I just bought a house, and now I am currently less than 2 miles from work. The fastest speed limit between here and there is 40mph.
This helps me with my range and required speeds I need to take care of.
I would like my range to be about 15 miles per charge, top speed to be a minimum of 50mph, and be able to sit up to 2 people in an enclosed street leagal vehicle. It has to have a heater, and most normal car acessories (no need for A/C seeing as I dont use it anyways). I also need it to be able to withstand chicago winters, so lots of protection from salt, snow, and cold weather.
With this all in mind, I have a strong starting point and would really like to go further with this. Tonight I will start making some sketches and give my self some ideas of what I want to do with it. I will be building the whole thing by hand more than likely, and mostly out of aluminum and stainless steel.
At the moment I dont know what motor it is that I want to power it, BUT I do know I want to if at all possible, power it with only capacitors seeing as you dont have to worry about recharging and the like with all sorts of controlers to make sure it needs a steady charge.
If you’ve got the dough, why not do a Porsche 914 conversion? You can find donor cars on eBay cheap enough. I saw a project car 914 a couple weeks ago that would have been perfect. You’re going to disassemble it anyway so why not buy it like that?
There’s a company that sells a conversion kit specifically for the 914.
The 914 is rather plain stock but there are hot looking aftermarket body kits for it. I’d totally dig an electric 914 with a body kit.
Unless you’re a tinker’er, you could probably find somone’s half built project with the parts you need for a steal. With very low demands from this vehicle, you could get away with a low voltage DC motor mated to a stock transmission and a handfull of batteries. I haven’t built one yet, but I’ve done enough research (which isn’t much either) that you shouldn’t have much problem finding what you need vs. building from scratch.
honestly, i know it sounds weird… but i would rather build from stratch, because i want to learn everything i can not just about electric cars, but I also want to and have to encorporate some innovative ideas into the car so that i can see how some of my test ideas work. I cant do that with most existing cars out there.
I might use some other cars parts out there, but the majority of them will be designed and built by me.
I am an inventor, so i dont mind the challange. besides… i never know if i might just come up with an idea to help out the production/build of something that could revolutionize something… never know till you try it.
Before you spend a lot of time starting from scratch look into how big a PITA it is to license a car built from scratch. Some states this is no big deal but in others it is virtually impossible. We built one in the mid 80’s and wound up buying a VW bug just so we could license the car. The only part on the project that was VW was the vin plate that we welded to the frame.
Before you spend a lot of time starting from scratch look into how big a PITA it is to license a car built from scratch. Some states this is no big deal but in others it is virtually impossible. We built one in the mid 80’s and wound up buying a VW bug just so we could license the car. The only part on the project that was VW was the vin plate that we welded to the frame.
Lazlow[/QUOTE]
honestly thats almost exactly what i was going to do. In IL we dont need Emissions tests on OBD1 cars so that will help so i wont need to go in and get it inspected and all, and the car will be basicly cheap on insurance that way it doesn’t cost me much. I was thinking something like an old Nissan or something for insurance reasons.
otherwise the rest of the car will be custom built so that i can see about maybe selling ideas to car manufactures for increased ease of construction and what not.
Check with you insurance too. They may have a cow or they may just shrug and say whatever. We had to do a couple of odd things on the insurance back then (too long ago) but the companies are a lot different now.
[QUOTE=Lazlow;462]Check with you insurance too. They may have a cow or they may just shrug and say whatever. We had to do a couple of odd things on the insurance back then (too long ago) but the companies are a lot different now.
Good Luck
Lazlow[/QUOTE]
I was just going to get comprehensive, but I have a few friends that work for insurance companys so i’ll figure something out after its built.
thanks for the links! yea i was designing the frame a bit last night, but i decided i needed some more design work for the exterior before i started frame design.
but it looks like i found a welder and a grinder. I also have a HUGE air compressor that i can easily fit in that i still need to wire up. I have a few more tools to get and of corse material before i start, but once i brush up on my welding i’ll be going to town with this project.
as for the cars design, i will stick to honda and audi concept design styles. I have some pictures at home of an idea of what i want but I will be doing a hybrid of the design styles.
[QUOTE=Jack the R;505]That may give them enough wiggle room to deny you coverage in an accident.[/QUOTE]
I second Jack’s statement. My cousin lost coverage when he went off the road in his Nova. He had just swapped out his 8cyl for a 6cyl. You’d think maybe if he had just gone to a V8 they would have an argument, but going from 8 to 6 they still had one. Weight distribution and overall weight change was cited as being a likely contributor and since they were not notified of the change the coverage was nullified.
If your weight distribution and/or overall weight is any different they could have enough to screw you. Just a simple rear-ender could result in one very annoying sentence in the report… Primary contributors to collision were 1) Inadequate braking power caused by significantly increased vehicle weight and 2) Loss of traction due to abnormal weight transfer caused by unauthorized modification to original designed weight distribution.
I’d give them a call and ask what the difference in premium would be if you converted to electric. Then you can work in the change. The good thing is you already have a policy so they may want to keep your business and say “It’s ok, no change, but thanks for letting us know.” At least then a note will be made and THEY are fully aware. Since you’re not over you GVWR (I hope) you will not be illegal and they should have no concern.
You may very well come up with something never thought of before.
I saw you were using Autocad. I’m doing the same, but my skills have gotten rusty from not using it.
I’m still in 2D with my design, but will do some solid modeling soon.[/QUOTE]
if you need anything let me know i dont use it for work really at all any more and it would be nice to play more with it. I dont really like that design because i know i need alot more into it like entrance into the vehicle so that means i need to rebuild the structure a bit and all, and i have to add mounts for the wheels, turning radius’s, mounts for my motors, and i have to triangulate it a bit too since it would twist actually because of not enough support going in specific sections.
otherwise thanks though! i’ll work more on it soon and see what else i can come up with for it… i’m trying to make it cheap and VERY effective at the same time… so we’ll see.
