifting strap Battery wrenches two 1 2 combination end wrenches all but one end on each wrapped with electrical tape Miscellaneous Tools Safety glasses or goggles Drop light Volt ohm meter Bench vise Drain pan C clamps Broad felt tip marker Leather gloves Yellow tire crayon Shop towels Supplies Car Assorted cable ties Anti corrosion compound such as Noalox or Cual Aid Shrink tube Spray carburetor cleaner Silicone spray Red Loctite Moly lube Caulk Heatsink grease Masking tape Duct tape Spray primer and paint Mechanic s wire Low friction synthetic transmission oil Teflon thread seal tape or paste Drywall screws Construction panel glue Blue layout fluid Now the stage is set It s time to choose the donor Page 26 The Vortex is you build from a set of plans It s built from the ground up but the design work has already been done for you Photo courtesy of Dolphin Vehicles Choosing A Chassis One does not convert a car like cl
68. cause overheating General rule of thumb do not exceed 250 amps for more than 5 minutes continuously Like any motor or engine an EV motor will self destruct if it is forced to turn faster than it was intended to turn For this reason it is important not to tow the car in gear or drive or coast faster than the top rated speed for each gear On a Rabbit with stock wheels and tires these speed worked out to be 25 mph in first gear 45 mph in second and 67 mph in third Interestingly enough these were almost identical to the original factory recommended shift points as marked on the speedometer To calculate these top speeds for each gear for your car use the following formula MPH RPM XR G XG2X 168 MPH maximum speed for the gear specified by RPM rated motor rpm at pack voltage R rolling radius of drive wheel tires in inches G i gear ratio for specific gear Gy final drive ratio 168 constant value Page 117 recommend keeping a small log book in the glovebox For example for a VW Bug using an Advanced D C 8 motor and a 96 volt system the formula for top speed for first gear would be MPH 9 000 X 12 3 8 4 375 168 MPH 60 000 2 793 21 48 If the controller becomes too hot it will reduce power and emit a high whistle Pull off the road to allow the controller to cool down and determine why it is overheating These controllers have functioned in race conditions
69. cket should go between the bolt head and the nut You can adjust the length of the torque rod by adjusting the bolt in the threaded end of it Lock it by tightening the nut against the bracket Once the motor is installed it s time to move on to batteries Page 48 EV needs a deep cycle battery Batteries amp Containment One of the biggest components in an electric car is the battery pack in many senses of the word big It is the bulkiest and heaviest component It is one of the most expensive And it is one of the most important to performance Which Kind Of Battery Designing the battery pack involves a series of decisions The first decision is which kind of battery to use If you study the literature about EV batteries you may feel overwhelmed by myriad possibilities reality though the choices are not that broad The miracle batteries that receive so much atten tion sodium sulphur lithium polymer nickel iron etc are simply not commercially available to individ uals They may be planned for production for manufac turers only or available only as laboratory test proto types or they may be nothing more than computer projec tions vaporware The same thing is true of fuel cells such as hydrogen or zinc air Therefore the first question to ask about any type of battery is Where can buy one The answer for most of the exotics will be Nowhere they aren t avail able yet The se
70. component and system ask the question What would happen if this failed Safety generally means isolation isolating the electricity to a specific path quickly isolating a failed component from the rest of the system and isolating potentially dangerous components from the passengers Availability Build cars today with parts that are reliably available today Not yesterday s out of produc tion leftovers and not tomorrow s pre production test samples Affordability There are some wonderful technol ogies that are in production and readily available and have been proven to offer impressive performance However if they cost five times the value of the rest of the car what s the point The final result of following these principles will be an electric car that is practical and pleasant to drive for the average person in normal daily use Now let s figure out how an electric car might fit into your life Page 6 EV is mission intensive car It should not be expected to be all things to all people Facts About Electric Vehicles The workings of an electric vehicle EV are very simple Electricity moves from the power source which is probably a wall socket through a charger and into the battery pack When the ignition key is turned the main contactor closes allowing electricity to move from the batteries to the speed controller As the throttle is depressed the potbox sends a signal to the controller te
71. cond question to ask is How much will it cost Some batteries are available like nickel cad mium or silver zinc but only at costs equaling or exceeding the entire rest of your conversion expenses If you are planning to build a dedicated race car bat teries with a high price or limited lifespan may be worth it for superior performance on the track but they don t make sense for a daily driver Unless you have special contacts or a lot of money the answers to these first two questions will probably narrow the field to conventional lead acid batteries Performance Characteristics The third and most complicated question to ask is Are the performance characteristics of the battery well matched to the needs of an EV This question has sev eral different aspects The shape number and spacing of plates composition and thickness of lead paste and the ratio of electrolyte to paste are all critical items that vary depending on the intended use of the battery For example the normal battery used in a gas car is a starting battery It is intended to supply high cur rent for a very short time just long enough to start the engine It is discharged by a small percentage then immediately recharged by the alternator It is never intended to be deeply discharged and especially not repeatedly As many of us have found out a starting battery that is run dead too often perhaps by leaving the lights on accidentally will soon refuse
72. croswitch is open as it should be turn off the ignition and Page 106 check for continuity between the first and third small terminals of the potbox If there is continu ity replace the micros witch With the ignition on actuate the potbox lever by hand Now you should hear a click from the main contactor and the reading on the voltmeter should go to full pack voltage If this doesn t happen do the fol lowing checks Check for 12 volts between the main contactor negative terminal bottom small terminal opposite diode and the auxiliary battery positive terminal If you don t have 12 volts here check the ground to the mounting screw of the potbox relay Check for 12 volts between the leftmost termi nal on the potbox microswitch and any chassis ground If you don t have 12 volts here check the wiring loom installation between the ignition key and the potbox and check the charger interlock wiring If both of those readings are correct but the main contactor still won t close actuate the potbox lever arm and check for 12 volts from the rightmost potbox microswitch terminal If you don t get 12 volts replace the microswitch If all the previous measurements are correct but the main contactor still won t close check for voltage between the main contactor positive terminal top small terminal opposite diode and the chassis ground with the potbox lever arm actuated If the meter reads 12 volts replace the main contactor If
73. cruise You may want to stop every few laps and feel the motor controller and battery terminals for temperature just to familiarize yourself with their normal patterns You will notice as your pack voltage falls off your amp draw will increase Unlike a gas car which runs at full performance until it runs out of gas and stops dead an EV will gradually lose power over a span of several miles as it draws to the bottom of its charge Eventually it can keep crawling along at a walking pace for a surprising distance This can be handy if you have to limp home but not something you want to do as a matter of course Crawling along at less than 5 mph is Page 113 There is breaking in period for three things the batteries the motor and the driver not recommended especially uphill as high amp draws at low speeds can damage the controller You will have to choose a point that you consider out of juice a point on the state of charge or volt meter at which the car is too underpowered for you to feel comfortable in traffic Once you know what that feels like and looks like on your gauges on a safe street close to home with no traffic you will feel more confident in traffic and away from home Test the car s limits In the course of these practice drives you will discover another way in which an out of fuel EV differs from gas EV has a built in emergency reserve tank In fact it has several Wh
74. ctivities This will entail a certain amount of regular exercise as you push the donor car in and out Set aside an area to store the internal combustion components until the conversion is done Don t dispose of anything except possibly the engine itself There is a wealth of brackets and raw materials in that pile that can be re used in the conversion and save you hours of fabrication It s helpful if you also have a single staging area where you can lay out all the conversion parts you will be using You will be handling these parts many times during the design phase before they are actually installed You will also need a work area sufficient for fabri cating pieces as large as battery boxes Time The amount of time you spend on the conversion will depend on the completeness of the kit you use On the low end a completely pre fabricated bolt in kit can be installed by an experienced mechanic in as little as 32 hours For the average automotive hobbyist this might stretch to four weekends For a kit in which you are responsible for component layout and design and fabrication of battery racks boxes and miscellaneous component mounts you should plan on at least 200 hours Most of that time will be spent on design of the overall layout and specific mounts Components The following is a typical list of components for a conversion Trying to cut corners by eliminating any of these is not recommended as it will compromise perform
75. d straps bolted into place For batteries not enclosed in boxes it is necessary to have an angle stock frame that encloses their tops and is bolted down A simple strap across the top without an enclosing box will not be adequate to keep batteries in place against the sharp lateral force of a collision Of course the holddowns must be placed so they cannot accidentally short across two terminals The following are NOT suitable holddowns plexiglass nylon straps or belts plastic shipping straps and ready bolt As a minimum racks must be painted to prevent rust and corrosion You can do this with spray paint but the best option if you can afford it is powder paint This paint is applied as an electrically charged spray powder to an oppositely charged part The powder will actually flow around corners to coat evenly and fill small spaces It is then baked to a tough ceramic like finish which is both non conductive and corrosion resistant A nice added touch is a thin sheet of plastic on the bottom of the rack if there is no box covered by a layer of Battery Mat This is a felt like material impregnated with acid neutralizers Placing it under your batteries will help protect the rack from accumu lated battery acid mist If your rack is not powder painted this material will also provide some electrical insulation between the batteries and the rack Battery Boxes Batteries should be enclosed in boxes whenever pos sible It is absol
76. d of junking the car to recycle the whole vehicle into an EV What about wasted energy The energy used to manufacture that new car would be enough to power the average person s gas car for almost two years They could use it to drive even longer in an EV Although utility plants are not very efficient they are much more efficient than gas engines If you start with the mining of raw materials and calculate through the processes of refining and transporting gas vs generating and trans mitting electricity all the way to the wheels on the road the EV is half again as efficient as the gas car Only 11 of the energy in the crude oil in the ground makes it to the wheels of the gas car By comparison 17 of the energy in the raw materials oil coal or whatever makes it to the wheels of the EV Noise Noise is also a kind of pollution EVs are virtually silent While older controllers had a high pitched whine the newer ones do not The only sounds are the click of the main contactor the faint singing of the motor and the sound of the wind and pavement going past Night amp Foul Weather Driving Modern EVs are fully capable of night and rainy weather driving without an appreciable loss of range Snowy slippery roads that reduce traction will also reduce range Cold weather will reduce performance as well In cold climates it is recommended to insulate the battery boxes and possibly heat them during charging much as gas cars use
77. ders 9 11 testing 113 typical EV 8 9 52 125 Regenerative braking 11 Registration 119 Relay charger interlock 18 91 95 97 high load 91 93 keyswitch 92 92 potbox 68 93 Ride height 33 33 109 RPM efficiency 39 G E motors 39 over rev motor damage 115 117 Shift points 31 117 118 Shunt illus 74 mounting 66 74 75 76 purpose 75 wiring 93 101 Solar panels 9 10 10 Soldering 88 89 Speed typical EV 8 52 125 related to voltage 11 51 115 Suspension 109 109 110 114 Tax incentives 23 119 Test points 103 Throttle linkage disassembly 34 Time charging 11 78 conversion 12 20 saved 12 Tires inflation 112 118 123 types 111 112 Tools anti rotation strap 43 43 battery carrier 16 16 battery wrenches 17 17 103 conversion 25 26 crimping 88 88 97 98 98 flywheel lock 44 hydrometer 123 124 safety tips 15 16 voltmeter 105 106 Torque adaptor installation 42 amps 51 116 automatic transmissions 31 G E motors 39 motors 39 115 118 rod 46 48 47 rom 116 Transmission automatic 31 donor car 30 31 measuring position 34 34 45 removal 36 Voltsrabbit battery diagrams 55 body cover 30 circuit breaker 75 contactor controller con nection 99 front battery pack 52 front battery rack 58 gauges 75 94 potbox 68 68 rear battery box 61 62 rear battery rack 53 Vortex 27 Weight distribution 34 52 53 Weight cont d donor car 28 29 Wheel motors 31 32 Wiring Ande
78. e 73 motor overheating 117 regeneration 11 Honda 31 39 101 Hybrids 9 Inverters 79 Isolation 18 37 76 77 89 Insurance 119 Jackrabbit 28 Kit cars as donors 28 cover 28 range 52 speed 8 52 Magic number 35 35 42 42 Main contactor Albright 69 69 diode 69 69 magnetic blow out 69 mounting 66 69 placement 69 104 safety disconnect 18 69 test point 103 106 wiring 54 58 92 93 99 Motor AC 39 Advanced D C 38 39 47 64 Baldor 38 belly shielding 47 breaking in 114 brush replacement 12 45 brushless 39 China 38 compound 39 G E 39 47 64 horsepower 8 mated to transmission 45 mounting 45 47 46 overheating 94 115 117 over rev damage 115 117 permanent magnet 39 Prestotite 39 47 64 reverse direction 31 39 101 secured to bench 42 series DC 38 39 shunt 39 water hazards 47 wiring 99 101 Mounts general 80 Paint battery boxes 60 battery racks 59 chassis 53 electrical grounds 89 mounts 45 powder paint 12 23 59 Pickup truck as donor 29 29 battery placement 53 cargo space 8 number of batteries 11 52 Pollution EVs vs gas cars 12 14 groundwater 13 hybrids 9 landfill 13 14 manufacturing 14 utilities 13 Porsche 914 8 Potbox definition 67 high pedal lockout 68 118 microswitch 18 68 91 92 93 mounting 67 68 68 relay 68 93 return spring 68 68 wiring 91 PVC hose 84 84 85 87 Rabbit as donor 29 high load relay 93 shift points 117 see Voltsrabbit Range exten
79. e cost of the kit varies inversely with the amount of time and effort needed to install it The low end kit will require 200 hours or more of your time most of it design time The high end pre fabbed kit will require no design fabrica tion or welding and can be installed in less than 40 hours if you re moderately handy with tools Operating Costs Fuel electricity costs vary in each locale but generally work out to about 2 5 lt 5 per mile This is about the same as fuel costs for a fuel efficient gas car Typical conversions use about 4 kwh mile so you can multiply that by your local rate Some utilities offer special low rates for night time off peak charging of electric cars The real savings in an electric car comes from maintenance There is a very long list of parts and services that electric cars don t need and a very short list of parts and services they do need Over the lifespan of the car even after factoring in periodic battery pack replacement the operating costs for an EV are only about 1 3 of those for a gas car For example on the newer cars the 30 000 mile services alone cost 300 500 This service comes up every 2 3 years and is required to maintain the warranty It is harder to express the other area of savings in dollars This is the time you save not stopping at the gas station not getting the oil changed not getting a tune up not arranging for a friend to help you drop off and pick up your car at
80. e meter or voltmeter will drop while you draw down the voltage in the pack For an accurate state of charge reading check the gauge when you are completely off the throttle either coasting or ata stop A battery that is 20 discharged is considered empty The state of charge meter is calibrated to read 0 at that empty voltage which is approximately 83 volts on a 96 volt system This can be a little confusing A 6 volt battery when fully charged is actually at about 6 5 volts That means that a fully charged 96 volt pack is actually at about 104 volts If you are using a voltmeter the scale should extend about 10 higher than the nominal voltage of your pack Eighty percent of the actual fully charged voltage is your official empty point If this sounds complicated that s why most people prefer a simple state of charge gauge In the wiring section we talked about wiring one of the original dash warning lights such as the alternator light to be a key on indicator This will come on time the key is turned on and does not indicate any problem The other rewired original dash indicator possibly an oil pressure light is now a motor temperature light If that comes on STOP IMMEDIATELY and allow the motor to cool while determining the cause of the overheating A motor can overheat from driving too slow in a high gear or pulling a grade for an extended time Amps equal heat High amperage for too long will
81. e of our customers installed his controller on standoffs on the firewall behind the driver s seat The bottom inch of the plate extended under the car into the airstream In motion this caught the air and funnelled it up between the plate and the firewall providing very effective cooling Temperature control is the most critical factor in controller performance If the controller position does not achieve good airflow duct air to the back of the plate from elsewhere For high performance race or a car with a rigorous duty cycle including long steep hills use a finned heatsink plate All of these controllers are for DC motor systems The AC motor needs an entirely different controller An AC controller needs to be in effect three DC control lers synchronized together For this reason it is also very expensive and bulky and not generally used by hobbyists The other part of the speed control system is the potbox or potentiometer This device is connected to the throttle pedal It is typically a 0 5 kohm unit much like a dimmer knob on a light switch Depending on how much the throttle is depressed it sends a resistance signal ranging from 0 5 kohm to the controller The controller interprets this signal and varies the duration of the energy pulses proportionately The following remarks relate specifically to the Curtis PMC potbox since it is the most widely used The potbox must be mounted rigidly to be effective Adjust
82. e tap method described earlier The second relay call the potbox relay Its purpose is to close the main contactor allowing battery pack voltage into the controller and to turn on the controller allowing voltage out to the motor If the contactor were to fail in a full position this re lay would make it possible to turn off the controller Connect a wire to the rightmost terminal of the microswitch This wire will go to the small positive main contactor terminal and to the pull down coil of the potbox relay This can be done with a tap or by using the same tap technique to create a Y of wire if these two destinations are too far apart Finally connect both the small negative terminal of the main contactor and the other side of the potbox relay pull down coil to chassis grounds The movable arm of the potbox relay is already con nected to the main contactor by the same wire we used for the keyswitch relay Connect the stationary side of the relay to the keyswitch input terminal of the controller In some cars like the early diesel VW Rabbits an extra relay is needed because the wire from the ignition switch is too small to carry the necessary loads In this case the fuse block will receive its 12 volt input directly from the battery instead of from the ignition switch The ignition switch will operate a high load re lay to turn the power to the fuse block on and off If this is true for your car install a third rela
83. e will go to chassis ground and the other to a source of 12 volts from the light switch If possible the 12 volts should come from a tap into the car s origi nal lighting system so that the gauge lights can be operated by the same dimmer switch as the rest of the Page 93 electric car when standing still is perfectly silent I like to have some visible feedback that the ignition is dash lights On our Voltsrabbit tapped into a light for the cigarette lighter You may be able to tap into the dash light wiring However on newer cars the dash itself is a circuit board for the gauges In that case you may have to go back to the light switch to pick up your dash light wiring Consult the wiring diagram in your factory manual In addition to the other low current wiring there are two dash indicators like to use The first is a key on indicator Since an electric car when standing still is perfectly silent like to have some visible feedback that the ignition is on use one of the original dash indicator lights that is no longer relevant like to use the alternator light because is shows a battery or some other electri cal icon that is appropriate However this is usually a red light which can be disconcerting If you wish to have a key on light locate the original wire from the alternator light and connect it to chassis ground In most cars the alternator light gets its po
84. eird Most of the world is put off by weird They need to know electrics can be normal too Give Information Bites Reporters are looking for brief clear quotes to use Have some of your favorites ready A single clear sentence will be quoted maybe even highlighted A lengthy discourse of run on sentences will be condensed and edited by the reporter if used at all Any time the reporter edits you your statements get farther from what you intended to say Practice a few snappy quotes Have Printed Handouts Send them away with something in writing they can refer to later Always keep literature in your car for surprise interviews in parking lots You can get bro chures from the Electric Auto Association or EV Fact Sheets from Electro Automotive or you can type up and copy a page of info about your own car When talking to the public or press try to get inside the head of your audience Try to dissolve their fears and surprise them with positive facts that will get them excited Listen to what you re saying from their perspective and see if it sounds positive or negative Don t dwell on ideas of limits or handicaps or anything that implies that people will have to make major sacri fices in their lives to own an electric We are all missionaries for electrics in a world of petroleum pagans A sermon of joy is going to make more converts than one of chastity poverty and obedience So go forth and preach the gospel Page 126
85. electrolyte You must pick up just enough to let the gauge inside float free not resting on the bottom or bumping the top To read the hydrometer hold it so that the fluid is at your eye level and read the number on the scale at that point disregarding how the fluid curves up against the glass The temperature of the electrolyte will also affect its specific gravity Batteries generate heat during charging and hold that heat for a long time afterward If you want to be really precise you can use a thermome ter to measure the temperature of the electrolyte then adjust your specific gravity reading according to a temperature correction chart An even easier method is to use a hydrometer with a built in thermometer If you do replace a single battery there is a technique for equalizing it to the rest of the pack Put the new battery into its place in the pack but wire around it leaving it out of the circuit Test the specific gravity of the electrolyte on the new battery with a hydrometer Charge the rest of the pack until the specific gravity of the other batteries matches the new one Then connect the new battery into the circuit and turn on the charger for the final equalizing finish charge Maintenance Check tire pressure weekly and adjust as needed This is one of the most important maintenance items for good performance Check battery terminals for corrosion or loose connections once a month Keep them clean and tight Kee
86. ely Third there are sometimes tax incentives attached to kits that are not available for separate components It may be possible to get a good deal on used parts through an electric car club However the buyer must use extreme caution to be sure the parts will provide satisfactory performance are compatible with each other and represent a real cash savings after all the other necessary parts have been collected do not recommend used parts for a beginning electric vehicle enthusiast Suppliers The electric vehicle industry is experiencing another surge of interest This means many people who have little background in EVs are suddenly buying cars and components and many other people with equally little background are suddenly selling them have a unique perspective on the EV industry since have been in it since 1979 watched the spurt of interest rise and fall with the last gas crisis stayed in the business through the slow years of cheap gas when everyone else folded their tents and moved on believed the time for EVs would come again and stay Now am watching many of the same mistakes being made again that were made last time Those of us in the industry have a duty to educate the buying public about possible pitfalls Whenever someone has a bad experience with an EV or an EV busi ness it tarnishes us all Whether you buy your compo nents from me at Electro Automotive or elsewhere there are certain princip
87. en the car is out of juice you can pull over to the shoulder and rest it for ten minutes or so and watch the voltmeter climb as the batteries grow charge Simply resting will allow the batteries to naturally recover a certain amount of their charge which is enough to allow you to drive a few more miles This resting recharge can be done several times if necessary although it is not recommended as a regular procedure There is always a certain smug satisfaction in driving to the grocery store arriving with 90 of charge remaining doing the shopping and returning to a car that says it has 100 of charge Try that with a gas car Now you will feel ready to fly a little farther from the nest On a Sunday drive your usual route to work and learn how the car feels on those streets without the stress of needing to punch in at a certain time Now you re ready to put the car into real daily service There are a few things you need to know to understand what your car is doing and get the best per formance from it Breaking In As mentioned earlier there is a breaking in period This applies to three things the batteries the motor and the driver Performance will gradually increase until all three are fully broken in New batteries green will achieve only 90 95 of full capacity until they have been through 20 50 charge discharge cycles These may be partial or full discharges Motor brushes require abou
88. en years On independent research however you will find that no one in the industry heard of him before last year He s been business for ten years installing car radios and he s had an EV or two that he bought used and tinkered with from time to time This person knows just enough to cause serious problems Rip Van Winkle He really has been in the EV industry since ten years ago In fact he s still in the EV industry of ten years ago His components are three generations behind the times and will not give satisfac tory performance Surprisingly cheap prices are often a warning sign of this situation The Hobbyist Some hobbyists are brilliant and should be declared national treasures others should be declared national disasters Be sure to find out from outside references which kind you are dealing with Also be aware that you may end up with a one of a kind vehicle that is only fully understood by its creator and is a mystery to everyone else Such an orphan can be a prob lem if you ever need to make changes or troubleshoot a malfunction Magical New Components Someone has always just come out with a Magic Motor a Better Battery or some other Holy Grail that will give amazing range and power weighs almost nothing produces more power than it uses and cures cancer On closer inspection you will find that these fantasy components are hand built laboratory prototypes They also have a few little drawbacks like eno
89. ense and one more level of complexity The moral of the story is use an onboard charger If your charger has a 12 volt output for the auxil iary battery this will have to be wired in also Wire this output to the positive terminal of the auxiliary battery and ground it to the chassis according to the specific instructions of the charger manufacturer High Current Wiring As with low current wiring solid connections are essential Cable is generally connected to components by means of lugs the ends of the cable It is critical that these lugs are firmly secured to the cable and protected from corrosion do not recommend soldering lugs to cables This can be done effectively in manufacturing situations using special equipment to insure a good uniform solder joint However the chances for success decrease when using home shop equipment If the temperature is uneven across the area of the solder you ll get a cold joint which is not a good electrical connection It will create resistance inefficiency and heat Even if you get a good joint there is the possibi lity of solder wicking up along the copper strands mak ing the strands rigid and brittle In manipulating the cable some of the strands may break and weaken the in ternal electrical connection Finally soldering something as big as 2 0 cable is an invitation to third degree burns It is easy to get a good crimp with a proper crimping tool One type looks li
90. enter of the post It is connected by placing a lug on the end of the cable and fitting the lug over the steel stud and hold ing it in place with a nut This is the worst possible style Its failings are not as critical on a low voltage golf car but can be disastrous in a full passenger car First the top of the post offers a small contact surface area Second the post is subject to cold creep This is the process by which lead will flow at room temperature while under pressure The pressure of the nut will cause the steel stud to loosen and creep upward inside the lead post the loose connection is not found it will cause resis tance Resistance generates heat which can melt the lead post and start a fire If you are careful to tighten the connection often then the steel stud will simply work its way up until it comes all the way out of the post The preferred style is the L terminal This is an L shaped post with a flat vertical tang which has a hole in it It provides good contact surface area for lugs When we get to the wiring section we ll discuss tech niques for making snug connections that won t loosen under cold creep How Many Once you know what kind of battery to use the next decision is how many In simple terms amps equal torque and volts equal speed However you can t simply add as many batteries as you want Each one is the size of a toaster and weighs close to 70 pounds Early EVs often ran 48 volt
91. erminals and connec tions and check the water levels For this reason you don t want to stack batteries on top of each other Current Path Layout Once you have a general idea of how you would like to place the batteries you need to lay out the circuit path and get the positive and negative terminals oriented correctly On the next page is a sample battery layout diagram from the Voltsrabbit Following that are two pages of tools for you to use These are scale drawings of the U S Battery model 2300 6 volt and model 1450 12 volt batteries Photocopy the page that matches the batteries you are using and cut them out Coat the back of each battery with Dennison Tack Note adhesive This will allow you to stick them into a battery box drawn on a piece of paper according to the layout you have planned Then you can take them off rotate them and stick them back on until you get the right orientation The most positive cable out of the pack will con nect the main contactor to the positive terminal of the battery you declare to be first in the string The bat teries are then connected in series positive to nega tive like a daisy chain If the pack is split in two or more locations the last negative terminal of one loca tion will be connected by cable to the first positive terminal of the next location Finally the most nega tive cable will come from the last negative terminal in the entire series and go to the speed co
92. es such as hood reinforcements If so it s better to find out now and make the necessary adjustments Temporary Installation Once your battery racks and boxes are designed and built install them loosely but don t install the bat teries yet The racks and boxes will be useful for placing other components and wiring but there will be times when it is easier to work on the car if they are taken out Page 63 Controllers advanced more than any other part of the electric car over the years Installing EV Components When designing your component layout start with the bulkiest components or those which require special loca tions then fit smaller and less critical components around them When possible try to take advantage of original factory mounting holes and hardware If you must drill a hole be careful of what you are drilling into and what is behind it Use bolts and nylock nuts instead of sheet metal screws to prevent vibration loosening If you cannot drill a through hole for a nut and bolt you can use rivnuts or pop rivets A rivnut is a small metal tube that is installed in a hole like a pop rivet It is threaded inside and once installed can be used like a captive nut to receive a bolt As always will concentrate on the components that are most commonly used in conversions today If you have bought an older EV or are using less common components some of the finer details given here may not ap
93. ethod is to find a deserted piece of road with a gentle hill Allow the car to roll down the hill propelled entirely by gravity and see where it finally stops Next alter the tire pres sure and try it again Another method is to drive a specific stretch of road at a constant speed in a specif ic gear and check your amp draw Then change the tire pressure and do it again The results are very clear Alignment After the suspension and tires are set up the way they will stay take the car to a good alignment shop and get both ends aligned Poor alignment will wear your tires prematurely and seriously compromise the car s performance NOW you re ready for the real road test Page 112 some ways an EV is like a pet Road Test Driving amp Paperwork Road Test Don t plan to road test the conversion by driving it to work Monday morning For the first drive around the block is plenty Don t drive in heavy traffic and don t drive further than you would be willing to walk home Be sure you have your safety kit with you The car will feel a little strange to you You may be surprised how much you used auditory cues in a gas car without being aware of it Pay attention to the feel of the throttle clutch and brakes and if they feel differ ent play with them a little until you start to feel comfortable with them Notice how the car feels in corners or on hills After you ve driven around the block a few times sto
94. expanded scale voltmeter labelled in percentages from 0 to 100 The batteries are considered drained at 80 of full charge so only the top 20 of charge is actually usable This kind of gauge measures only that usable portion find it very accurate and easy to use There are other fuel gauges that do the same thing with a segmented LED bar Although some people prefer them do not They tend to be more expensive and less precise since the bar only has about eight segments to light up rather than a continuous needle sweep These LED bar gauges are sampling voltmeters Since voltage varies constantly with acceleration these gauges sample the voltage over a period of seconds and display an average Some of them have a peculiarity they can be fooled into reading too low If you are drawing down the voltage for an extended time as when climbing a long hill the gauge will show an artificially low voltage When you reach flat ground again you are not drawing as hard on the batteries and the voltage comes back up However some gauges will not reset upward They move down only one notch at a time and reset full only when the car is plugged in and fully recharged Another type of fuel gauge is a watt hour meter This gauge ignores the amount of electricity in the batteries It only measures flow what goes in and what comes out It is necessary to calibrate the watt hour meter for a specific battery pack and vehicle
95. for the location of facto ry grounds and use them if possible On the newer cars the paint system is such that you cannot get a good ground simply by poking a hole in the sheet metal If you do need to create a ground sand the area around the hole down to bare shiny metal Most of the car s original wiring will stay intact for things like headlights wipers and horns Other original wires no longer needed will be put to new uses Still other wires will be completely new added to the car specifically for the conversion The first wire you need to locate is the original hot lead from the battery to the fuse block and ignition switch Be sure that this path was not interrupted by removing the IC components If it was restore it Also confirm that the battery ground to the chassis is still intact The original wiring used a heavy 4 wire from the battery positive terminal solely for the high amperage draw of the starter The converted EV won t need that heavy wire If the positive battery wire has a lighter weight wire such as a 10 gauge or a series of fusible links pigtailed to it you can cut the 4 wire at the terminal end and tape it off out of the way The lighter pigtail will serve your needs If the original small gauge wire for the accessories came from the positive terminal of the starter you wil need to extend that wire to reach the battery replacing the heavy positive battery wire To connect it to the battery install a un
96. fting gears shift quickly while holding the throttle half open The momentary rev between gears will help keep motor rpm high for best power and efficiency Operating the motor in neutral other than briefly between gears is not recommended and could damage the motor At this time there are no commercially available regenerative braking systems for the home mechanic to install For that reason the majority of EVs for some time to come will probably not have regenerative braking Without engine braking the car will not slow down for quite a while when you remove your foot from the throttle on flat road You will discover there are many times when little or no throttle is needed to maintain speed On hills expect to shift down sooner than necessary gas car With practice the feel of the car and the ammeter will teach you when to be in third second or even first gear Climbing hills in too high a gear can damage your motor or controller When in doubt shift down If you are climbing a hill and increased throttle does not increase your speed back off the throttle until you reach the point where the car responds to it again That is the best performance you will get in that gear and any additional throttle will only waste amps and heat up the motor and controller The motor has sufficient torque to pull hills comfortably at low speeds If the car feels like it s losing power shift down and find the optimum throttle position fo
97. fusible link wired into the circuit between two of the batteries in the pack If your battery pack is split between the front and rear of the car as most are recommend a fusible link in each section This is an automatic shut off that will function in the event of a short circuit in the pack which can be caused by a tool or piece of sheet metal making contact across the terminals There are actually two other emergency disconnects One is a deadman microswitch on the potbox which opens the main contactor whenever the throttle is completely released The other is a good pair of cable shears If all else fails cut a cable Page 18 Every step of the design of the conversion and every technique used in building it is integral to safety Design amp Technique The subject of safety ranges from details like preventing the failure of a connection to broad scope issues like handling performance and crashworthiness Every step of the design of the conversion and every technique used in building it is integral to safety We will be talking about safety related design and technique issues throughout this book Safety Equipment In any kind of vehicle a safety kit is a good idea even though you will probably never need to use it In an EV this should include 1 A fire extinguisher Be sure it is rated for electrical fires extinguishers leave no mess but are bulkier and more expensive than dry chemical extingui
98. garage The bulk and weight were due to the transformers used inside the chargers Now we have chargers the size of a toaster that Page 77 weigh 10 pounds They have achieved this weight loss by eliminating the large transformers In doing this they also sacrificed the safety feature of isolating the cur rent internally To compensate they have incorporated a ground fault interrupter This will trip instantly much like a circuit breaker if it detects an improperly grounded circuit that could pose a safety hazard The smaller chargers are quickly taking over the market much as PWM controllers took over from SCRs They are compact enough to mount on the car opening up opportunities for charging at destinations rather than just at home base A major consideration when choosing a charger is the input voltage There are trade offs between 110 volts and 220 volts The 110 volt option is very popular because it is so readily available for opportunity charg ing away from home The disadvantage is a long charge time 10 12 hours for a completely depleted pack This is no problem overnight at home but it does mean that two hours of charging at a friend s house won t bring the pack up a lot A 220 volt system can charge a depleted pack in 6 8 hours However 220 volt outlets are not as readily available A 110 volt input charger bottom left a booster unit top left for charging a pack of 114 volts or more with the 110
99. han internal combustion cars even including periodic battery pack replacements e Why they are perfectly practical for the driving most Americans do today even using plain old DC motors and lead acid batteries Why they won t create a need for new power plant construction even if there are millions of them on the road e Why they are the cars of the future AND the cars of today Then CONVERT IT takes you by the hand through the entire process of converting an internal combustion car to electricity from choosing a donor car through removing the internal combustion system installing the electric system and all the way to driving charging maintenance and talking with reporters Author Michael Brown gives you the benefit of his experience 28 years as a professional auto mechanic and 14 years in the electric vehicle conversion business This expertise is delivered as if Mike were chatting with you in his garage You don t need to be an engineer or even a professional mechanic to understand the information and build a conversion that will serve you well This is a very readable and practical manual for the do it yourselfer heartily recommend this book for anyone who has ever contemplated such a project Dr W Robert Kincheloe Stanford University Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering Ifa blooklet similar to yours had been around when my first gasoline car was converted to electric propulsion the car would have been both eas
100. he two layer Page 61 Rear Voltsrabbit battery box with ventilating fan at lower right and exhaust duct at left Note holddown blocks welded to inside of lid version it will be necessary to have supporting strips of plastic or wood secured to the box bottom around the edges and at intervals across the middle These strips will support the actual weight of the batteries and the insulation will fit in the spaces between strips The three layer sandwich will only be possible in larger conversions where there is plenty of room This will require a plywood bottom layer an insulating layer with supports as described above and a plywood top layer Batteries enclosed in boxes need to be ventilated especially in the passenger compartment There is a slight danger of explosion from collected hydrogen although this is very unlikely More importantly we want to remove gasses that encourage corrosion and are unpleasant to passengers During driving this can be a passive ventilation system since little gas is produced Openings placed to catch the normal airflow can flush out most gases Since hydrogen is lighter than air and rises ventilation holes need to be along the top edges of the box During charg ing however active ventilation is required Use a non arcing fan such as one that is approved for marine bilge use The most convenient and safest arrangement is to wire the fan so that it comes on automatically whenever the ch
101. hicles Have them verify that it is a pure electric car and enter electric as the fuel type on the title on the state computer Then you will be exempted from smog tests Before buying your donor car check your state s rules Reviving a car that has been scrapped official ly or is not driveable can involve extra hassle to get a Clear title A car with a lapsed registration may have hefty penalties attached to it Insurance The insurance companies are still developing their policies and procedures for electric conversions Full coverage will be harder to get than liability Work with an agent you already have a good relation ship with if possible Otherwise try to find an agent who has already insured conversions This is one place where the sedate image of the electric may pay off Emphasize that this is a local use car You may actually get a lower rate Incentives There are numerous incentives spring ing up for electric cars at levels from city to federal You may be able to campaign for more incentives in your area Some of these incentives include sales tax exemp tions and income tax credits The local utility may offer cash incentives or a special meter for overnight charging at a lower rate You may acquire smog credits that you can sell Employers who are under pressure to clean up the employee fleet may be happy to install a charging station for you There may be preferential parking areas or exemptions fo
102. ical noise that could interfere with some of the components Battery Racks Once you have juggled all these factors into a satisfactory layout you are ready to start designing the racks and boxes to secure these batteries in place All batteries should be secured adequately to stay in place even during a collision or rollover Don t be fooled into thinking their weight alone will hold them in place Department of Transportation crash test tapes of early electric cars show poorly secured batteries sailing into the air in 30 mph barrier tests Watching batteries fly forward in slow motion to crush the crash test dummy against the steering wheel is a sobering experience Other cars with better placement and containment suffered little battery movement Voltsrabbit front battery Battery racks should be made of welded steel angle rack and holddown frames The stock and straps with minimum dimensions of 3 16 thick frames are held in place with and 1 1 2 wide or a material of equivalent strength long stainless steel bolts If the rack is large use reinforcing straps across the bottom If you are not trained as a welder hire someone else to do the work Your battery racks are not the place for on the job training Page 58 This plywood box design has a multi layer bottom with a notch along the edges for the side boards Additionally the batteries or boxes need holddowns across the tops For boxes these can be bars or rigi
103. ier to convert and more reliable Yournotes should be required reading for all members before starting construction John B Newell Electric Auto Association We built Mr Brown s car and we won Bruce Burk St Johns bury Academy Winner 1991 American Tourde Sol Open Class PUBLISHED BY FUTURE BOOKS 1879857944 ISBN 1 879857 94 4 Convert a 24 95 DC CONVERSION KITS FROM ELECTRO AUTOMOTIVE Most of these components are also available separately However it is more economical to buy them in the kit package BASIC UNIVERSAL 4 390 00 This is a universal kit for converting small manual transmission gas or diesel vehicles to electricity The adaptor is custom machined to suit the transmission All other model specific parts motor mounts brackets battery racks etc must be designed and fabricated by the builder The included manual gives guidelines for these items The kit also includes 4 hours of design time from Electro Automotive INCLUDES Medium Advanced D C Motor PB 6 Potbox Adaptor Heinemann Circuit Breaker Albright Main Contactor 2 Buss Fusible Links PMC 1221 Controller Westach Gauge 0400 Amps DELUXE UNIVERSAL KIT 4 825 00 Westach Gauge 6 16 Volts Westach Gauge Choice Of 0 150 Volts Or 96 Volt State Of Charge Empro Shunt 110 Volt Russco Charger Convert It Manual This kit is identical to the Basic Kit listed above with special battery and wiring to
104. il rature Factor oF KO 160 71 1 032 155 68 3 030 150 65 6 028 145 62 8 026 140 60 0 024 135 57 2 022 130 54 4 020 125 51 7 018 120 48 9 016 115 46 1 014 110 43 3 012 105 40 6 010 100 37 8 008 95 35 0 006 90 32 2 004 85 29 5 002 80 26 7 0 000 75 23 9 002 70 214 004 65 18 4 006 60 15 6 008 55 12 8 010 50 10 0 012 45 7 2 014 40 4 4 016 35 1 7 018 30 1 1 020 25 3 9 022 20 6 7 024 15 9 5 026 10 12 2 028 You be able to spot a weak battery by its low voltage but maybe not Sometimes a battery will look fully charged at rest but quickly lose its charge under load A specific gravity test will reveal that problem Check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each cell of each battery This is a measurement of how concentrated the acid is in the battery which also tells how fully charged it is For both 6 volt and 12 volt batteries the fully charged specific gravity should be about 1 265 per cell The instrument for checking specific gravity is a hydrometer This is a large glass syringe with a cali brated glass float in it and a rubber squeeze bulb at one end It operates on the principle that the more concentrated the acid is the higher the specific gravi ty the higher the float will ride in it To use the hydrometer insert the tip into the battery and squeeze the bulb to suck up
105. ilated with fans during charging In this situation use a small terminal block for the charging AC input The AC power comes into the car and goes to the terminal block then branches to the charger inter lock relay any ventilating fans and the charger itself With this arrangement the fans come on immediately when the AC is plugged in and stay on until it is unplugged preventing any potentially dangerous build up of hydrogen inside the boxes The Voltsrabbit rear pas To wire the AC input into the charger follow the senger corner showing battery charger manufacturer s instructions These will vary box vent fan charger interlock from unit to unit relay and terminal block Also follow the manufacturer s instructions in wiring the DC output from the charger into the second half of the Anderson connector that will send the charge to the battery pack If you have an onboard 220 volt input charger it will be wired almost the same Of course you will use wire and extension cord suitable for 220 volts as speci fied by the charger manufacturer The other difference will occur at the terminal block While the full 220 volt input goes to the charg er you can split off 110 volts for the interlock relay and ventilating fans An offboard charger will almost certainly use 220 volts input Use an Anderson connector rather than a standard household style plug to connect the charger to the car The household plug is not intended to
106. iles Positive Ninety percent of the cars in America travel less than 25 miles a day and even the worst electrics can do that Most well made modern conversions can do two or three times that and the high performance cars can do 100 miles or more Speed Negative Electric cars aren t as fast as gas cars Positive Most well made modern conversions can reach top speeds of 50 60 mph and the high performance cars can get up to 80 90 mph Charging Negative Electric cars are inconvenient to refuel because you can t just pull up to a corner gas station Also they take a long time to charge as much as twelve hours Positive Electric cars are easy to charge Just plug into a regular 110 volt outlet Most people don t use up a full charge in a day Instead of finding a gas station waiting in line and wrestling with a smelly pump you simply plug in at home at night and the car is ready in the morning Many Meeting the Press One of the first things you will discover as an EV owner is that an electric car is an instant ticket to local fame You will find yourself stopped by strangers in parking lots speaking to the Rotary Club driving politicians in parades and invited to participate in the Concours d Elegance You will also find yourself talking to reporters One of the next things you will discover is that the story the reporter files usually isn t nearly as enthusi astic about EVs as you are In fact
107. imbing a moun tain just because it s there Some vehicles make better conversions than others Let s start talking from the broadest scope and work our way down to specifics First want to limit the discussion to passenger cars pickup trucks and light vans Large and small industrial vehicles can be converted to electrics as can ultralight racers motorcycles and bicycles However all these vehicles fall outside the range of this book and need to be addressed separately elsewhere Ground Up Design In an ideal world an electric car would be designed and built from the ground up to maximize efficiency and performance In real life however this is not a prac tical option The average person even a very talented and experienced one does not have the expertise or resources to design and build a complete vehicle A ground up design requires not only the frame and body but brakes suspension steering doors headlights and a multitude of tiny details all of which must meet certain standards to be street legal If you are an automotive or industrial design professional you may be able to do it but it will consume enormous amounts of time and money Simply converting an existing car provides plenty of opportunities for you to exercise design and fabrication skills Take advantage of the chassis and mechanical design that some manufacturer has already done and concentrate your efforts on the conversion aspects Page 27
108. in 100 F temperatures so this should not occur in normal driving except possibly on a long steep grade If the voltage to the controller drops too low it will reduce power to protect its circuits This is most likely to occur if the battery pack is very low and amp demand is high If this occurs release the throttle completely then depress it again more gently By de manding less amperage you allow more voltage to pass through The motor has excellent low speed torque and can probably climb the hill adequately at a slightly slower speed The controller includes a high pedal lockout safety feature which will not allow the car to start with the throttle depressed If the car will not start be sure the throttle pedal is fully released and the potbox lever arm is the full off position If you smell battery gasses while driving it means the batteries are discharging too hard and overheating If there is no heavy load on the car such as a steep hill you need to check for low tires dragging brakes or a failing battery Stop immediately at any smell of burning insulation and turn off both the ignition and circuit breaker Check all the high current connections visually and check for heat carefully by holding your hands near the connections Don t continue driving until you identify the source of the smell and correct it Log Book There is one more book to add to your conversion library now alog book recommend keepi
109. ing the throttle linkage is one of the trickiest and most critical operations for good performance This is the time to review your notes on the original throttle linkage and its travel distances If the potbox does not Page 67 achieve full the car will never have perform ance If it does not achieve full off position there are other problems The PMC potbox has a high pedal lockout safety feature This means that the controller will not operate if you try to start the car with a partially depressed throttle This is to protect against an abrupt and unexpected lurch when the car is turned on Therefore if the potbox cannot return to the full off position the car can t be started In the Voltsrabbit the Although the potbox has its own return spring a potbox uses the original cable second spring should be used as well to insure that the for the throttle part of the lever returns to the full off position when released original bracket for the cable The potbox lever arm has several holes spaced along and an auxiliary throttle re it for the throttle linkage to allow different travel turn spring distances If none of the existing holes works for your throttle you can build an extension for the arm and add more holes On one car built a Plymouth Arrow was able to install the potbox on the firewall directly above the throttle pedal with a piece of the original linkage fitting into one of the potbox
110. inks Empro Shunt Westach Gauge 0400 Amps 110 Volt Russco Charger Power Brake Vacuum System Grill amp Starter Blockoffs Sevcon DC DC Converter Battery Racks amp Holddowns Battery Box amp Vent Fan 2 0 Fine Strand Cable VOLTSPORSCHE CUSTOM 8 995 00 Lugs Copper Strap Battery Interconnects Belleville Precision Tension Washers Shrink Tube Anti Corrosion Compound Cable Lug Crimper Heavy Duty Springs amp Shocks Wiring Loom All Nuts Bolts amp Hardware All Mounts amp Brackets Cable Shears Battery FHler Temp Correcting Hydrometer Special Tools amp Supplies Body Graphics Convert It Manual Installation Instructions Like the Voltsrabbit this is a completely pre fabricated bolt in kit Fits all manual transmission Porsche 914s Features the same powder coated battery racks and welded polypropylene battery boxes plus a large motor and 120 volt system for 85 mph top speed and 80 100 miles range under optimum conditions The rear trunk still has usable cargo space and will accept the targa top Can be installed in as little as six days INCLUDES Large Advanced D C Motor Empro Shunt Adaptor 110 Volt Russco Charger Albright Main Contactor PMC 1221 Controller PB 6 Potbox Heinemann Circuit Breaker Buss Fusible Links Westach Gauge 0400 Amps Westach Gauge 50 150 Volts Starter Blockoff Sevcon DC DC Converter
111. is is the distance between the back of the motor and the rearmost flat surface of the flywheel Measuring the magic number This distance needs to be duplicated when installing the when installing the adaptor flywheel on the electric motor The second number is a measurement of torque The hub is attached to the flywheel using the original bolts A motor secured to the These are special hardened bolts When installing them workbench with a chain use a torque wrench and the torque numbers in the manu eyebolts and turnbuckle facturer s service manual Page 42 In order to get the leverage you will need to tighten these bolts the electric motor needs to be immobilized One way to do that is by using one or two very muscular friends A better way is to strap the motor to the workbench This can be done by installing sturdy eyebolts in the workbench on either side of the motor Then pad the top of the motor with shop towels and run a length of chain between the eyebolts and across the motor Tighten the chain with a turnbuckle until the motor doesn t move Also use a steel anti rotation strap attached to mounting holes in the commutator end of the motor An anti rotation strap in Any time you are tightening a circular pattern of stalled on a motor for bench bolts make several passes over the entire sequence and work use a criss cross pattern That is don t try to tighten one bolt all the way then the one next to it and
112. it Battery Layout Diagram MOST MOST FRONT OF CAR Page 55 6 Volt Battery Layout Dummies U S Battery Model 2300 Page 56 12 Volt Battery Layout Dummies S Battery Model 1450 F il Sal il i il Or Bold lines indicate raised areas of the plastic battery case that might interfere with interconnects Page 57 located away from the driver some kind of reliable remote method of flipping the switch is needed In our Voltsrabbit it worked out that eight bat teries fitted under the hood in a strange split level arrangement and eight fitted in a box behind the back seat The most positive cable ran from the main contac tor under the hood to the circuit breaker in the dash to the rear battery box The most negative cable from the rear box connected to a positive battery terminal in the front batteries The most negative cable of the overall pack emerged in the front near the controller When you are running cables fore and aft like this it is advisable to run both positive and negative cables side by side This will diminish electr
113. ither end is significantly heavier handling will be poor The weight should also be kept as close to the ground as possible for a stable center of gravity In the engine compartment it makes more sense to keep the batteries grouped together as much as possible in the large open center area and distribute the compo nents around the periphery than the other way around This arrangement makes it much easier to design the racks boxes and wiring It is perfectly acceptable to cut into a chassis to sink the batteries if it is done with proper care No structural members should be cut or weakened Any time you cut into sheet metal it should be primered and painted to protect it against rust The batteries should be enclosed in a sturdy welded rack This will reinforce any area where the chassis was cut Care needs to be taken to insure that the batteries do not interfere with axles suspension etc and that they do not extend downward far enough to diminish road clearance Once the batteries are installed use caulk A rear battery rack recessed or duct tape to seal openings between the rack box and into the floor behind the back chassis to restore weatherproofing and reduce road and seat wind noise Accessibility is also a consideration in battery placement You will want to be able to get to the bat Page 53 interconnects and cable runs as short as possible teries fairly easily to inspect the t
114. iversal battery cable terminal on the battery post and a ring connector on the wire Then bolt the ring connector to the universal terminal You should now have power to the original fuse block and ignition switch Check this with a voltmeter Next check the power out of the ignition switch To do this find the original wire under the hood from the ignition to the coil This wire should have been marked with a label when it was disconnected in the disassembly stage Check the voltage out of this wire with the key turned to the position but not all the way to start If it is somewhere between 0 and 12 volts there may be a resistor in this part of the system It may be clearly visible on or near the coil and easy to remove Otherwise check your shop manual Sometimes the wire itself has a built in resistor If so you will need to replace this wire All of your accessories will get their 12 volt power from this source When there are multiple components using the same power source or ground this is accom plished most neatly by connecting them all through a com mon terminal block In this case we will want to have separate fuses for each component We could do this with Page 89 KEY SWITCH RELAY POTBOX RELAY TRACTION MOTOR AUXILIARY POTBOX BATTERY CURRENT BATTERY KEY SWITCH A AN AK T jj pime l
115. ke an enormous pair of vise grips This works fine especially if you re inter ested in building up your arm muscles but it s expen sive prefer a small cradle and punch type tool This is a tool manufactured expressly for crimping lugs onto cable It needs to be used on a solid flat surface put it on top of a square of steel plate on my work bench The cradle holds the lug in place and the punch rides inside a sleeve that keeps it properly aimed Then you just pound hard on the top of the punch with a ham Page 97 mer There are calibrations on the side of the punch to tell you when you are adequately crimped for 2 0 just hit it until it won t go any farther Crimping lugs with a cradle The entire crimping sequence is as follows First and punch style tool use a box razor knife to strip 5 8 of insulation from the end of the cable Be careful not to cut the copper strands inside Next fill the lug half full with an anti corrosion compound such as Noalox or Cual Aid These compounds were developed when aluminum wiring was popular in homes to prevent corrosion where the dissimilar metals met in copper aluminum connections It works very well for our application as well Carefully slide the bare copper into the lug and wipe off any excess anti corrosion compound that oozes out Place the crimper on a hard flat stable surface Put the lug in the crimper with the flat side down and the
116. kup trucks a 120 volt system with twenty batteries is recommended Page 11 EVs Don t Need Gasoline Oil Change Tune up Spark Plugs Cap amp Rotor Valve Adjust Air Filter Oil Filter Fuel Filter Carburetor Fuel Injectors Distributor Plug Wires Fan Belt Timing Belt Water Pump Radiator Starter Alternator Hoses Fuel Pump Choke Head Gasket Valve Grind Rings Engine Overhaul Manifold Muffler Catalytic Convertor Smog Certificate Cost amp Time for Conversion Costs will vary depending on how complete and pre fabricated your kit is and how high tech you want to get At the low end an acceptable conversion can be done for about 5 500 in parts and materials This assumes that you will be designing and building your battery racks battery boxes and other mounts and brackets yourself using the least expensive materials that are strong enough for the job On the high end you can buy a completely pre fabbed bolt in kit and do your conversion for about 8 000 including such niceties as corrosion resistant non conductive powder painted battery racks and welded polypropylene battery boxes In the stratospheric range you can spend up to 50 000 in the blink of an eye on AC drive systems and exotic batteries but the end product won t be substan tially better for daily driving The above costs include batteries but not the donor car or any mechanical or aesthetic work needed Excluding exotic components th
117. l It is not necessary to use the clutch to brake to a stop If you do use the clutch leave it in or put the car in neutral for several moments after the car stops The momentum of the flywheel will keep the motor spinning for some time If you coast to a complete stop with the clutch in then release it before the motor stops spin ning the car will buck Use extra care in parking lots and around pedestri ans bicyclists and animals The car is virtually silent and may not be noticed as it approaches Performance of the car does not decrease steadily with battery pack discharge nor does it stop abruptly as it does when a gas car is out of fuel Instead performance remains fairly consistent throughout most of the car s range As the pack nears total depletion the car will grow gradually more sluggish over the last five to ten miles Gauges amp Warnings ammeter The ammeter is your efficiency gauge By varying 2 gears and throttle pressure while watching for the lowest is your current reading you can determine the most efficient 520 technique for accelerating maintaining speed or climb efficiency gauge ing a hill Since an electric car is typically used the same routes repeatedly you can develop the optimum technique for each portion of your normal drive Typical readings will be 400 amps for momentary full acceleration 100 amps cruising on flat roads 200 amps on slight grades 300 amps on
118. ld have at least one bend in them to give them some springiness when the batteries move a little under normal road jostling A completely rigid interconnect could put pressure on the battery posts and damage them A battery pack using copper Drill 5 16 holes in the strap ends and deburr them strap interconnects Note before bending the straps Also slide the shrink tube fusible link in one intercon onto the strap before bending it then shrink it into nect place afterwards You will probably have one or two interconnect shapes such as which will fit most of your connec tions Bends are usually simple 90 bends and can be done easily with a bench vise Each battery pack should have a fusible link in its circuit This is easy to install in the middle of a long straight interconnect Simply cut a section out of the middle of the interconnect and attach the two cut ends of the cable or strap to the ends of the fusible link making it a part of the interconnect like to mount the link on a plexiglass block to give it a little extra Page 102 rigidity and slide it into a clear plex tube to contain it if it should blow recommend applying some type of anti corrosion compound to the battery posts and interconnect ends before connecting them This can be Noalox or Cual Aid or a spray liquid called Corrosion Block recommend applying either type with a small brush If you are using the spray liquid spray some of it into a
119. ld never be stretched tight They should not press against any corners of the components or chassis not even gently rounded corners In time normal vibrations can cause that corner to abrade through the insulation and cause a short Page 81 WIRE GAUGE CHART Load Length Of Wire Run In Feet ees 3 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 75 100 12 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 24 18 18 18 18 18 18 1 8 18 18 18 16 16 36 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 14 14 48 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 16 12 12 60 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 16 14 12 12 72 18 18 18 18 18 18 16 16 16 14 12 10 84 18 18 18 18 18 18 16 16 14 14 10 10 96 18 18 18 18 18 16 16 16 14 12 10 10 120 18 18 18 18 16 16 16 14 12 12 12 10 132 18 18 18 18 16 16 14 14 12 12 10 8 144 18 18 18 18 16 16 14 14 12 12 10 8 180 18 18 18 18 14 14 12 12 12 10 8 8 216 18 18 16 16 14 14 12 12 10 10 8 8 240 18 18 16 16 14 1210 10 10 10 8 6 264 18 18 16 16 12 1210 10 10 8 6 6 288 18 18 16 16 12 1210 10 10 8 6 6 360 18 16 16 14 10 10 10 10 10 6 4 4 480 18 16 14 12 10 10 8 8 6 6 4 2 600 16 14 12 12 10 10 8 8 6 6 2 2 1200 12 12 10 10 6 6 4 4 4 2 1 0 1800 10 10 8 8 4 4 2 2 2 1 00 00 2400 10 8 8 6 4 4 2 2 1 0 4 0 4 0 82 Obviously it s even more important to protect wires from sharp edges that could cut them Whenever a wire mus
120. les that will help insure you get a good deal meaning quality and value for your dollar With that in mind would like to offer the follow Page 21 Some hobbyists should be declared national treasures others should be declared national disasters Be sure to find out which kind you are dealing with ing guidelines for those trying to sort through the various claims and offers of electric vehicles and compo nents Get References Never take the word of a salesperson on its own merit Check with independent knowledgeable sources in the industry such as electric vehicle enthusiasts clubs or alternative energy publica tions 15 this person or business well known and established within the industry How long have they been involved with EVs Are they reliable ethical and competent Any industry in a boom phase will attract a swarm of new businesses Some will be outright frauds though they may be extremely smooth and convinvcing Others are honest and sincere people who simply don t have the technical or business background to deliver on their promises Dealing with an established reputable busi ness will insure technical support for the components you buy These are some phenomena that should be approached with caution The Instant Expert Just because an EV is rela tively simple many people think no special expertise is needed to be an expert This person may claim to have been in the EV business for t
121. liminate the 12 volt battery by tapping across two of your main pack batteries for Page 36 accessories This will cause uneven discharge of the pack and shorten its lifespan It also violates the rule about isolating the traction batteries from the auxiliary battery and chassis When the car is apart this is the time to inspect things like constant velocity joints and boots and replace them if necessary This is also the time to steam clean the engine bay in preparation for installing the nice clean electric components As you disassemble your donor car take notes on anything you may need to reassemble later Use your Project Notebook for sketches and diagrams Maybe you ll want to take photos or videos Use whatever method works best for you but document everything The building of the electric conversion actually begins with the dismantling of the internal combustion car If it s done right the process of disassembly is an integral part of the process of assembly It should be done thoughtfully with the vision of the finished conversion always in mind Page 37 The series brush DC motor is the favorite for conversions Installing The Motor amp Adaptor The motor is the center of the electric car s universe It is the first component you need to install It has a pre determined position in the center of the engine compartment and all other components must fit in around it The type of motor you use will determine what
122. ll do this in a careful progression working from one end of the car to the other testing each section in isolation before joining it to the previously tested sec tions and then retesting The key to troubleshooting electrical systems is to test each possible failure point separately so you can identify the exact source of the problem and to do it systematically so you don t miss any possibilities imagine myself as an electron trav eling through the circuit and test each point along the way where there might be a problem For each test will tell you several things to check if you don t get the right results Then we ll assume you ve found and corrected any problems and we ll move on to the next test If you were careful when you did the wiring you probably won t need to use any of these checks to trace problems so I ll make it easy for you to skip over them I ll indent the troubleshooting sections so that if you don t need them you can skip ahead to the next hook up stage I m assuming you have a car with the batteries split between front and rear packs because this is the most common configuration If your car has more or fewer packs it should be easy to tell which steps to repeat or skip I m also assuming that your circuit breaker is the middle of the positive cable from the batteries to the main contactor If your circuit breaker is actually in the middle of a battery pack you will need to close it and test it
123. ll ones will cause a saw to kick back Check the rpm rating on grinding stones to be sure your drill doesn t exceed them Be careful not to exert side force on drill bits Jacks amp Stands Get a good heavy duty floor jack not one of the mini jacks with the cute little wheels Likewise get solid stands that are made of at least 1 4 material welded or cast not those flimsy little stamped steel stands They should be rated for at least 2 tons This car will gain about 800 pounds before you re finished If you re going to be under it you want equipment that s up to the job Check your factory manual for the proper placement points Keep in mind that these points might change with the conversion You want to be sure you are actually supporting the car itself and not the battery box Posi tion the stands under frame members that won t deform when bearing the weight of the car Lower the car gently to the stands If the support point shows signs of crushing or moving it is not a proper support point If the car tries to tip forward or backward the center of gravity has been shifted and the stands will have to be shifted forward or backward to compensate Have a flat solid surface under your jack and stands Set the handbrake and keep the gearshift in neutral Engine Hoists Borrow or rent a real engine hoist for the engine Page 15 A proper battery carrier motor swap stage of the conversion Do not try to cobble together
124. lling it how much electricity to release to the motor The speed of the motor varies depending on how much electricity it gets The motor is connected to the transmission by an adaptor plate The power goes from the motor through the transmission and out to the wheels as in a gas car That s it in a nutshell We ll talk about each of these parts in more detail later Before you build an EV for yourself compare the performance of a typical EV with your intended uses for it and make sure the two are compatible EV is mission intensive car It should not be expected to be all things to all people A sports car is not expected to carry lots of kids and a luxury car is not expected to be especially economical or suited to off road driving Likewise an EV has its own niche An EV is like a microwave oven There are a lot of things a microwave can t do such as brown food bake an angel food cake cook in metal pans or prepare an entire Thanksgiving dinner A conventional oven can do all those things Yet the limitations of microwave ovens haven t dampened their sales or popularity Nor have microwaves replaced conventional ovens and no one is expecting them to do so What a microwave does it does very well So it is with EV At the current state of the technology there are two applications into which EVs fit admirably Commuter Car Most American households have more than one car and often one of them is used almost entirely f
125. lly mounted in the car it s time to wire them l Il separate this task into low current wiring and high current wiring al though some of the low current wires actually carry high voltage Essentially this means small gauge wires vs heavy cables Using too small a gauge of wire will cause ineffi cient operation and possibly a fire Wires can become very hot in use if they are undersized for the current they are carrying The gauge of wire needed is determined by watts of electricity and length of the wire The higher the wattage or longer the wire the larger the gauge needs to be You can determine the wattage by multiplying the volts times the amps for the particular component you are wiring Most of the small gauge wiring will be 16 gauge but some may be as large as 10 gauge Perversely the larger the gauge number of the wire the smaller the wire This means 10 gauge is much bigger than 16 gauge High current wiring should be 2 0 cable like to use welding cable This has finer strands of copper than ordinary 2 0 cable which makes it much more flexible It also has much heavier insulation wes Regular 2 0 cable and welding cable Let s lay out some general principles that apply to both kinds of wiring Wires need to be protected from cuts abrasion snagging and tension For this reason they need to be secured close to the chassis at frequent intervals so they won t catch on anything but they shou
126. low profile nose that might interfere with battery place ment Age The rule of thumb here is to look for a car that is less than ten years old and the newer the better There are many reasons for this Newer cars obviously offer better crash protection and aerodynamics since much progress has been made in these areas in the past decade Also availability of parts is poorer after ten years and drops significantly after fifteen years for many cars Even after the car is converted you will still need things like brake pads Condition The ideal donor car has a good body and interior sound transmission but a dead engine For these Page 29 reasons cars like the diesel Rabbit make an excellent choice Watch the classified ads for ones that say Good body needs engine Also talk to local junkyards or independent garages that specialize in the kind of car you want and tell them to watch for a good candidate for you Specialty mechanics may be able to recommend a particular model of car that tends to blow up engines If at all possible get a mechanic to check out the donor before you buy it You will want to know about the brakes transmission and constant velocity joints as these are the most likely items that can add expense to the project The clutch shocks and springs aren t as important as you will be changing those anyway the lookout for any evidence of crash damage that might have tweaked the frame A small
127. lution issues that get less attention For instance every highway develops a dark streak down the center This is not from tires it s in the wrong place but from the drops of oil and other fluids that leak out of cars With every rain some of this washes off the road and is one of the major sources of groundwater pollution When a gas car is serviced almost everything that comes out of it is hazardous waste oil coolant oil filters fuel filters and so on Many of the chemicals and solvents the mechanics must use are also classified as hazardous materials Picture the pile of waste fluids and parts that comes out of a gas car in three to four years In that same time the only hazardous waste coming out of an EV will be from the battery pack when it is replaced About 1 of those batteries ten pounds will end up as hazardous waste that cannot be recycled or cleaned up There are other subtle sources of pollution too For instance when a gas car is sent to the junkyard Page 13 only sounds are the click of the main contactor the faint singing of the motor and the sound of the wind and the pavement going past even after it has been stripped of re useable and recycl able parts about 30 of the car ends up in the landfill as fluff seats interiors etc When new car is manufactured to replace it several tons of waste are generated in the manufacturing process Doesn t it make more sense instea
128. m OA E L INPUT CHARGER o INTERLOCK gt OUTPUTS RELAY fe CURRENT SHUNT MAIN CONTACTOR Page 90 LOW CURRENT WIRING DIAGRAM inline fuses but the same thing be done better by using a fuse block instead of an ordinary terminal block prefer the type with spade style fuses Use fuses rated at double the amperage of the component A spade style fuse block and two different styles of ter minal block one with a cover A little later we ll be talking about the charger interlock relay It will fit into the circuit either just before or just after the new fuse block you are adding Choose which leg of the circuit to put it in based on which will use shorter and more convenient wiring runs If you have any components that draw more than 20 amps wire them directly from the battery using a sepa rate 10 gauge wire and use a relay to give you ignition key control for these high load items Often you will have two or three components drawing power from the same source Rather than running individ ual wires for each prefer to start with one wire and tap it as needed along the route to serve the various components When the wire reaches the first component on the route cut it two and strip both ends Then twist the ends together and crimp them both into one appropriate sized connector The connector goes to the proper terminal for this component a
129. mall cars where space is limited and may well eventually take over the market for larger conversions as well Ni Cads Nickel cadmium batteries are probably the second most common in EVs far behind lead acid There are several drawbacks to ni cads One is high cost even for reconditioned batteries Another is low energy density It is necessary to have several strings of ni cads in parallel to have sufficient amperage capacity for accel Page 50 Automotive style battery post Universal style battery post 9 L style battery post eration This means a lot of space filled by batteries A third problem is that ni cads come in 1 2 volt cells which require many more interconnects and potential failure points than golf car batteries For most people the conventional 6 volt lead acid deep cycle golf car battery is the optimum choice today If a better battery becomes available next year you can always upgrade to it Post Styles There are three common battery post styles The first is the automotive style we all recognize from our gas cars This is a large round stud which is gripped around the outside by the cable end These provide good surface contact area but the cable ends are bulky and expensive The second type called the universal style is most common because it is popular in golf cars This is just like the the automotive style with the addition of a threaded steel stud sticking up out of the c
130. motive gauges is that there are numerous attractive mounts available for them at parts stores The gauge you will use most will be the ammeter There is no real corollary to this in a gas car This is an efficiency gauge Moment by moment it tells you how much energy you are using The scale will go from 010 400 or 550 amps At the end of this book once your car is built we ll talk about how to use the information given to you by this gauge and others The gauge you will use next most often will be a voltmeter showing your traction pack voltage This gauge can come in two forms The first is a straight numbered voltmeter This will give you precise voltage informa tion and you will need to know what those numbers mean for your particular system and vehicle The gauge may read from 0 to 100 or 150 volts However it isn t necessary to go all the way to 0 since a typical controller cuts out at 45 volts An expanded scale gauge that starts at 50 will give you more detail in a useful range You also want to be sure the gauge reads high enough A fully charged system is actually about 8 3 higher than its nominal voltage so a fully charged 96 volt system will read about 104 volts The main use for the voltmeter is as a fuel gauge If you re not really interested in the precise numbers but just want to know how much you have left you can get this gauge in the other form as a fuel gauge The simplest type which prefer is an
131. motor The most popular line is manufactured by Advanced D C Motors Inc It is efficient reliable readily available from various distributors affordable and most important it is designed to be an electric car motor This motor dominated the 1992 Solar amp Electric 500 race in Phoenix Other usable motors are the Prestolite and G E The Prestolite is the forerunner of the Advanced D C motor It is a little larger heavier less efficient and less well ventilated but if cost is a factor and a used Prestolite is available it will serve you well This motor is no longer in production motor not the same as a G E aircraft generator is also adequate and has approximately the same slight drawbacks as the Prestolite If you are buying a used G E motor be sure to check the rpm rating It should be 5100 There are still some in circulation that are only rated at 2300 rpm They have lots of torque but no top end speed What about other types of motors shunt compound permanent magnet brushless DC or AC All of these suffer from limited or non existent availability in sizes suitable for cars Shunt and compound motors have less acceleration than series motors and permanent magnet motors have a narrower rpm band of efficiency This means that they are most efficient at a constant speed This makes them perfect for something like an ultralight cross country solar racer which maintains a steady pace In normal driving
132. mpact rela tively quiet and could pull down the vacuum within 9 seconds The reservoir and switch will allow you a few normal applications of the brakes after which the pump will come on briefly to restore vacuum If you have an older VW with front drum brakes you might want to refit it with discs If your donor does not come with power brakes you might want to see if there were other versions of the same or similar models that did have power brakes find one in a junkyard and retrofit the system to your car You can also often upgrade the existing brakes with heavier duty shoes or pads Component Mounts Each mount for each car will be different the product of your ingenuity recommend first examining original mounts that you removed with the IC components There may be something there that you can modify slightly and re use Locate your components for easy accessibility Build your mounts so they will be secure and not twist or oscillate under normal driving conditions Use nuts and bolts instead of sheet metal screws for added securi ty The layout of the components and design and fabrica tion of the mounts is the part of the conversion where you can best express your creativity and design talent Attention to detail in this area is the key that sepa rates a really awful conversion from an adequate one and an adequate one from a professional quality conversion Page 80 Wiring Once all the components are physica
133. n To Buy Batteries Although you have chosen the batteries you will use and decided how many you want don t buy them until you are ready to install them Get precise dimensions and use cardboard or foamcore mock ups for designing your car That way the batteries won t be going stale sitting on your garage floor for weeks or months and you won t be tripping over them Single Or Split Packs One of the first design decisions in converting a car to electricity has to be where to put the batteries In a typical car there are sixteen to twenty of them All other design decisions will depend on where the batteries are placed and how they are oriented The obvious consideration is available space but other important factors include weight distribution and current path For stability and handling the ideal arrangement would be to have all the batteries in a single block between the axles This can be done in a van by sinking them into the floor or building a false floor above them In a pickup truck the batteries can ride in the bed but a better plan is to tilt the bed and install the batter ies underneath it This gives good handling and also maintains cargo space Some of the batteries may be placed under the hood as well In a passenger car the batteries almost always end up split between the front and rear of the car Weight should be kept inboard of the axles as much as possible and balanced between the front and rear If e
134. n install the assembly in its permanent position in the car Low Current Wiring There are three fundamental principles to good wiring We already talked about documentation using color codes and diagrams The second principle is loom building Don t run individual wires in all directions This is what call the explosion in a spaghetti facto ry effect Instead choose a route that will be appro priate for several wires and gather them together into a loom peeling each wire out to its destination as needed This makes a tidier more professional conversion and also makes the car less prone to wiring failures and easier to work on A loom can be gathered in several ways The wires can merely be tie wrapped together at intervals or banded neatly with electrical tape Sometimes you can follow the path of the original factory loom and secure your loom to it There are also a couple of types of wiring loom sheaths available commercially One is called spiral wrap As the name implies it is a spiral that is wrapped around the loom Individual wires can be fished out between the loops of the spiral Another type is called Flex guard This is a flexi ble accordion plastic tube with a slit down its length The loom is poked into the the tube through the slit and individual wires are pulled out where needed The tube is then secured periodically with tie wraps and there are special caps for the ends This makes a very clean looking loom
135. nd drawing to the original shocks for your car and note the designation for that particular KYB shock Now go back through the applica tion charts and see what other cars use the same KYB shock your car uses Then ask your parts man if there is an air shock kit for one of those other models Pickup trucks are especially good bets You may find as did that there are no air shock kits for a Plymouth Arrow but plenty of them for a 4x4 Nissan truck which uses the same shock Shocks While we re on the subject let s talk about shocks a little more The term shock absorber is a misnomer A shock is really an oscillation dampener The springs support the weight of the car and compress and expand to diminish the effect of bumps The shocks provide resis tance to gently stop the springs from compressing and expanding i e bouncing once the bump is past Page 110 NOT attempt to replace a McPherson strut cartridge in the safety and comfort of your own garage In an EV there s a lot more weight moving up and down on those springs so it s a good idea to have heavi er duty shocks to help dampen that extra weight in motion like the KYB brand personally especially the Gas A Just model have no stock in the company have just used the product for many years and have been very satisfied with it They cover a broad range of models There are several other very fine brands of heavy duty shocks One word of
136. nd the wire contin ues on to the next This can be done as many times as needed All of your components should come with wiring diagrams or instructions from your supplier will give some wiring instructions here for the components most commonly in use The Curtis PMC PB 6 potbox comes with two small wires encased in a grey plastic sheath These wires need to be connected to the two bottom terminals of the three small terminals on the Curtis PMC 1221 controller It doesn t matter which wire goes on which terminal as long as they use the two bottom ones The PB 6 has a safety feature built into it in the form of a deadman microswitch When properly wired this opens the main contactor and cuts off all power to the Page 91 A wiring loom tap connected to the keyswitch relay controller whenever the throttle is fully released Un fortunately there are a couple of components you don t want to turn off every time you release the throttle such as the DC DC converter and the dash voltmeter or state of charge gauge To get around this insert a couple of relays into the circuit to insure that these components bypass the deadman microswitch and continue to receive power as long as the ignition key is on The relays use are 40 amp single pole single throw normally open relays with 12 volt pull down coils When a 12 volt current is applied to the relay s pull down coil it creates an electromag netic field which pulls an arm closed
137. nd vast price differences The difference is the same as the difference between panel meters and automotive gauges Many DC DC converters are used for electronic equipment such as computers in sta tionary climate controlled conditions Others were de signed for the rigors of industrial EVs You want the second kind for your car Chargers Early charging systems were very crude and hard on the batteries Some simply slugged current into the batteries until an arbitrarily set timer turned them off Others permitted their current to be adjusted down as the battery charge came up but required a lot of attention and adjusting during the charging cycle And those adjustments were still just the operator s best guess The result was that batteries were charged too hard or too long and they bubbled and gassed a lot Besides smelling bad and making a mess on the battery tops this also shortened battery life Then came smart chargers These were able to sense the battery pack s state of charge and automati cally adjust the current downward in increments Some were smart enough to turn themselves off when the car was fully charged and even turn back on if the car sat unused long enough for the charge to start to fall off Others simply tapered to a low level finish charge to equalize all the batteries Until recently chargers were bigger than a breadbox and weighed 70 100 pounds These were usually not mounted on the car but kept in the
138. ng a small book in the glovebox and recording the daily routine and noteworthy occurrences involving the car For example record the date beginning mileage state of charge itinerary and ending mileage and state of charge for each trip take also note if there was anything unusual about the trip or when added battery water and similar things This serves as a touchstone for normal drive the same routes week after week If suddenly notice that the state of charge is much lower than usual after a grocery run know to start looking for a soggy tire or Page 118 other problem The book is an excellent service record and diagnostic tool It s also a fun way to compete against yourself to improve your driving efficiency Paperwork There are at least three kinds of paperwork related to EVs The comments will make here are necessarily general because the regulations change from state to state and from day to day and am simply trying to give you an overview You will need to research the specific rules that apply currently in your location Registration most places there is no problem registering an electric conversion Outside of commer cial applications there are generally no special regis tration requirements Most states are interested in encouraging alternative fueled vehicles and may actually offer incentives In California you will need to take your conversion to the Department of Motor Ve
139. nnections IC Component Removal Now you are ready to start removing the internal combustion IC components Use your factory manual to guide you through this process incorporating the addi tional following instructions The first things to throw away are all the fluids in the old car except hydraulic fluids Brown s First Law of Conversions states that any car you choose for a donor will have a fuel tank that s more than half full If the Page 34 fuel is clean and fresh it can be used some other vehicle Drain the engine oil and the radiator fluid Note on the west coast this is called coolant In the mid west and east it is called antifreeze Same fluid Climate determines semantics The transmission oil should be drained too When you reinstall the transmis sion you will want to fill it with a low friction syn thetic oil Dispose of all the fluids carefully and properly This is especially important with coolant It is sweet and attracts small children and animals and it is a deadly poison If any of the factory manual instructions seem strange complicated or require you to remove or discon nect unrelated things check with a shop that specializes in your make of car and see what procedure they use There may be a be a better way or a special trick For example the Rabbit factory manual says to remove the engine from the bottom of the car but we always took it out from the top when worked
140. not offered by coil or leaf springs For custom springs the spring company will want to know how much weight was added to each axle how much ride height was lost all the physical dimensions of the original springs both unloaded and fully loaded the shape of the spring ends where they install in the car and the spring rate That final number may be in your shop manual and it may not The easiest way to get custom springs is to provide the car weight and ride height information and the old springs The custom springs may look identical to the originals same height diameter thickness and number of coils The secret is in the spring rate or degree of stiffness of the spring material There is one final suspension option for coil springs that do not enclose the shock absorber air shocks These are readily available affordable easy to install adjustable and reliable if the plumbing is properly done have had them in several vehicles for many years with no failures If you have trouble finding an air shock to fit your car there are ways to track them down Get your after market parts man to let you look through his KYB shock catalog This is a wonderful reference It has charts showing which model of KYB shocks fit which cars and they have a model for almost anything It also has full descriptions and pictures of each type of shock giving all the dimensions and showing the mounting style of the ends Match the description a
141. nterconnecting wiring on the workbench in comfort then mount the entire assembly into the car For the early transistorized PWMs this component board can be made of wood or plastic and mounted on the side of a battery box by installing tee nuts into the box Tee nuts are threaded inserts that fit into holes drilled into the plywood similar to rivnuts on metal surfaces They act as nuts allowing you to use bolts on a wooden structure Be careful that your hardware does not interfere with the batteries inside the box For this type of mount also installed two studs on the outside of the battery box Their only purpose was to fit into two holes in the component board and support its weight leaving both my hands free to install the mounting bolts The MOSFET PWM controller disperses heat through its base and must be mounted on an aluminum plate measuring at least 12 x 12 x 1 4 The plate need not be square so long as there is that quantity of aluminum in it A larger plate can be used which can double as the compo nent mount board Coat the bottom of the controller com pletely and evenly with heatsink grease before mounting it on the plate This plate needs to be positioned in the airflow for cooling On our Voltsrabbit made a slight bend in one edge of the plate and mounted it along the passenger side front fender at an angle from the fender down to a chassis seam This left airflow behind the plate On a Porsche 914 on
142. ntroller Check your intended layout Are any of the inter connects long or awkward Do any of them interfere with each other or with the battery caps Note find out in advance what style caps your batteries will have Do the most negative and most positive cables come out of the circuit anywhere near the contactor and controller Try to keep interconnects and cable runs as short as possible although sometimes long runs can t be helped Avoid complicated or criss crossing interconnects With these thoughts in mind re examine your layout and see if turning some of the batteries 180 will simplify the circuit If not maybe turning some of them 90 into a slightly different configuration will help Component Locations Obviously you will be deciding the locations of some of your components in the course of designing your battery layout As mentioned earlier you need to know where your controller and main contactor will be in order to plan the battery connections to them It is more important for them to be close to each other and to the motor than to be close to the cables from the battery pack Circuit breaker placement is also a factor Ideally the circuit breaker interrupts the most positive cable between the batteries and the main contactor If this is not practical it can be placed between any two batteries in the series It s best to locate the circuit breaker within easy reach of the driver If it is Page 54 Voltsrabb
143. nuity If all the previous checks are correct check all other potbox relay wiring If that is correct check the potbox relay itself for mechanical failure by actuating the potbox with the ignition on and listening or feeling for the relay to close If the relay does not close replace it If the reading at the key switch input terminal of the controller is full pack voltage but the motor does not turn check the potbox To do this remove the black and white wires from the second and third 1 4 male terminals of the controller Con nect the ohm meter positive probe to the black wire and the negative probe to the white wire The reading should be between 1 and 1 4 ohms Now actuate the potbox lever arm The reading should climb to 5 kohms at full open If it doesn t replace the potbox If the potbox operates correctly connect the voltmeter positive probe to the battery positive terminal of the controller and the negative probe to the motor side of the shunt Turn on the ignition and actuate the potbox The reading should go to full pack voltage almost immediately If there is no output replace the controller If the controller operates correctly check connections to the motor If the connections are good there is an internal problem in the motor Put the car into first gear Actuate the potbox lever arm with the throttle pedal or by hand and observe which direction the wheels turn lf the wheels turn backward recheck the motor
144. ofreading illustrations and moral support for this project Adams John Anderson Larry Burriesci D Clarke Scott Cornell Eric Dieroff Ruth MacDougall Paul McCain Bob McKee Steve Pombo Steve Post Rich Prange and Damian Taylor Special thanks to N Jell for making this third edition possible PHOTOGRAPHS All photographs were taken by Shari Prange unless otherwise credited and are individually the property of their respective contributors The cover photo shows author Michael Brown in Santa Cruz California with two of his electric cars In the foreground is a 1965 Fiberfab Aztec body on a VW Bug chassis In the background is the 1981 VW Rabbit conversion prototype for the Voltsrabbit kit FOR A CATALOG OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMPONENTS Send 5 00 postage amp sales tax included to Electro Automotive P O Box 1113 Cl Felton CA 95018 Catalog also lists other electric vehicle books and videos for sale nee the United States and Canada please send 10 00 U S dollars only TO ORDER COPIES OF THIS BOOK Send 24 95 plus 3 50 U S postage or 8 50 foreign postage to above address In California add sales tax U S dollars only Author Michael Brown Introduction So you d like to build an electric car You re not quite sure where to start and that s why you re holding this book You ve come to the right place You don t have to be a professional mechanic to use this book or build your car
145. ols and supplies added for convenience It also includes 4 hours of design time INCLUDES Medium Advanced DC Motor Westach Gauge 0400 Amps Adaptor Westach Gauge 6 16 Volts Albright Main Contactor PMC 1221 Controller PB 6 Potbox Heinemann Circuit Breaker Buss Fusible Links Westach Gauge Choice Of 0 150 Volts Or 96VoltState Of Charge Empro Shunt 110 Volt Russco Charger VOLTSRABBIT CUSTOM KIT 7 995 00 2 0 Fine Strand Cable Lugs Belleville Precision Tension Washers Shrink Tube Anti Corrosion Compound Cable Lug Crimper Cable Shears Battery Filler Temp Correcting Hydrometer Convert If Manual This is the first true bolt in kit no design fabrication or welding necessary Fits all manual transmission Rabbits including Cabriolets Seats four with cargo space Can be easily modified to fit Rabbit pickup Jetta or Scirocco Features powder coated battery rack and welded polypropylene battery box for acid resistance and electrical insulation 96 volt system gives a top speed of 65 mph and a range of 60 80 miles under optimum conditions 108V option adds 2 batteries under back seat for 75 mph top speed and an extra 10 range Can be installed in as little as four days INCLUDES Medium Advanced D C Motor Westach Gauge 96 Volt State Of Adaptor Charge Albright Main Contactor PMC 1221 Controller PB 6 Potbox Heinemann Circuit Breaker Buss Fusible L
146. on they contradict everything an electric car is supposed to be and to little advantage If you have to go farther than the EV will take you skip the compli cated compromise and just drive a gas car Another suggested range extender is a solar panel This can certainly be used but the trade offs will not be acceptable to most people If you mount enough panels to cover the entire roof of the car and if the car sits in the full sun all day long the panels will only supply about 5 miles more range If you live in a sunny climate Page 9 A solar charging station at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Graphic courtesy of SMUD while their cars sit idle all day and don t drive much perhaps this could meet a large percentage of your needs The continuous low level charge will help extend the overall life of your bat teries However the panel is heavy unaerodynamic vulnerable to damage and costs about 3 000 This situation will not improve much even though solar panels are improving in efficiency If the solar panels were 100 efficient instead of about 10 it would still take an array 10 x 10 to supply enough power to charge a car solely from the panels The appropriate place for solar technology in rela tion to electric cars is at charging stations Panels covering the roofs of parking areas with receptacles at each stall could provide some charge for working people Photovoltaic Electric Vehicle
147. or commuting or local errand running In fact the average miles per day per vehicle in this country is less than thirty An EV is ideal for this type of use Some people think of an EV as a second car and that s fine but it depends how you define first and second Our gas car gets more mileage than the elec tric but that s because we use it for long distance driving The EV gets used more often but for shorter trips We think of our EV as our first car because it s our first choice Fun Car An EV is a fun project to build and will give you the satisfaction of creating something that is uniquely yours It s fun to drive and if you have graphics on it to identify it as electric it will intro duce you to a lot of friendly people at stoplights and in parking lots There are myriad events for electric cars ranging from local parades and energy fairs shows and road rallies on up to closed course races If you choose you can be busy almost every weekend collecting ribbons and trophies meeting people who are fascinated by your car and just having fun Page 7 This high performance electric sports car a converted 914 Porsche has a top speed of 90 mph and a range of over 120 miles on a single charge Your car can be demure and practical or flashy and futuristic The choice is yours What s An Electric Car Like Passenger Cargo Room This depends on the car you choose for conversion and on your design
148. other components you use and what performance you will get It is not the place to skimp Motor Types In the rugged early days of the modern electric car meaning the late 1970 s the aircraft generator or starter was the most common motor used simply because there were few other options readily available It made a great aircraft generator but a very marginal electric car motor It was rated at 24 volts but for automotive use it was run at 48 to 72 volts Not surprisingly the generator often refused to take such abuse and died Also the rpm band of the generator was not suitable for a Car Causing it to suck up great rivers of amperage which translated to a short driving range These generators are still emerging from basements with For Sale signs but they are less appropriate than ever For one thing the shaft has a 16 tooth spline that s very expensive to mate to an adaptor For another thing they are incompatible with modern controllers Another motor of yesteryear was the Baldor These had a disturbing habit of spontaneously disassembling themselves An interim motor of the mid 1980 s was the China Motor Designed as an improved version of a aircraft generator it operated well at 72 volts but not higher and it had the same spline problem Page 38 chain is only as strong as its weakest link and so it is with an electric car s drivetrain The motor of choice for the hobbyist today is the series DC
149. p the battery tops clean as well A thin film of dirt on the battery tops can form a conductive layer that will trip the ground fault interrupter on a charger Check battery electrolyte level and add water as needed every two months If the plates are uncovered add water to cover them by 1 8 before charging and check the batteries more frequently in the future Otherwise add water after the batteries are charged Fill each cell to 1 4 below the fill neck Distilled water is preferred but any drinkable water that does not have a high mineral content will do Don t use metal Page 123 containers for your battery water Testing specific gravity with a Check the brakes every six months at least until hydrometer you learn how fast they are wearing If you drive pri marily on flat roads and adjust your driving style to a smooth flow that takes advantage of coasting you may find you actually use your brakes less This seems like a really short chapter doesn t it Well there just isn t much maintenance to do on an electric car Page 124 POSITIVE VS NEGATIVE EV FACTS Here are just a few examples of ways to answer the most common questions in a positive way Think up your own positive answers to ques tions and have them ready when people ask Range Negative Electric cars have short ranges The average is only 60 80 miles and some of the poorer ones get only 30 miles Only a few of the best can get even 100 m
150. p the car and get out and inspect it Look for any thing that might have shaken loose or started to rub sniff for any alarming smells Put your hand care fully on the controller motor and battery terminals and see how warm they are Anything that is hot after a short easy drive indicates a problem that needs to be corrected In some ways an EV is like a pet It will be easier for you to recognize an illness if you know what normal looks sounds smells and feels like You should spend the first month paying extra attention to all these things so you really get to know your car and its behavior Before you put your EV into daily service examine some of your normal commuting and errand routes from your gas car Note mileage average traffic speeds hills amount of stops or freeway If part of your route in cludes a long hill or lots of stop and go traffic look for a different route that may climb the same hill in stages or move traffic more smoothly You may want to spend an afternoon testing your car for range Remember this range will improve as both car and driver get broken in To test range lay outa flat route with little traffic and few stops Plana loop of no more than a couple of miles With the batter ies fully charged drive the course at a steady speed between 25 45 mph which is the range where most daily driving is done At each lap note the mileage state of charge or voltage at rest and amp draw at
151. plications it is actually used as a calibrated spring It will Keep a constant pressure against the connection without gouging the interconnect Install all the battery connections except the ones containing the fusible links and the ones leading into and out of each battery pack These will be connected by one in the smoke test Test Points If the most positive and most negative terminals of your entire battery pack are difficult to reach with a voltmeter you might want to wire in a convenient test point for total pack voltage do this with two one foot lengths of 16 gauge wire red and black tie wrapped into a loom One goes to the large diameter positive main contactor terminal the other goes to the battery negative controller termi nal The free ends can be crimped into insulated female connectors which will accept a meter probe An insu lated connector has an insulating sheath covering the entire connector not just the barrel This will give you a quick easy place to plug in and test full pack voltage Page 103 I imagine myself as an electron traveling through the circuit Final Hookup amp Bench Testing Now comes the part that takes nerve the smoke test It s time to make the final connections and see if you did it right By the way these are the same tests to use for troubleshooting later if you should have a failure in the electrical system and you need a system atic way to track it down We
152. ply Motor Cooling Fan This will only be necessary if you are using an older motor such as a Prestolite or G E The bulk noise power consumption and cost of a cooling fan are all good reasons to use a newer motor such as the Advanced D C which doesn t need one If you do need one the best option is to mount it directly to the motor air intake If you need to drill holes to do this block all openings so that no chips can get into the motor If there is not sufficient room to mount the fan to the motor mount it elsewhere nearby and duct the air to the motor Be sure the fan and ducting are high enough to be protected from road hazards Speed Control System The controller is to the electric car what the carburetor is to the gas car It meters out the fuel to the motor according to the demand as signalled by the throttle pedal Controllers have advanced more than any other part of the electric car over the years The most primitive system involved series parallel switching In this method the batteries could be run in two configurations all in series for full pack voltage or split into two equal half packs connected in parallel This system had two speeds which combined with the manual transmission to yield a confusing set of choices It had complex wiring and required flipping some type of switch as well as shifting gears It provided little speed control and performance was jerky A second type of controller used re
153. pment Which pieces you remove or save and how you do it can make a big difference in the final conversion When Detroit builds a car that is 70 new design and 30 off the shelf it spends 3 1 million hours of engi neering design time on the 70 of the car that s new For optimum results in your home built electric car it makes sense to take advantage of as much of that engineering as possible Measurements There is one basic rule that is essential when disassembling something that must be reassembled later study measure and mark everything BEFORE you take it apart Therefore when you are ready to start disassem bling the first things to save are measurements With the car parked on the level measure the ride height at all four wheels and record these numbers in your Project Notebook This is done by running a steel measuring tape vertically from the ground across the center of the wheel to the center of the wheel arch on the body 5 There will be some difference in these measurements front to rear and side to side Knowing what these differences were before conversion will let you know whether any differences after conversion were there originally or introduced in the conversion process Incidentally if the initial difference is greater than 2 from side to side check for possible frame damage from an accident Page 33 Measure the distance from the top of the transmission bell housing to some st
154. r that gear More throttle does not always equal more speed In simplistic terms amps equal torque and volts equal speed More throttle gives more amps which decreases pack voltage If half throttle has adequate torque for the job more throttle will waste amperage and reduce voltage speed In other words sometimes you can After cresting climb a grade as fast or faster at half throttle than at gt full throttle and use less energy a hill and After cresting a hill and starting down BE SURE TO SHIFT If you coast at too high a speed a low starting down gear may over rev and damage the motor For the same reason be sure the car is in neutral if it is being BE SURE TO towed When the throttle is released for coasting the SHIFT UP ammeter will drop to 0 because no power is being con sumed There is also no engine braking so it will be necessary to use the brakes more as with an automatic Page 115 transmission It is better to apply the brakes periodi cally to slow down then release them to coast up to speed then brake again rather than riding them contin uously down a hill which may cause the brakes to over heat and lose performance You will be surprised to find that downhill momentum will carry you farther up the next hill than it would in gas car With practice you can learn to use this to great advantage and sometimes travel several miles using very little throttle or none at al
155. r using carpool freeway lanes If there is an air quality management district in your area or a state energy or environmental office they may be able to help you find some of these incen tives If you find a lack of incentives in your area or rules that are actively unfriendly to electric conver sions contact your elected officials from the city level to the federal level and ask them why Page 119 car will operate most efficiently and have better battery life and performance if it is used often Charging amp Maintenance Charging As in the rest of this book we are talking about the most commonly used technology In this instance that means flooded lead acid batteries Be aware that some of the items mentioned here would not apply to other more exotic battery types Before starting the car the battery pack will have a surface charge above its actual useable charge For this reason a car may show as high as 110 on the state of charge gauge This surface charge will vanish as soon as you begin to drive This type of battery does not like to be left sit ting in a discharged state For this reason you are encouraged to opportunity charge whenever possible at your destination or between short trips It is espe cially important to recharge as soon as possible when the pack is deeply discharged and close to empty Always leave the battery caps on when charging The car will opera
156. raining the battery Page 76 Now we chargers the size of a toaster and weighing 10 pounds Then the lights would grow dim and the wipers and turn signals would cycle more and more slowly A DC DC converter taps off the entire battery pack at a very low amperage This means that all the bat teries are discharged evenly and the current draw is negligible Typically on a 96 volt system it is only drawing about 6 amps It converts this to a regulated output of 13 5 volts at 25 amps and charges the auxiliary battery continuously The converter is internally iso lated so the high voltage and low voltage systems never connect directly This not only maintains bright lights and brisk wipers but it allows you to use a very small 12 volt starting battery for your auxiliary battery You do still need some kind of battery The converter itself requires a source of 12 volts to turn iton Also the converter cuts out at 72 volts or less Under a heavy load as when climbing a steep hill it is possible to pull your battery pack momentarily below 72 volts If this should happen at night and you had no auxiliary battery you would suddenly be without lights Finally if the converter should fail for some reason and you had no auxiliary battery you would be stuck where you were With a battery you will certainly have at least enough power to get home All DC DC converters are not created equal If you shop around you will fi
157. ransmission then reinstall the transmission later with the electric motor mounted to it You may think it s less work to leave the transmission in the car but it actually makes your job harder There are two metal tabs on the engine that are specifically for lifting it with an engine hoist Save those tabs and adapt them to your electric motor adap tor and transmission when it is time to sling them into place Even if you are replacing the clutch save the old parts until you are sure the new ones match Save the flywheel and all the bolts associated with it because you will want to re use them with your adaptor These are special bolts and will cost you time and money if you have to special order them through the dealer Also save any locating dowels between the engine and transmis sion Remove everything associated with the IC system radiator fuel system exhaust etc You will want to use a 12 volt accessory battery but not the original one If you do not have a DC DC converter you will want to replace the original battery with a heavy duty deep cycle battery especially if you do much night driving The DC DC converter is highly recommended as a constant source of voltage for lights etc but it doesn t re place the battery If the DC DC should fail for some reason it will do it at night ten miles from home So if you do have a DC DC you will still want a 12 volt battery but you can use a very small one Don t plan to e
158. re from a fac tory edge of the board not a cut edge If possible cut your pieces with a table saw using a plywood blade If you don t have access to a table saw use a circular saw with a plywood blade and a plywood cutting guide Label each piece immediately on the rough side which will be the inside Use a ballpoint pen or pencil here as a felt tip may bleed through your paint later Labels should be detailed like rear box bottom side this edge front In a layered construction you may also need to include bottom layer As you assemble the box apply construction panel glue to each contact surface and have an assistant hold the board in place Check for true corners with a square and then screw the boards together Plan to take the finished boxes to a packing and moving company and have them banded with steel packing straps at two levels for reinforcement There are plas tic corner protectors that can be placed between the bands and the box to prevent the straps from cutting into the wood As with battery rack paint there is a better but pricier option welded polypropylene This material is stronger than plywood so you can use as little as 1 4 thickness with proper rack support under and around it It doesn t need to be painted and is acid proof In fact it is used industrially for acid bath tanks It is lightweight and makes an attractive package You can get these boxes made at a plastic fabrication shop B
159. rformance characteristics are different and an AC breaker will not give you the same kind of protection Page 70 Fusible Links The fourth emergency disconnect in the system is the fusible link One of these should be mounted in the bat tery series If the total pack is split recommend a link in each portion The link mounts between any two batteries and serves as an interconnect for those two batteries In case of a short across the pack such as a dropped tool or in the case of a serious collision chassis sheet metal the fusible link will blow and open the circuit disarming the high voltage system The link blows by melting apart It can t be reset like a circuit breaker but must be replaced recom mend using a fusible link with a delay similar to the circuit breaker to prevent nuisance blows from momentary surges Se 0 4 ia A bare fusible link and one mounted on a plexiglass block in a battery interconnect mount the link on a plexiglass block to give it some additional rigidity When space permits also enclose it in a plex tube to contain any hot lead splat ter should the link blow In an enclosed box this isn t always possible And the fifth emergency disconnect A good pair of cable shears If all else fails cut a cable Gauges You will want to add various gauges to the car The early EVs often used home modified panel meters There are several problems with this kind of gauge
160. rmous price tags 600 F operating temperatures ora tendency to self destruct Someday some of these fairy tales will come true and will benefit us all In the meantime it is foolish to base your vehicle on the magic of tomorrow If you do your dream coach and four wil remain a lumpy pumpkin pulled by white mice Build with available technology today You can always upgrade later Page 22 Components that are too cheap or too expensive will prove to be unsatisfactory In general be realistic An EV built with proven current production technology can provide completely satisfactory performance for use as a local commute and errand running car This represents the largest percent age of American daily mileage and is the perfect niche for the EV today Components that are too cheap or too expensive will prove to be unsatisfactory Take a little time to learn who is established respected and experi enced in the industry and you will be treated well Cost The minimum cost for a sound conversion using new modern components is about 5 500 6 000 In this instance you will not be using a bolt in kit You will be doing the component layout design and designing and fabricating all the necessary battery racks boxes and miscellaneous mounts This price assumes using the least expensive materials that are adequate for the job such as plywood for the boxes The high end cost for a basic conversion is about 8 000 9 000
161. rnal combustion components the car will gain 800 pounds or more during the conversion The curb weight is what the car actually weighs when it is empty Gross vehicle weight is the maximum rated weight fully loaded To check curb weight on a poten tial donor car go to the library and look up Road amp Track Magazine for the year the car was built There will probably be a detailed report with all the relevant specs Consumer Reports also carries such information While lightweight cars are good they may have their Page 28 Light pickup trucks like this Datsun make good conversions ee TS own problems One is limited space for batteries Even a very light car needs a minimum of 72 volts which means twelve 6 volt batteries to be marginally street safe and 96 volts or sixteen batteries is recommended Another potential problem is the ability of the suspen sion and frame to accept the added battery weight The ideal chassis is light but roomy something similar to a Rabbit Civic Sentra Escort or light pickup truck Beware of cars like the Fiero that are actually much heavier than they look Body Style Look for accessible battery space Hatchbacks are probably the best choice Remember that batteries can be sunk into the floor This means you can have batteries and a backseat too and even cargo space in the hatchback area on top of the battery box Check the engine compartment for protrusions or a
162. rson connectors 95 95 104 battery interconnects 102 102 103 104 106 cable 81 81 84 84 85 87 charger 94 97 95 circuit breaker 99 color codes 83 connectors 35 88 controller 54 91 93 99 101 copper strap 66 99 101 IOI 102 102 crimping procedure 88 98 98 dash indicators 94 DC DC 92 93 diagrams 90 100 extra wires 84 85 four in one 85 85 front to rear 84 85 87 fuse block 89 91 91 gauges 89 93 94 general principles 81 83 87 88 grommets 83 83 ground 18 76 83 89 high load relay 91 93 isolation 18 37 76 77 89 keyswitch relay 92 looms 87 lugs 86 87 97 99 main contactor 66 92 99 measuring 85 motor 99 101 original 35 36 89 potbox 91 potbox relay 93 protecting 83 84 84 resistors 89 shrink tube 87 88 98 99 101 102 shunt 93 66 101 soldering 88 89 97 91 92 93 terminal block 89 91 91 96 96 test point 103 106 vacuum pump 94 vacuum switch 94 ventilating fans 96 97 wire gauge 81 82 89 DONT REPLACE YOUR CAR RECYCLE CONVERT IT explodes the common negative myths about electric cars It explains e Why they are tremendously cleaner than internal combustion cars even including the used batteries and the emissions from the power generating plants e Why they are more energy efficient than internal combustion cars even including electric power transmission losses e Why they are much more economical to operate t
163. s thread it back through the lug the other way and wrap it around itself again The silicone spray method can be done by one person pulling on the mechanic s wire at the vise The slime Page 86 loom makes tidier more professional conversion and also makes the car less prone to wiring failures method requires at least two people one to pull and another to slime and feed the cable with room for other participants to steady the center section or assist at either end This method usually produces a great deal of hilarity in all involved before it is finished The person pulling the cables at the vise end should wear heavy leather work gloves to keep the mechanic s wire from cutting into the skin Once the lug emerges a screwdriver can be inserted in the lug up to the hilt and used as a two handed handle for pulling If you are using the slime buy the smallest bottle possible because you won t need more than 1 2 cup The person at the feeding end should lube the inside of the end of the hose and the outside edges of both cables There is no need to lube the flat sides of the bundles Synchronize pushing the lubed cable into one end of the hose with pulling on the other When the front crayon tape mark reaches the end of the hose you re done Double check that the rear mark is also at its end of the hose Crimp lugs onto the re maining three cable ends now it s much easier to do on the bench than in the car The
164. s and publishers cannot accept any liability for loss damage or injury incurred in connection with the use of this information or resulting from any errors in or omissions from the information given Publisher s Cataloging in Publication Prepared by Quality Books Inc Brown Michael P Convert it a step by step manual for converting an internal combustion vehicle to electric power Michael P Brown p cm Includes index ISBN 1 879857 94 4 1 Automobiles Electric 1 Title TL220 B76 1993 629 250 2 QBI93 1262 OON AARON wv CONTENTS 5 Facts About Electric Vehicles 7 hace ito 15 What You Need Get Started 20 Choosing 27 Removing The Internal Combustion DY 33 Installing The Motor Adaptor 38 Batteries amp Containment 49 Installing Components 64 WARING 81 Final Hookup amp Bench Testing 104 Suspension amp 109 Road Test Driving amp Paperwork 113 Charging amp Maintenance 120 Meeting The 125 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS would like to thank in alphabetical order the following people who have provided technical information pro
165. shers A sodium bicarbonate extinguisher is suitable for electrical fires and will neutralize any acid spills as well 2 A box of baking soda 3 A pair of cable shears 4 crimper stripper and a selection of connec tors 5 A bypass cable long enough to connect any two batteries in your pack in case you have to remove a bad battery from the circuit 6 A pair of insulated battery wrenches 7 Extra fusible links If you blow a fusible link on the road you need to find and correct the problem that blew it Then you need to replace the link in order to drive home 8 Two each 1 2 and 7 16 combination wrenches for installing fusible links 9 A volt ohm meter It should have a scale of at least 0 150 volts Very nice digital ones about the size of a deck of cards are available for 20 30 10 A flashlight 11 Flares Remember safety rules only protect you if you use them and there is no substitute for common sense Page 19 You do not have the resources to build components comparable to to those available commercially and the potential safety risks cannot be justified by the money saved What You Need To Get Started Space Ideally you would have a two car garage or the equivalent that you could dedicate to the project for the duration In real life if you have one stall you can take over completely you re doing well Many of you will have to share a garage space with a gas car or other a
166. sistors This type could provide several speeds At low speeds the unneeded energy from the batteries was burned off as heat by banks of resistors As each bank of resistors was Page 64 PMC controller evolution the early model DCC 96 the long popular model 21 and the current MOSFET model 1221 eliminated from the loop more energy made it to the motor and speed increased As you can guess this system was extremely inefficient because the batteries were es sentially always at full throttle but most of the energy was being siphoned off and wasted It created a terrible fire hazard as well The SCR controller was an enormous improvement It controlled speed by rapidly turning the battery voltage on and off using a silicon controlled rectifier This type of controller is called a chopper The power is actually full on or full off at any given moment but the pulses happen very rapidly so the effect is an averaging out of the power The SCR controller simplified the wiring and gave a smoother and more complete range of speeds However it still lost efficiency through heat and required a bypass contactor to achieve full throttle The SCR controller was both frequency and pulse width modulated At higher speeds it functioned by varying the duration of the on part of the cycle the pulse width while holding the frequency constant At lower speeds however it also needed to vary the number of times the frequency th
167. sitive connection from the ignition switch and ground from the alternator That s why the light comes on briefly when you are starting the car Once the alternator starts putting out 12 volts the light is no longer grounded and goes out If the alternator fails the light grounds and comes on We are using that principle to have the light grounded all the time so that it will be on whenever the ignition is turned on Double check your factory manua to be sure your alternator light works this way before attempting to wire it up The second dash indicator use is the oil pressure light which use for a motor overheating warning The Advanced D C motors come with a built in temperature sensor which is a normally open switch It closes if the field temperature reaches 120 at which point your motor is in danger of overheating and damaging itself There are two small gauge wires from the motor for this sensor Attach either one to chassis ground and the other to the original dash indicator light wire Incidentally have never seen this light come on even when racing at Phoenix in temperatures over 100 but it s comforting to know that it s there to warn me If you have a vacuum pump for power brakes it should be wired to keyed 12 volts and appropriately fused The switch goes into the circuit in the positive wire between the keyed ignition and the pump The pump negative wire should go to chassis ground To protect the
168. small container and brush it on from there Noalox and Cual Aid come as a grey paste They can remain a little sticky to the touch but they do a good job The Corrosion Block is a thin purple liquid which dries completely Its one drawback is that it attracts and kills small insects so you will have to clear dead flies and gnats from your battery posts occasionally There are numerous other brands and similar products available at electrical and electronic suppliers Each will have slightly different advantages and disadvan tages For example for years used a product called Korode Kure It was a black tarry substance which you painted all over the post after the cable was attached It did a great job but would get runny with heat and drip down the side of the battery looking really ugly Once the battery post and interconnect are treated with the chemical of your choice they need to be bolted together Insert a 5 16 bolt through a flat washer then through the battery post then through the intercon nect On the other end of the bolt install a Belleville washer with the concave side facing the interconnect and a nut Tighten using two insulated battery wrenches The Belleville washer is a special washer to prevent the connection from loosening due to creep of the lead in the battery post The washer is concave in shape with a much more precise and uniform spring ten sion than ordinary lock washers In some industrial ap
169. so on This will cause the piece you are installing to tilt slightly and you will not get a proper tight fit when you are finished You may even damage threads When tightening bolts in a circle use a criss cross pattern tightening each bolt a little bit and making several passes over the whole pattern Page 43 Instead tighten bolt by just a couple of turns then move to a bolt across the circle from it then across again to a new bolt Tighten each one only a little bit each time and make several complete passes until all bolts are adequately tight Use a consistent pattern to be sure you aren t missing any of the bolts Flywheel amp Clutch We discussed earlier why we still use a transmission and clutch Now let s talk a little about the flywheel The flywheel has a safety function If you were to over rev the motor with no load flooring the throttle with the car out of gear for example the motor could run away and self destruct The flywheel provides just enough load to help protect against that Some people suggest lightening the flywheel to improve drivetrain efficiency There is some advantage to this The most benefit would come from removing the ring gear which is no longer needed The spinning flywheel teeth actually create some drag through air turbulence This modification is not really necessary for the average conversion though It s something for electric vehicle hot rodders to play with since
170. st on the whole pack The follow ing two pages are charts you can photocopy and use for 6 volt or 12 volt packs up to 144 volts This test should be done when the pack is fully charged and has rested off the charger for a few hours With a voltmeter check the voltage on each battery A fully charged 6 volt battery should read about 6 3 volts and a fully charged 12 volt battery should read about 12 7 volts Page 120 BATTERY HYDROMETER TEST CHART 6 VOLT BATTERIES DATE CAR PACK VOLTAGE BATTERY CELL 1 CELL 2 CELL 3 BATTERY CELL 1 CELL 2 CELL 3 1 13 SP SP 2 14 SP SP 3 15 SP SP GR 4 16 SP SP GR 5 17 SP SP GR 6 18 SP SP GR 7 19 SP SP GR 8 20 SP SP GR 9 21 SP SP 10 22 SP SP GR 11 23 SP SP GR 12 24 SP SP GR Page 121 BATTERY HYDROMETER TEST CHART 12 VOLT BATTERIES PACK VOLTAGE BATTERY CELL 1 CELL 2 CELL 3 CELL 4 CELL 5 CELL 6 1 V SP GR 2 SP GR 3 SP GR 4 SP GR 5 SP GR 6 SP GR 7 SP GR 8 SP GR 9 SP GR 10 SP GR 11 SP GR 12 SP GR Page 122 Specific Gravity Electrolyte Adjusting _Temp
171. steep grades 0 when coasting Lower amp draws also mean cooler operating tempera tures and less stress for the motor and controller In simplistic terms amperage increases as voltage decreases You can verify this by watching your gauges as you accelerate This is one reason a 96 volt system is better than a 72 volt system With higher voltage available it needs less amperage This is also the reason why an EV is most efficient at high rom meaning the top safe speed below redline for a particular gear In general higher rom means higher voltage and speed but lower amperage and torque Your car may have a voltmeter for battery pack voltage or a state of charge meter We talked earlier about the specific peculiarities of sampling type state of charge meters We ll talk here about how to use a real time analog state of charge meter or voltmeter Both of these gauges provide the same information The state of charge displays it as a percentage from 0 to Page 116 Like motor or engine an electric motor will self destruct if it is forced to turn faster than it was intended to turn 100 which is what we are all used to in gas cars The voltmeter will give you more precise information measured in actual voltage but it will require some interpreta tion from you to determine state of charge These gauges will fluctuate with the throttle as you depress the throttle the ammeter will climb and the state of charg
172. t 103 106 types 64 66 wiring 54 91 93 99 101 102 101 Cooling controllers 66 67 motors 47 64 Cost batteries 49 50 conversion 12 23 electricity 12 motors 39 operating 12 126 Crimping technique 88 97 98 98 tool 88 88 98 Dash indicators 94 117 Direct drive 31 DC controllers 64 67 definition 9 motors 39 DC DC converter function of 76 isolation 77 Sevcon 76 used with battery 36 wiring 92 93 Efficiency ammeter measuring 73 116 breaking in 114 controllers 64 66 EV vs gas car 14 frequent use 120 log book 119 motors 39 rom 115 116 solar panels 9 10 Energy for cruising 9 per mile 12 wasted 14 Fan battery ventilation 62 96 96 motor 47 64 Flywheel balancing 44 importance of 44 lightening 44 Fuse block 89 91 91 93 Fusible link installing 104 105 mounting 71 71 placement 71 102 102 safety disconnect 18 71 Gauges ammeter 72 73 74 75 75 116 117 automotive 72 73 72 74 digital 72 72 fuel gauge 72 73 74 75 LED segmented bar 72 73 mounting 72 75 75 panel meters 71 72 72 readings 115 116 117 120 sampling 73 state of charge 72 74 75 116 117 120 tachometer 74 visibility 72 73 74 75 voltmeter auxiliar bat tery 74 74 voltmeter traction pack 73 72 74 116 117 watt hour meter 73 74 wiring 89 92 93 94 Generators aircraft 38 onboard 9 Hills battery gassing 118 controller overheating 115 118 driving 113 114 115 116 fuel gaug
173. t 20 hours of operation to seat properly before the motor will operate at full effi ciency As the brushes wear in the motor will become quieter and quieter Driving an EV for optimum performance requires many of the same techniques as driving a gas car for optimum fuel efficiency These include smooth acceleration and deceleration and watching traffic flow ahead to maintain as even a pace as possible minimizing the need for brak ing or sudden changes in speed or direction However optimum EV driving also requires some different techniques from those used on combustion engine cars There will be a learning period before the driver operates at full efficiency Page 114 Driving Use the clutch to accelerate out of a stop Revving the motor up a little before slipping the clutch will give you smooth yet sprightly acceleration Not using the clutch gives a jolting but more sluggish start It is not necessary nor recommended to apply more than a little throttle with the clutch in and then only brief ly Operating the motor at high rom especially with load on it could damage the motor On acceleration the ammeter will peg at 400 amps then begin to fall off It will stabilize around 150 200 amps At the same time the voltmeter or state of charge meter will fall off sharply then climb gradually and stabilize This means you have reached the maximum potential for that gear To continue accelerating shift up When shi
174. t pass through a hole cut in sheet metal it should be protected by a grommet If you can t find a grommet to fit the hole it s easy to make one Cut a short piece of hose such as VW fuel line This is a type of rubber hose with a braided cloth surface Slit the hose length wise and cut it to fit the hole so that the hose curls into a donut shape with the slit along the outside edge to receive the edge of the sheet metal Glue it into place with automotive trim cement A grommet made from VW fuel line Loose connections are a source of electrical resis tance Resistance means poor performance corrosion heat and fire hazard Always be sure that any wiring crimps or connections are secure Identifying wires is important This is usually done by color codes and a wiring diagram You will be using some of the car s original wiring for new purposes Any time you need to extend an original wire try to match the original color code as closely as possible Many wires have a base color and a contrasting stripe Match your new wire to the base color and mark it peri odically at least near any connections with model paint or touch up paint that matches the original stripe If for some reason you have to change a wire color record the location and color change in your Project Notebook Likewise when you add new wires develop your own color code and diagram for them in your Project Notebook Nothing is worse than a vehicle all prettil
175. te fluid pump adds one more component and level of complexity to the system Finally electric motors have a different torque profile and want different shift points from those of a combustion engine wouldn t be surprised if there is a suitable auto matic transmission for an electric car in the next few years but it isn t here yet We do maintain the original clutch and flywheel in the conversion One reason is safety If anything should go wrong while the car is in motion a motor lock or runaway locked up wheeH it is possible to dis connect the motor from the wheels using the clutch Another reason is comfort Using the clutch gives a much smoother ride Another drive option often suggested is direct drive or even a motor on each wheel do not recommend either option Direct drive can be done but it is ex pensive and bulky Without a transmission an enormous amount of voltage or current is needed to achieve a com bination of good acceleration and highway speeds Most direct drive cars use packs of more than 300 volts which means a lot of batteries It also means very expensive components and special charging requirements Motors on the wheels themselves have design problems Page 31 poor chassis will give you a poor EV due to the unsprung weight of the motor Multiple motors need very tricky synchronization of speed controls and steering Options In general a Sally Rand stripper version
176. te most efficiently with best battery life and performance if it is used often If it sits for a week unused it should be charged briefly to top up the batteries Some chargers have an automatic shut off Others simply taper to a low finish charge If yours does not turn off automatically it should be turned off soon after the car is fully charged The charger may have adjustable current This is handy when you are charging away from home lf the circuit you plug into is rated lower than your usual charging outlet you can reduce the current draw until the charger no longer throws the building s circuit breaker You will charge more slowly but you ll still be charging If you come out after a full charging period and find that all of the battery tops except one are damp that one battery is failing It is not accepting a full charge and the charger is boiling the other batteries while trying to bring that one up If one or two batteries fail during the first two years or so you can simply replace them However after the three year point you should seriously consider replacing the whole pack At that stage if one or two are failing others are probably not far behind It is not good to mix new fresh batteries with old tired ones The charger will be overcharging the new batteries and shortening their lives while trying to bring the old batteries up to match If you suspect you have a bad battery do a voltage and specific gravity te
177. th the help of your friends at the dealership and parts house Welders machinists and plastic fabricators can build mounts and boxes for you but they can also assist in the design stage by recommending types of materials construction techniques and explaining the strength re quirements to do the job properly Books There are two books that are essential for your conversion The first is the factory repeat factory manual for your make model and year of car This is the same manual the dealership issues to its mechanics An aftermarket manual will not be specific enough especially for things like wiring diagrams The factory Page 24 Your Project Notebook will be the factory manual for your conversion manual will guide you through the disassembly of the internal combustion system provide a road map to the existing 12 volt system and assist you in other mechani cal work such as brakes and suspension The second is a Project Notebook Use something you re comfortable with a spiral notebook three ring binder blank bound book or whatever you like Reserve it for this project alone and keep it where you can always find it easily You will need to make notes and drawings and jot down measurements as you work on the car Keeping them all in one place will make it easy to refer to them later Be sure to label your drawings and make your notes detailed enough that they will still make sense to you in a couple of
178. then cut the tape Depending on how many small gauge wires you are including you may want to secure one or more on one side of the cables flip the assembly over and secure the remaining wire s in the trough on the other side Use only the minimal amount of tape necessary as too much tape will make it hard to pass the cables through the hose Align the cables and wires neatly and secure them with a single loop of tape at approximately 2 intervals and at the rear PVC hose mark At the front end tape all the cables and wires together wherever one of the shorter cables or wires ends so it will not try to fold back when going through the hose You ll need to lubricate the cable bundle to slide it into the hose There are a couple of ways this can be done One way is to start spraying silicon lubricant into one end of the PVC hose while constantly rotating the hose and keep spraying until it starts to run out the far end Then you feed the cables into it as am about to describe The second method is to lube the cables as they are fed in using electrician s wire pulling lubricant also known as slime In either case remove the PVC hose from the car and secure one end in a bench vise Run a length of mechan ic s wire through the hose so that about 2 of it sticks out at each end Take the wire at the end opposite the vise and thread it through the lug on the end of the longest front cable Then wrap it around itself several time
179. they don t have carburetors anymore There are some reasons not to alter the flywheel Too much lightening will dangerously weaken the flywheel Also it may be impossible to find a local machine shop capable of doing this specialized work If there is a hot rodders machine shop in your area there is one trick would recommend Have the flywheel and clutch balanced together This will give you smoother performance Clutch parts being mounted on The flywheel is part of the clutch assembly When the motor and adaptor Note you are installing the adaptor this is the time to flywheel lock tool at top and replace the clutch pressure plate disc and release paint mark for aligning fly bearing with new parts If you do it right the first wheel and pressure plate time you won t have to change the clutch again until you Page 44 replace the motor brushes at 80 000 miles Motor Mounts Now it s time to install the entire motor adaptor transmission assembly in the car When you disassembled the car you took some measurements to lock in the original position of the transmission You want to duplicate that position when you install the electric motor This is essential for proper shift linkage and driveshaft angularity among other things Any change in the position of the transmission will impair smooth efficient performance Motor adaptor transmission assembly ready to be installed in the car In order to do this yo
180. thick part centered under the punch Strike the top of the punch with a hammer until the punch doesn t move any more Tap upward with the hammer on the release stud on the back of the tool to free the lug To test the crimp lock the lug in a vise and tug sharply on the cable You should be able to lean your weight against the cable and not loosen the crimp The final step is to slide a 1 1 2 piece of 1 diameter shrink tube over the lug and center it on the lug cable joint Shrink the tube into place with a heat gun If you don t have a heat gun you can use a held propane torch by holding the cable assembly about 3 from the visible end of the blue flame You might want to practice this on some scrap shrink tube and cable first Don t try using a hair drier it will take forever have cut open lugs crimped this way many years later and found no corrosion inside at all have never had a failure from this type of crimp Page 98 If necessary a lug can be bent at an angle for a better fit When you are making short cables to connect compo nents you will want to make sure the lugs are oriented correctly for the connections they need to make To do this crimp one lug on first and install it loosely in its proper position Then run the cable to the other connection and mark the cable end and the lug with a crayon to indicate how they should line up If necessary a lug can be bent at an angle for a better fit
181. to our specifications It was a very educational experience Over the years have built more than a dozen electric cars and have supplied parts and advice for more than a hundred projects Every car taught me something and these little bits of knowledge gradually accumulated into a few basic principles that express my personal philosophy on electric cars These are the principles on which this manual is based Simplicity Complexity means opportunities for failure The simpler a system is the less there is to go wrong KISS Keep it Simple Stupid Ease ofuse Simplicity of design must be matched by simplicity of operation An electric car should be familiar and non threatening even to a novice driver Just as mechanical complications lead to mechanical failures complicated operating procedures lead to human failures Proven reliability 1 don t want promises or computer projections I want an actual track record People depend heavily on their cars If the car isn t reliable it s worthless Experimental technologies may be great boons to electric cars someday but the place to test them is not in a car someone depends on to get to work This is also a reason not to re invent the wheel Automotive manufacturers put millions of engineering design hours into their vehicles It makes sense to use as much of their design as possible and make our own modifications as compatible as possible with the original Safety For every
182. ty Metro Custom Kit 13 590 00 This is a custom kit specifically designed to fit 1995 2002 Geo Metro 4 door sedans using a direct drive system with regenerative braking and a 156V battery pack This drive system is manufactured by Solectria Azure Dynamics and was developed from the system used in the Solectria Force INCLUDES Crimper Shears Shrink Tube Solectria AC24 Motor Solectria DMOC445 Controller Westach Gauges amp Shunt amp Anti Corrosion Compound Solectria AT1200 Gearbox amp Wiring Interface Kit Custom Rear Springes In San Fransciso Bay Area Supports amp Half Shafts Vacuum Power Brake System Cable Lugs amp Belleville battery pack available for Solectria DCDC750 Converter Front amp Rear Battery Boxes Precision Tension Washers 1 950 00 Zivan NG3 Charger Voltsporsche AC Custom Kit 12 150 00 This is an AC version of our popular DC Voltsporsche Kit It uses the same battery racks amp boxes and overall layout but runs on a 144V pack of 8V batteries instead of 120V of 6V batteries This car can reach a top speed of 100 mph and a range of 150 miles under good conditions The ultimate combination of performance range and affordability INCLUDES Zivan NG3 Charger All Mounts amp Brackets Crimper Shears Shrink Tube Solectria AC24 Motor Starter Blockoff All Nuts Bolts amp Hardware amp Anti Corrosion Compound Adaptor CC Power DC DC Converter Cable Lugs amp Belle
183. u will need to design your motor mount precisely In most air cooled Volkswagens no motor mount is necessary The electric motor hangs off the transmission just like the original gas engine did For all other cars read on Use a floor jack to raise the assembly until the transmission is back in its original position as veri fied by the measurement you took from the top of the bell housing Now design your motor mount to fill that space between the motor and the chassis You can make a mock up of a motor mount from cardboard or foamcore Make your mock up with the same precision you would use for the real thing When you think you have something that will work take your mock up to a welder for fabrication Better yet see if you can get him to visit your garage and look at the mock up in place Solicit his advice on any reinforcing straps or gussets As with any other metal mounts the finished piece should get several coats of a good corrosion resistant paint as a minimum There are two types of common motor mounts One is a cradle that supports the motor around the middle with a strap over the top This is appropriate for a car with an in line engine This type of mount arrangement also Page 45 requires torque rod to brace the motor against spinning in its cradle Try to use the original chassis motor mount brackets If their placement would cause the cradle to interfere with terminals on the motor it is possible to build
184. uge numbers and needle are easily visible not just the flat face and check it in full sunlight if possible Slight changes in angle can some times make a big difference Plan your gauge mounts so that wires can be collect ed tidily out of sight and danger Choose locations where the driver will not be continually bumping the gauge with arms or knees The dash of a late model Voltsrabbit showing an ammeter and state of charge gauge and the circuit breaker at the bottom Shunt We mentioned the shunt briefly when we were talking about the controller but want to explain it a little more fully here The shunt is necessary for the ammeter Without it you would have to run 2 0 cable up under the dash to your gauge The shunt gets around this by converting the current passing through it to a calibrated millivolt signal This signal can be routed to the gauge on very small wires The ammeter is in fact a millivolt meter that has been calibrated to match the shunt and display in amps The shunt can be mounted anywhere but since you don t want to run cable any further than necessary it is Page 75 DC DC converter best to mount it close to the action by the controller This is why it works out so well when mounted on the component plate When we get to the section on wiring we ll talk about how to hook up the gauges to collect information from different parts of the system DC DC Converter When we were talking
185. ulation you won t get a good crimp If you strip too much you will have bare wire exposed and vulnerable outside the connector Slide the wire into the connector Be sure you are crimping the metal part of the connector not just the insulating sleeve Squeeze first with the flat jaws of the crimping tool then again using the crimping stud to leave a distinctive dimple in the connector Finally give the connector a good hard tug to test the crimp have never had a failure from a properly crimped connector do not believe in soldering these connec tions for several reasons One is that crimp on connec tors are also called solderless connectors God in tended them to work just fine without solder so why waste your time Another reason is that soldering is messy and dan gerous Finally a poorly soldered connection will be worse than one that was not soldered at all Page 88 It is important to keep the 12 volt accessory system and the high voltage traction system isolated from each other There is an occasional exception to this practice For example the wires for my gauges are simply too fine to be effectively crimped so soldered them The 12 volt electrical system for the accessories will ground to the chassis while the main high voltage traction system will not It is important to keep these two systems isolated from each other When you need to ground something in the 12 volt system check your shop manual
186. used to generate electricity to charge the batteries Usually the drive motor is used as the gener ator but sometimes an automotive alternator is used Regeneration is tricky in DC system Special wiring is required for both the motor and controller With improper installation possible failures could include unintended acceleration instead of braking or even damage to the motor At this time regenerative braking for the hobbyist conversion violates the simplicity and safety principles This could change if a regen system were developed by a major controller manufacturer There is also some doubt about the value of regener ation While it can be done effectively in an AC system which is more expensive in a DC system it may not actually provide enough charge to be worthwhile The ideal regen condition is a long downhill However for many people their downhill stretch is when they first leave home and the batteries are fully charged In this instance regen is useless In a typical conversion without regen the motor freewheels and offers no resistance on a downhill live in the mountains and my driving style includes using my downhill momentum to slingshot up the next hill If had regen would be charging the batteries on the downhill but the regen would also be slowing the car and reducing my momentum would have more charge going up the next hill but less momentum 1 suspect the loss of momentum would cancel out any
187. uspension may be coil springs leaf springs or torsion bars Roughly the same options exist for all three types with a couple of exceptions which will point out The easiest option is to find a bolt in set of heavier duty springs To do this check with your parts connection at the dealership to see if there is another model of car with heavier springs that would bolt in Aftermarket overload leaf springs on a Datsun pickup This may actually be another heavier model of car or it may be another version of your model with a larger engine air conditioning or a towing package If you can identify some appropriate parts then you can try to locate them in a wrecking yard Page 109 Air shocks are readily available affordable easy to install adjustable and reliable If you have no luck with the dealer try the after market parts house Some models of cars are more prone to owner modification than others and there are likely to be aftermarket overload springs available for those Be sure to get good quality springs It will mean paying more but it s well worth it Also avoid the spring helpers These are little devices you install between the coils They essentially prevent the spring from compressing fully as it s intended to do The third option is having custom springs built This option is not available for torsion bar suspensions However some torsion bars are adjustable which is an option
188. utely essential if batteries are in side the passenger compartment The box will improve performance by regulating battery temperature In an accident it will protect both the batteries and the pas sengers In operation and charging it will keep fumes away from the passenger compartment Page 59 Batteries should be held down inside the box as well For economy the box can be made of plywood and then painted Plywood is readily available and easy to work The recommended thickness is 5 8 and 1 2 is the abso lute minimum Plywood can be assembled using construc tion cement followed by sheetrock screws A good tech nique to use with sheetrock screws involves two drills Use the first to drill pilot holes and the second to in stall the screws with a screwdriver bit From your battery box design make a list of each plywood piece needed its thickness and dimensions Now make a scale drawing of a full 4 x 8 sheet of plywood and mark off the pieces you need in scale Remember that you will lose about 1 8 with each cut of the ply wood due to the width of the cut itself Do your layout starting with the biggest pieces first and work down to the smallest pieces in order to reduce waste From this drawing you can determine how much of each thickness of plywood you will need Mark each piece on the plywood just before you cut it according to your drawing using a felt pen a square and a straightedge Always measu
189. vacuum switch from arcing a diode should be placed between the positive and negative wires of the pump motor with the band on the diode toward the positive side The charger wiring will vary depending on whether your charger is onboard or offboard and whether it uses 110 volt or 220 volt input A charger with a separate circuit to charge the 12 volt auxiliary battery will re quire some extra wiring These chargers are generally older models and few of them are still in use The one common feature in all these configurations is that there will be wires connected to the most nega Page 94 onboard charger connected an Anderson connector tive and most positive connections of the battery pack These wires will run either to an onboard charger or to a connector for an offboard charger prefer not to connect the charging wires directly to the battery terminals because don t like small gauge connections on the posts However sometimes this is necessary to avoid extra runs of long wires Instead prefer to connect to the battery negative post on the controller and the battery pack positive terminal on the main contactor This will not hurt the components during charging We ll start by describing an onboard charger which is probably 110 volt input Even with an onboard char ger do not recommend wiring the battery pack directly into the charger prefer to use an Anderson connector which gives me a quick disconnect
190. vement which is necessary for traction and handling but it also includes frictions inside the tire as it changes shape while rolling and the cords move against each other At this time the best tires available are the Goodyear Invicta GL and GLFE models They are not yet available in all sizes but it would be worth changing wheels to fit them on your car These tires were devel oped as a result of research by Goodyear on tires for the GM Impact The key is a completely new design for the internal tire structure that lowers rolling resistance without losing traction or handling At highway cruise speeds they will save you up to 50 amps have two Voltsrabbits which are identical ex cept that one has Invictas and the other has ordinary steel radials The difference in performance is impres sive have a friend with a very light three wheeled EV with Invictas If he parks it on the flat without using a parking brake a slight breeze will roll the car Page 111 The word today low rolling resistance tires is Goodyear Invicta There will probably be continuous improvements in low rolling resistance tires so recommend checking on the latest developments Air pressure is also critical to rolling resistance It s very important in an EV to keep the tires properly inflated On the Goodyears this means at the rated maximum pressure If you are interested in experimenting it s easy to check this out for yourself One m
191. ville Battery Filler Solectria DMOC445 Controller Battery Racks amp Holddowns Precision Tension Washers Temp Correcting Hydrometer amp Wiring Interface Kit Battery Boxes amp Vent Fans Battery Interconnects Body Graphics Buss Fusible Links Heavy Duty Springs Torsion Belleville Precision Tension Installation Instructions Westach Gauges amp Shunt Bars amp Shocks Washers Convert It Manual Universal Kits The following kits are universal kits in the sense that they are not designed for any specific model of vehicle They contain the drive components that are common to any conversion It is left to the installer to design and fabricate the pieces that will customize the kit to his or her chassis Light Vehicle Manual Transmission Kit 8 790 00 This kit mounts the motor to the car s original manual transmission The one custom piece that is included is the motor ransmission adaptor We have a substantial library of adaptor patterns and often an adaptor for one model of car will cross over to another model that you might not expect If we do not have a pattern for your transmission we can make one easily Suitable for compacts sports cars and kit cars up to 2 400 Ibs original curb weight INCLUDES Cable Lugs amp Belleville Solectria AC24 Motor Solectria DMOC445 Controller DC DC Converter Precision Tension Washers Adaptor amp Wiring Interface Kit Charger Crimper Shears
192. volt input charger anda 220 volt input charger right In the past it has usually been necessary to choose one input voltage or the other The 110 volt system had a further advantage because it was the first to come out in the smaller compact version Now compact 220 volt chargers are becoming avail able and even compact chargers that can accept either input voltage There are also devices being developed and introduced to pulse the charging current allowing batteries to be charged much faster Chargers are likely to evolve quickly in the next few years In addition you must consider the output voltage Some chargers come preset for one size of battery pack and cannot be adjusted If you decide to increase the size of your battery pack you will need to get a new Page 78 power brake vacuum system including pump reservoir switch and brass fittings charger Others offer options and can be adjusted internally for various battery pack voltages do not recommend home built chargers They will sacrifice safety or battery life or both You will have to choose the charger that best suits your needs Always buy something that is actually in production from a real manufacturer is packaged in a sturdy case has some kind of ground fault interrupter or similar protection and provides an automatically tapering charge based on battery pack charge level Beyond those constants ask the following questions 1 How big
193. warning on McPherson struts DO NOT attempt to replace a strut cartridge in the safety and comfort of your own garage The struts are compressed under a great deal of pressure and held in place by one bolt If you loosen that bolt without having the spring properly restrained the strut will turn into an unguided missile Instead recommend removing the entire strut assembly from the car and taking it to a shop that spe cializes in that make of car They will have a profes sional spring compressor specifically for that purpose The one have mounts to the wall has a safety cage to contain the spring and uses air shocks to compress the spring Don t buy rent one of the cheap spring compres sor tools that are available They will only get you hurt These consist of a couple of pieces of readybolt with hooks on them The theory is that you crank the hooks down on the readybolt and the hooks compress the spring In real life as you crank down the hooks sim ply start to walk around the spring Tires The kind of tires you have on your EV will make a big difference in its handling and range The first rule is radials only no bias ply tires Almost everybody uses radials these days anyway but it bears emphasizing Bias tires simply cannot stand the stresses an EV will put on them The most important feature in tires for an EV is low rolling resistance Rolling resistance includes the friction of the tire against the pa
194. weeks or a couple of years What you are building is the factory manual for your conversion A third book is highly recommended This is Battery Book One written and published by Curtis Instruments Inc This book will give you a detailed picture of how lead acid traction batteries work and how to optimize their performance This book is available through Electro Automotive Tools The following is a recommended list of tools and supplies If you are an automotive hobbyist you will have most of them already Some of the specialty tools may be included in your kit or may be available from your kit supplier Many of the tools will not be needed if you are installing a bolt in kit Large Tools Engine hoist amp sling can be rented Floor jack min 1 112 ton rating Heavy duty stands Sawhorses Creeper Power Tools Electric drills lt 3 8 drive amp 1 2 drive with drill index 1 16 to 1 2 by 1 64 increments hole saw attachments and unibit Jigsaw Milwaukee Sawzall type tool preferred if available with 32 tooth metal cutting blades Circular saw with plywood blades and cutting guide Hand grinder with metal grinding wheel and sanding disks Heat gun or hand held propane torch Hand Tools Razor box knife Cable crimper Cable shears Wire stripper amp crimper Small soldering iron Hammer Pliers Combination end wrench set 8mm 19mm metric or 3 8 3 4 inch to suit your car 3 8 drive ratchet and sockets same metri
195. when you test that pack We ll start testing at the pack that connects to the main contactor positive terminal For purposes of dis cussion we ll call this the most positive pack Be sure that the circuit breaker is off the onboard charger is disconnected from the batteries at the Anderson connector the negative cable from the next pack is not touching any battery terminal or chassis the ignition key is off the negative cable of the auxiliary battery is disconnected and not touching anything the parking brake is on and the car is out of gear Raise the drive end of the car and support it with jackstands For front wheel drive cars position the jack under the point where the transmission and adaptor mate to lift Locate the final battery interconnect in the most positive pack This won t necessarily be the last one in the circuit physically It will be the one containing the fusible link the only one you haven t installed yet Touch it lightly across the battery terminals where it will be installed If there is no spark install the interconnect Page 104 Checking battery pack voltage with a voltmeter If there is a spark remove the interconnect and recheck the battery orientations and intercon nects against your original diagram If those are correct check for shorts in the positive cable going out of the pack Recheck that the negative cable is not touching anything With a voltmeter check the most positive and most
196. would melt the tool and could cause an explosion If you must lean over the batteries cover them with a fender cover rubber floor mat blanket or piece of cardboard It s a good idea to have a pair of dedicated battery wrenches One should have a box end exposed and the other should have an open end exposed The rest of the wrenches should be completely insulated either with electrical tape or a plastic dip coating Containment It is always recommended to enclose batteries a box If the batteries are inside the passenger compartment this is absolutely required It is also necessary to cage and secure the batteries to keep them from flying loose in a collision or rollover Page 17 final emergency disconnect is a good pair of cable shears If all else fails cut a cable We ll talk more about containment in the chapter on battery racks and boxes Electrical Danger Low Voltage System This is the 12 volt system that powers lights and accessories High current caused by a short can travel through your entire wiring system damaging wires and components and possibly causing a fire Always disconnect the auxiliary 12 volt battery at the negative cable when working on the 12 volt system Use good quality wire and connectors of the proper gauge and follow the techniques explained in the chapter on wiring High Voltage System Isolate the high voltage system completely so that it does not ground through the
197. y wiring the ignition 12 volts to the pull down coil as before Choose a gauge of wire sufficient for the load of your components and install it between the positive 12 volt auxiliary battery and the movable arm terminal of the relay Connect the stationary contact terminal of the relay to the fuse block So far the DC DC converter and the battery pack voltage gauge or state of charge gauge are connected only at the battery pack voltage positive input terminal The negative input terminal for both components should be connected to the battery pack negative terminal of the controller using a tap The DC DC input wiring only carries 6 amps so 16 gauge wire is sufficient The output wiring however will carry up to 30 amps so it should be 10 gauge The output negative terminal should be wired to chassis ground The output positive terminal connects to the 12 volt auxiliary battery positive terminal The ammeter does not have positive and negative terminals as such You will need to refer to the spe cific instructions for the gauge you buy However in general the ammeter will have two terminals which will be wired to the two small terminals on the shunt You have a 50 50 chance of wiring it the right way the first time If when it s all hooked up the ammeter wants to run backwards reverse the two shunt connections If your gauges are backlit and they should be now is the time to wire the lights For each gauge one lighting wir
198. y wired with a single color of wire You can make things easier by following established protocols in your original shop manual this color is always ground etc Installing Front To Rear Wiring This topic includes both high and low current wir ing In most cars the battery pack is split between the front and the rear of the car and it is necessary to run Page 83 small gauge wires and two large cables between the two areas This is most easily done if the cables and wires are gathered together and installed all at once There is another reason to run the two cables to gether as well Running them side by side will minimize any high frequency electrical noise from the controller which might interfere with your radio You want to install the wires and cables where they will be protected from road hazards Some cars may offer a built in protected wiring channel For instance my customer with the Porsche 914 used the heater tube If you are running the cables and wires beneath the car they will need added protection like to use PVC flexible hose which is also called spa hose It is available in various diameters use the 1 1 2 diame ter hose which is just barely wide enough for a pair of 2 0 cables A little later I ll explain how to feed the cables through the hose Before you work with this hose it helps to let it lie in the sun for a while to soften up and relax Check the underside of the car for a likely path for
199. ydrogen becomes explosive when it reaches a 4 concentration by volume It is rare for battery to explode but if one does it will scatter pieces of case and hot acid and may start a fire Most batteries now come with flame Page 16 Insulated battery wrenches barrier caps However all sources of flame and sparks should be kept away from batteries just as you would keep them away from your gas tank To avoid sparks do not break a live circuit at the battery terminal Instead throw the circuit breaker and turn off the ignition key Locate components that may produce sparks away from the batteries Keep in mind that hydrogen is lighter than air and will rise For that reason it is safer to locate some components below the level of the battery tops Leave the battery caps on during charging and open the box lid or provide a fan for ventilation If you use a fan be sure it has an anti arc feature This is a brushless fan or one that is rated as safe for marine bilges If the batteries release a strong sharp odor this is a warning Turn off the charger and check it for proper functioning If smoke violent gassing or spewing of electrolyte occurs shut off the charger IMMEDIATELY and check the charger and batteries for defects Avoid leaning over batteries when possible This protects you from injury as well as reducing the chance that a tool may fall from your hand or pocket and short across the battery terminals This
200. ze of a hockey puck This also is not a place to skimp One style holds itself in place with a setscrew through the side of the hub Another uses a flat washer and a bolt in the end of the crankshaft These both have the same problem threads loosen It doesn t matter how much Loctite you use It will eventually work loose and you ll be a pedestrian A third style is the shrink fit In this type the hub is heated very hot then slipped over the shaft and allowed to cool and shrink into place This will give a good secure connection Unfortunately it s too secure If you ever need to remove that hub you ve got a prob lem The last style is a taperlock This like the plate comes in two pieces One is a cone shaped bushing that slides over the motor shaft It also slides inside the second piece a hub that mounts to the original flywheel The cone has a slit through it and starts out a little bigger than the hole it fits into so it won t go in all the way As screws are tightened to pull it in it compresses the slit and squeezes the motor shaft It s easy to install but once it s in place the only way it will come off is with a special pulling tool Page 41 This taperlock style of hub is the most secure for an electric vehicle and is the standard for high torque high rpm industrial power shaft connections There are some numbers that need special attention here The first is the magic number On the gas or diesel car th

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