SAAB 96-V first run on full voltage! ... electric car conversion EV electric vehicle

[RocketMaker10000]

Socko.....

What music is this....?  Very interesting.....is this your band?

[RocketMaker10000]

Socko!!! Nice paint job!!!  You should update this with the new paint job!!! Looks much better now that it is FINISHED!!! Nice work!! Good to see you at PA Energy Fest by the way.....

[xgildohx]

i love the fact that you did this on your own and with such a good looking car to boot. I am interested in converting my car to EV but am not sure of the pricing of the materials. What was your initial investment to get your Saab to where it is now and in the future, how much will the Li-Ion pack cost?

[sockosockosocko]

@xgildohx i went with the fine folks at "electric vehicles of america." great source for components and unreal customer service!

[xgildohx]

@sockosockosocko any problems with it so far? How much did this venture cost you? :)

[sockosockosocko]

@xgildohx getting close to 10k miles a couple batteries are losing capacity. in hindsight i'd recommend monitoring all batteries once a month under load (while driving). other than this, the car was very predictable and a pleasure to drive! check out the miata conversion video - more to come. lithium batteries do not behave in this way. ampREVOLT[dot]com

[paulifa1]

Hello,

Your conversion looks really nice, I'm on with an EV conversion at present, just wondering what your logic is for running with the 6v trojans and 96v?, I'm considering using the 8v trojans with the same footprint, in your conversion this would give you 128v, would this not give much better efficiency and therefore range and or acceleration/speed, especially when using the 9" ADC motor? Or am I missing something?

In any case, really nice job

[sockosockosocko]

hey thanks paul! i went with the mantra "the more lead, the more range" as distance was the most important thing to me at the time. i'm getting around 50 miles range but we'll see how she does in her first winter as temperatures take a dive! i'm interested to know how you make out with the 8v batts. are you posting your progress anywhere?

[apache4541]

Good news you will get new Nanotech battery A123 systems more powerful than Lithium-ion Powered ! The Nanotech battery quick charged in 5 mins get full , you will get about 450 miles range

[starmanskye]

They ARE really excellant batteries, but for this application of 96 volts it would take 1, 256, 864 batteries. Even though they are really, really, really tiny, it would take over 3miles of #18 guage wire weighing 16,297 lbs & 2,513,728 terminal ends weighing over 8,353 lbs to connect them in series. Obviously, as this would exceed the car's maximum weight capacity by a considerable amount the Nanotech batteries are not practical. Even assuming their wholesale cost of $128,015 were affordable.

[nightsoul2003]

WOW, where did you get those numbers since I've seen NUMBERS of cars with this new nano tech in the battery packs. like the Killacycle, White zombie, Arizona motors or whatever they call themselves even people on bicycles are using these nano lithium dewalt packs @ 36 volts. 2 of those on a mountain bike and I bet you'd put a few petrol bikes in their place.

[EricLeeByrd]

This is GREAT!

My first car in H.S. was a 1962 SAAB 96 (slightly different hood design) and my buddy had a 1967 96 just like yours... except we had the standard 3 cylinder 2-stroke gasoline engines in ours! it is remarkable how light a car it was and how agile they are. Will go in snow forever!

Thanks for this and I can't wait to see it on the open road!

[badnewswade]

nice one, it looks like such a heavy car, good to see you get decent mileage out of it!

[sockosockosocko]

average weight of US vehicles = around 4300 lbs (i took one of every vehicle in production in 2009 and averaged them - found a huge database) there's definitely a weight gain over time. cars and trucks are turning obese just like our kids.... ok now everybody stop sayin my car is fat. it's only around 2900.

[badnewswade]

Sorry, it just LOOKS so heavy!

[reneetbouchard]

I agree- no music so you can hear how quiet it is! And when do I get my ride in it? :-)

[sockosockosocko]

as you wish. now you can hear that you can't hear it... watch?v=eE3hN9ceRl0

[evric2008]

That looks like a very heavy car...

[sockosockosocko]

original curb weight = 2080 lbs

new curb weight = around 2900 lbs

toyota prius = 2932 lbs

[evric2008]

Not bad... not as heavy as it looks.

Lets have some more videos without the music.

[sockosockosocko]

watch?v=eE3hN9ceRl0