General Question

I am just starting to think of building an EV. I found some kits built for small to mid size car conversions. Looking at converting a Ford Probe.

I just have a few general questions. I will be getting the book Build Your Own Electric Vehicle so that may help answer some of them when it comes. but Can you drive electric cars in the winter, or would there be issues with that, what about heat in the car, or Air Conditioning. Can they be fairly quick cars? I am hoping to be able to drive this on the highway, etc. Highway speeds in my area are 70mph.

Any iessues with a car that was equiped with power stearing, breaks, etc… Even a URL to a web page with all that info would be a huge help. Like I said earlier, I’m just now getting the idea of maybe doing a project, so I want all the info I can get before I start.

I found this Ford Probe conversion diary through VEVA.bc.ca

http://www.evconvert.com/eve/

About how far can one drive on a charge would you say? Does 100 miles or more sound reasonable?

It all depends on the weight of your car, how fast you drive and how much battery capacity you have.

I got ya.

What does one of these conversions usually cost not including the car? I’ve found some kits for $3,700 but that doesn’t include batteries, or the charger, etc… Don’t want to dive into something I can’t finish.

[QUOTE=jjohnston;4264]I am just starting to think of building an EV. would there be issues with that, what about heat in the car, or Air Conditioning. Can they be fairly quick cars? I am hoping to be able to drive this on the highway, etc. Highway speeds in my area are 70mph.
[/QUOTE]

Today an EV that can go 100 miles at highway speeds is a rare bird. Possible - yes - but not easily or for low cost.

The efforts of many of this forum’s members are just what may make that type of EV possible.

Todays factory made small (ICE) cars weigh around 3000 pounds. For a reasonable size battery pack you would need to keep the total weight of your EV well below that figure to get the type of range and speed you mention.

Air Conditioning is another problem for EV’s. Again using todays common type of cooling it is a very large power draw on even a gas engine (ICE) and in your EV would use way to much of your available battery power. Heat falls into the same problem area but may be somewhat easier to remedy using some of the heat generated from use of the EV without a large extra drain on your battery.

Do not let these problems stop you. Explore, research and experiment building your own EV. You just may help everyone learn a little more on getting these electric powered cars into the mainstream of American transportation.

Thanks, that was really helpfull. I was thinking of the range. And part of me was thinking if I needed 144 volts for my motor. that would be 12 12 volt batteries. What if I used 24 12 volt batteries. and just wired 2 sets of 12 batteries in series, then wired those sets together in parrell. would that double the range, or would the extra weight kill the whole idea. I mean 12 extra batteries would be almost an extra 1000 lbs. I’ll keep looking into it.

What could one expect to spend on a project excluding the price of the car? Do you think one could be done for $4,000 total?

[QUOTE=jjohnston;4306]Thanks, that was really helpfull. I was thinking of the range. And part of me was thinking if I needed 144 volts for my motor. that would be 12 12 volt batteries. What if I used 24 12 volt batteries. and just wired 2 sets of 12 batteries in series, then wired those sets together in parrell. would that double the range, or would the extra weight kill the whole idea. I mean 12 extra batteries would be almost an extra 1000 lbs. I’ll keep looking into it.

What could one expect to spend on a project excluding the price of the car? Do you think one could be done for $4,000 total?[/QUOTE]

very unlikely, but if you could get motor and controller for under a grand, bats for under 1500, and various other parts (gauges, cable, DC-DC, Charger, Contactor, fuses and adapter plate) for the remaining money, then you might be able to. Getting motor and controller for a car for under a grand and have it actually drivable, is a pretty tall order.

Ok, that makes sense. I found some place online that sells a 144 volt kit with a 9" motor controller, and a bunch of other parts ive never heard of. For $3,700. and batteries are like $240 each and I need 12 so I guess its going to get expensive fast. Are there cheaper but still good batteries to use other than the trojan batteries?

Also… What about recharging the batteries when driving… Could you use the forward motion of the car to charge the bat? For example. the tires rotate. could you hook up like a generator to spin with the tires. kinda like how the altinator works with the engine revs… then as long as the car is moving the car is charging…???

[QUOTE=jjohnston;4310]Also… What about recharging the batteries when driving… Could you use the forward motion of the car to charge the bat? For example. the tires rotate. could you hook up like a generator to spin with the tires. kinda like how the altinator works with the engine revs… then as long as the car is moving the car is charging…???[/QUOTE]

Its been discussed alot on diyelectriccar.com before… basically, generators require torque to turn. The higher the load (batteries) the harder it is to turn. The amount of energy required to push the vehicle with the extra drag would not be offset by the generator putting anything into the batteries. Generators are inefficient, as well as the charger and you’d likely only get a few percent back. You might consider only turning the “generator” on when slowing down to act as regen, but if its on all the time, it will do more harm than good.

Ok, that makes sence. Thanks everyone for your help! I’m learning a lot so far.