New Guy: Electric Muscle Car

[QUOTE=MoparGarage;3615]Tom,

That would almost meet my goals. A range of 65 miles is great but I’d like to achieve a 75-80 mph top speed.

Now I have 2 questions if anyone can help:

At the same voltage, with the same controller, is the Warp9 more powerful than the Advanced DC fb1 4001A Motor?

How much would I gain over the above 120 volt results if I used 144 volts (or more)?

Again, thanks for any info,
Bruce[/QUOTE]

Bruce, your goals are kind of lofty. I mean they are doable but you’re going have to have a lot of batteries to do it. Or a lot of money for Lithium batteries.

As far as I was told by the Motor Guru, Jim Husted, the Advance DC and the WarP9 are very similar. I was told that the WarP9 comes with somewhat more “brush advance” so while it has a little less low end torque, it has a little better high end torque and can be run at a higher maximum voltage. The WarP9 also advertises that it has bigger brushes.

A higher voltage should give you a higher top speed and acceleration. You can play with the calculator on EV Convert to see.

I can get over 85 MPH in my eLectric DeLorean, but only 30 - 40 miles on a charge, but never both, and that’s with babying it. (I have 13 Deka 9A31 12V/100ah batteries.) Babying it means accelerating at a snail’s pace and watching your battery current like a hawk. You have to imagine you have a 2 gallon fuel tank. You can drive fast or you can drive far but not both.

Dave Delman
eLectricDeLorean.com
evalbum.com/1482

[QUOTE=drdhdmd;5494]Bruce, your goals are kind of lofty. I mean they are doable but you’re going have to have a lot of batteries to do it. Or a lot of money for Lithium batteries.

As far as I was told by the Motor Guru, Jim Husted, the Advance DC and the WarP9 are very similar. I was told that the WarP9 comes with somewhat more “brush advance” so while it has a little less low end torque, it has a little better high end torque and can be run at a higher maximum voltage. The WarP9 also advertises that it has bigger brushes.

A higher voltage should give you a higher top speed and acceleration. You can play with the calculator on EV Convert to see.

I can get over 85 MPH in my eLectric DeLorean, but only 30 - 40 miles on a charge, but never both, and that’s with babying it. (I have 13 Deka 9A31 12V/100ah batteries.) Babying it means accelerating at a snail’s pace and watching your battery current like a hawk. You have to imagine you have a 2 gallon fuel tank. You can drive fast or you can drive far but not both.

Dave Delman
eLectricDeLorean.com
evalbum.com/1482[/QUOTE]

Thanks Dave. Wow, I had forgotten that I even posted this. LOL. A lot has transpired since last June. Yes, I eventually lowered my goals and the car is now essentially finished. However, my defective LogiSystems controller blew up during my very first test drive. I know (NOW) that they have had lots of problems. I hear that they have a new control board and are finally doing repairs on the defective controllers, so I am anxious to get mine back from them.

I ended up using a Warp9 and went with 156 volts using 26 Trojan T-125 batteries. Hopefully soon I’ll see how well it does :slight_smile:

Bruce
http://electricmopar.blogspot.com

Bruce,
I think it is a great idea to do this and show that it can be done, also I think gas will be obsolete some day and you are just way ahead of everyone else who will have to convert their car some day anyways. I am a huge Mopar fan and I actually am a proud owner of a 1973 Dodge Challenger that I want to convert to electric some day. Neil Young had a 1963 Lincoln that he had converted here
http://www.lincvolt.com/
and check the blog: http://www.lincvolt.com/pblog/
and the stats http://lincvolt.force.com/
This 19 foot ocean-liner weighs 5000 pounds. It uses over 300 volts, and also uses a rotary generator with fuel to power the vehicle after the batteries run down. It has been run on CNG and biodiesel, green fuels. I was totally against the idea of a gas generator that uses gas but if you could get 100 mpg from the vehicle using diesel I am guessing that is much better than what you are currently driving. The forum says that the technology to propel big cars is in the near future. Say you convert your car with a high voltage controller now and lead acid batteries, maybe in a few years when your batteries wear out you could just upgrade to something that will get you 100 miles on a charge and is readily available. Budget is also a big issue. If you can afford it AC has much more range, but I think it costs about twice as much. I don’t know much about it because I can only afford a DC system. If people have converted little cars with electric motors and you attempt to use a bigger car with a bigger electric motor and more batteries onboard I think you will find a way to make it work. I think everyone here is on this site because they don’t want to just accept the status-quo vehicles that have been served up to us by big business automakers and they have a strong determination to do what hasn’t been done before, so I think you should carry out that same principle with this vehicle. To everyone instead of saying how it won’t work maybe look harder and see what will work. What would you like to get for range?
I am doing a conversion of a little Saturn SC2 that weighs 2300 lbs and I think I am about halfway done, since your vehicle is approximately twice the weight maybe you could just see what it takes to get close to those stats and multiply it x2? I know its not an exact comparison but I would think it is somewhat close.

The classic muscle autos that ruled the era of sixties and seventies are back. Car manufacturers have begun making modern muscle autos and are bringing them in market with a new futuristic image. Although, most people are not huge fan of such muscle cars, they are actually for individuals who love thrill, fun and adventure.

[QUOTE=MoparGarage;3615]
How much would I gain over the above 120 volt results if I used 144 volts (or more)?[/QUOTE]

The increase in speed/power would be significant:

400amp @ 120 = 48kw = 62.4 HP

400amp @ 144 = 57.6kw = 74.9HP

And this is at a constant current, but when you increase voltage current goes up too:

400amp @ 120V = 48kw (62 HP) = 0.3 ohm motor resistance.

144v / 0.3 ohm = 480amp = 69kw (90 HP)

192v / 0.3 ohm = 640amp = 123kw (160 HP)

This motor resistance is purely hypothetical. A motor’s resistance changes dynamically with RPM, so these numbers are based on a one RPM. The top speed of the motor is more or less directly linked with the voltage.

[QUOTE=MoparGarage;3570]Yes mtngazer, I guess I am nuts. After all, I got interested in this EV stuff - and I want to have something different than everyone else. No offense taken. :smiley:

Anyway, that is not really the point. I don’t intend to sell it. I don’t own it for its monetary worth. Similarly to the gentleman who owns the Electric DeLorian, this is a car I own because I enjoy having it. I consider it a work of American art - a symbol of a great time in our history. I think it would be cool to demonstrate it’s old school looks and technology blended with some new ideas. AND, I could actually drive it cleanly and economically.

Thanks for the response! Let’s hear from some others. What’s my range and speed likely to be?[/QUOTE]

Hey, good luck on this project. I really hope it works and would love to hear how it goes. I’ve been thinking something along the same line. I’m in the market for a “new car” want it to be electric since we have our VW for our big needs, but think an electric would be great for my daily driving around town - live most of the time in CT boondocks. All we need is something that can get about 40 miles which would cover pretty much everywhere we go on a daily basis.

Keep the posts coming.

Did it work out?