Left Coast Electric converts 1978 Triumph to an electric car

[celcomp]

nice project... what type of motor do you use?

[MasterBattle2000]

You can enjoy Spitfire power without annoying Bill Oddie

[artofwheels]

engineering ingenuity! 5 stars

[jordiortegatv]

Fantastic! Congratulations on a great project. Jordi, L.A., CA

[ancsdps]

Love it. Excellent commentary. Does that guys do radio VOs?

[jordiortegatv]

Fantastic! Congratulations on a great project. Jordi, L.A., CA

[tribluered]

100% electric sedans, suvs, and trucks. Cost about $30K. Max tested range 456 miles per charge. Go to lionev website.

[TommeyLeeReed]

We design special controllers for your needs, 12 to 5000v and up to 5000 amps.

rotarypistonengine(dot)com

[JohnDeBunkTest]

if we can have conversion electric cars, we can have electric cars. Obviously the technology is here.

[rja777]

Good comments.

[CRANWELLPOACHER]

Could an average jo with an understanding of basic electrical principles, welding and light fabrication be able to convert a vehicle (my VW Scirocco !) to run on electricity ?.Is it easier to convert fWD or RWD types ?.Nice informative vid...and i like the music :-).

[DeLorean4]

Look up "Gav's EV Conversion" on YouTube and you'll see that it's probably just a matter of being an average Joe. As for a VW Scirocco Conversion (Nice car by the way) go on electroauto dot com, find the VW conversion kit, and it should be compatible with your Scirocco (with a few minor modifications according to the website).

[DeLorean4]

And if my memory serves well, it's easier to convert a RWD car, but it'll be less efficient. Generally, RWD layouts are heavier since you have a long propeller shaft running from the front to the back of the car, whereas with FWD (unless your engine is located in the rear) transfers power directly to the wheels that are pushing the car forwards.

[DanFrederiksen]

there is also an EVDL mailing list where you can ask questions from others that have done it. you sound like you have the skills to make it. a 'big' problem though is the cost of the parts. it's still a bit expensive because it doesn't have mass market but with a few compromises you can actually do something relatively cheaply by using for instance a kelly controller and maybe a chinese DC motor

[DeLorean4]

With hydrogen, you're a slave to the oil companies' procrastination or the painstakingly long and energy-guzzling process of electrolysis. By the way, what happens when there's a Hydrogen leak which, by the way, is a flammable gas? Can anyone here say... Hindenburg?

[mstalanon]

the Hindenburg blew up due to static electricity from the wires holding it on the ground. It was the skin of the blimp that caught fire, due to the nature of the paint on the skin. The Hydrogen gas IS extremely flammable, but burst quickly. It doesn't bond to skin the way hydrocarbons do. only three people died from the fire, the rest died from the jumping to the ground. Also, it's very possible to produce homemade hydrogen from simple electrolysis at home. Storage is the problem.

[DeLorean4]

Electrolysis also takes quite alot of electricity compared to simply plugging in a car, with electric cars, the electricity is sent directly, not indirectly. So there's obviously a loss of energy in this conversion process for Hydrogen.

[DeLorean4]

Another point I need to stress is that PEM fuel cells typically fail during their first 2,000 hours of operation... Ouch. Even Lada's aren't that bad. Electric car engines last millions of miles (literally) and batteries only need to be changed once per decade in most cases. Electric vehicles don't require a complete change in fueling infrastructure, and cost pennies to run, there are now batteries . Electric vehicles can be used be anyone in the world so long as they have a power outlet.

[DeLorean4]

(my posts about H2 are in reverse order)

[DeLorean4]

Whatever its volume, hydrogen added to the atmosphere will combine with oxygen to form water vapor, creating noctilucent clouds -- those high, wispy tendrils you see at dawn and dusk. The increased cloud cover could accelerate global warming. Furthermore, Hydrogen would require a complete change in the fueling infrastructure, if even 25% of stations in the US are converted to distribute H2, it would cost 13 billion dollars.

[DeLorean4]

In addition, all pipelines would have to be replaced to accomodate H2 in gas form, that's if oil companies still want to swim in cash. Hydrogen cars are horribly inefficient too, they need a reservoir 4 times the size of a gas tank pressurized at 10,000lbs per square inch just to get gas car-ish range per fill up.

[DeLorean4]

If you use liquid hydrogen which requires a tank "only" twice the size of a typical gasoline counterpart, you need to keep it at -253 degrees celsius, just 20 degrees above absolute zero and well below the surface temp of Pluto. On the other hand, to keep it nice and cool, you have to drive it everyday, so if you leave the car alone for about a week or so, your tank's empty. Electrolysis could be clean if clean energy is used, but 71% of the USA's electricity comes from fossil fuels.

[todde70]

Maybe because there were more electrics on the road in the early 1900's then gas and diesel combined? The oil companies squashed the technology back then, same as they do today. Imagine where we'd be if we had 100 years of development under our belts with electric/battery powered vehicles.

[Uebermind]

Why on earth would you choose this crappy 1920s background music? Cheers for making EVs look like they're a step backward

[emiashond]

This is RAD! The modern cars are massproduced, they suck gas and style!!! I've alwayswanteed to convert my 77 mustang...wish I had the money to do it....one day I will...thanks for showing it is possible...

[Smolley28]

Much ado about nothing; if they had converted the old Spitfire engine to run on hydrogen, then I'd be impressed.

[terrorist420x]

Hydrogen internal combustion is less efficient than electric, internal combustion is high maintenance while electric requires near none, and you can get greater range with an advanced battery electric car. Most hydrogen cars are struggling to get 100 miles per tank of H2 while there are electrics getting 300 miles range. Nevermind the low end torque of an electric motor can't be matched by a combustion engine.

[Smolley28]

Youre assuming the H tank to be filled where & how? Im talking about it not being filled anywhere.I dont know where youre info comes from, but its wrong, electric powered vehicles need a different kind of maintenance and the truth is, nobody has improved the battery enough to even remotely compete with zero emissions of hydrogen. Best aspect of it is the add-on conversion of gasoline to hydrogen power;using engines that already exist would be ideal.Youve being swindled with electric power.

[terrorist420x]

H2 can be stored in gaseous, liquid, or metal hydride form. No matter the form, you have significant losses just storing the hydrogen. Nevermind that an ICE running on H2 will peak at about 30% eff but normally see 15-20% in typical driving. Then factor losses in storage about 85% eff, and then the fact that electrolysis to obtain H2 is about 60%, and your hydrogen car has a well to wheels efficiency of 10%.

[terrorist420x]

This did not include the efficiency of the powerplant used to make the H2 or line losses. With a coal plant at 35% eff, this drops the WtW of H2 ICE to under 4%.

A battery car has a 90% eff motor/control combo, 75% eff battery charging, 92% elec transmission efficiency, 35% power plant efficiency for 22% eff. This is about double gasoline ICE eff when factoring in losses in making/transporting gasoline, way more than H2 ICE.

[terrorist420x]

EVs require periodic battery pack replacement; AC electric motors are maintenance free. Alan Cocconi of AC Propulsion has one in his CRX that is rated to last over 1 million miles, and has racked over 150k maintenance free miles so far. DC motors need $15 brush change every 80k miles or so. That's it. Battery technology for 200 miles range, over 200k miles life was here in the 1990s. NiMH. Chevron suppressed it.

[Smolley28]

Im glad to see youre aware of suppressed technology which of course is in the interest of existing industry. Youre indications of motor efficiencies are lovely, but wrong; keep in mind your sources. You dont mention how these batteries are charged and you still dont make clear how the hydrogen is replenished and I wont tell you. Im referring to the battery maintenance,not the motors.Using existing equipment trumps all your data though; hydrogen conversions are the most promising possibility.

[terrorist420x]

You can find brake specific fuel consumption maps of ICEs from various SAE publications. ICEs are about 15% in normal driving, up to 30% at high load and low RPM. Changing to run H2 instead of gas doesn't change the number much. To prevent an IC engine from getting brittle and cracking when burning H2, it needs to be nickel alloy coated. Storing H2 in Metal Hydride form or in liquid form are both cost prohibitive, while gaseous form won't provide good cruising range.

[terrorist420x]

Series DC motors are about 85% eff in EV applications, asynchronous AC motors a bit more. Verified millions of times over the 20th century. As an engineer, I've even tested a few in the lab.

H2 can be replenished many ways. Electrolysis or chemical reaction. Either way, the former requires energy, and the latter requires energy to rebond hydrogen to material where it was previously extracted if more is needed. Laws of thermodynamics must apply.

[Smolley28]

If you are an engineer, youre not very experienced with hydrogen; instead of saying so, you keep rattling off efficiency percentages again. It doesnt work. Solar powered electrolysis is the future of this world. Tell me, why you are so bent on electric power?

You still, have not stated how or where the electric batteries are CHARGED, that takes energy; where is it coming from ?

[terrorist420x]

500 character limit per post, and 3 comments per 10 minutes. I was going to get to that.

Batteries are charged from an electric outlet, electricity distributed from a power plant. Electrolyized hydrogen, even from solar, still requires electricity to produce. Shipping electricity through the grid to your home is about 92% efficient. Electrolysis of water is much less efficient than that, around 60%. Look up "Hydrogen in the Energy Sector" by Zittel, Wurster...

More later when time permits.

[terrorist420x]

Just as hydrogen is most practically obtained from electrolysis of water, which can be done with solar power or other renewables, so too does a battery need electricity to be recharged. Battery charging losses are small compared to losses associated with electrolysis of water to get H2.

H2 conversions with ICEs have all the maintenance issues and inefficiency inherent to the ICE that electric motors don't have.

[terrorist420x]

It's hard to list all sources with a 500 character limit, but I've researched all this tech extensively. H2 ICE cars aren't the most viable, but short range ones have been doable since the 1970s. Recently, BMW has used metal hydride storage to allow 150 miles range or more.

An ICE in a car usually needs 3 to 8 cents a mile maintenance and lasts 150k miles. EV motors need about 0 cents per mile and last 500k miles on up.

[leopzy]

Neither one of you are being very pragmatic, I have two words, "sustainable development"