I have just finished converting a '77 Midget to full electric operation. I thought people on this site might be interested in my car. My electric '77 midget now weighs 2060 lbs with 475 lbs of LiFePo batteries in it. I was able to keep the same springs and suspension. I’ve kept the interior stock except for replacing the water/oil gauge with a amp gauge. I even use the fuel gauge to monitor my battery use. My range was measured at 112 miles when the batteries dropped to 2.8 volts. The car drives very much like a gas midget, but it’s quicker. The electric motor can produce the same torque as the gas engine, but it does it from 0 rpm to 5000 rpm.
If people are interested in more information, check out www.electricmgmidget.com. I’m trying show what I’ve done so far, and will be adding more information as I find time. I’ll be happy to help anybody else who might be interested in trying to convert their Midget to electric.
I thought I’d post an update on my car. I have driven it over 4500 miles in the last 15 months. Everything is still working smoothly. I’m charging it about every 3 days or so when I get over 40 or 50 miles on it. Since I now know I can go 100 miles if I have to it makes it easier to wait a few days before re-charging. I simply plug in into my 110 line and in the morning it’s done. I haven’t even bothered to hook it up to 220 volts. My BMS handles the charging and balancing. I haven’t even looked at the cell voltages for the last 6 months because the BMS does it for me. When I ran the car to the end of the batteries (112miles), the BMS told my controller that I had a low cell. I have the controller programmed to then only allow 50 amps max so I can limp home. I can get to about 40 mph on level ground with 50 amps so it isn’t too bad. The best part of an electric car is that when I need to run out to the store, it doesn’t cost me more in gas than the item I’m trying to buy. I drive it year round, and in the winter with running the heater, and the efficiency losses from the cold, I get about 2/3 of my range. It’s still about 70 miles, so I just charge a little more often. If you want to see more about this car visit my site www.electricmgmidget.com
Nice setup you have there. :cool2:
I wanted to update this so people know my car is still going. I’ve driven it 10,500 miles in about 3 1/2 years. I drive it almost daily, but have a fairly short commute. I’d prefer to have put more miles on it by now. The important news is that is been pretty much trouble free, especially with the electrical part of the car. The batteries are now 6 years old from what I was told was the dat of manufacture. They seem to be doing fine. I use a BMS to monitor the pack, and I haven’t seen any indication there is any change in the batteries. I’ve only got about 300 to 400 charge cycles on this over the last 3 years, and I don’t drive it down to even 70% most of the time. My max current draw is 550 amps, so I stay within the 3C limit all of the time. The lithium cells are for real. If your considering a conversion, then I wouldn’t worry too much about the batteries if you stay within their charge and discharge specifications.
Thanks for the update. There is more interest all the time LiFePo all the time.