Return of the Electric Car

[ElectricRoadster]

at 9:00, i think Otmar is talking about the Tesla Roadster!!

[DanFrederiksen]

anoyone know how old Otmar is?

[ez3usx2]

i prefer to burn rubber than oil too.nice conversion keep up the good work.electric cars can be so much more powerful than gas.people who dont think so need to go see the videos of the guy with the old datsun blowing everything away in the 1/4 mile.its so funny to see that.keep up the good work!!!

have you seen the 59 lincoln neil young is converting to electric?instead of plugging it in to recharge you plug it in to power your house.check it out@lincvolt.

death to the dirty oil thugs!!!

[benjaminbeauregard]

why dont we take all of the tech that exist and create something unprecedented!

[MickWiser]

For the same reason YOU don't do it.

[anthonycut]

The 2000 Ford Ranger EV NiMH. Ford built, Toyota batteries, Chevron owns the patent. The vehicle Ford wants you to forget about.

[ZombieDesertDeities]

By the way Janaia electric cars have been around since steam cars in the early 1800's. The first car was around the time of the civil war!

[DFORCE1969]

Nuclear power is safe & clean?;tell that to the former residents of chernobyl.

It is also extremely expensive & would not exist apart from massive state developement

subsidies.

The porsche is great;Wonder if he could modify a capri?

[hotFusionReaction]

Don't you people ever get tired of repeating the same old FLAWED analogy of comparing every proposed Nuclear Power station to Chernobyl.

You know as well as I do that the Soviet system caused that disaster, NOT THE CONCEPT OF NUCLEAR ENERGY.

[ZombieDesertDeities]

Ok I'll let you in on a well known flaw in any Nuclear Energy station! We have yet to find out what to go with the toxic waist that is left from making nuclear energy and wepons. This mean that for not just 100's but 1000's of years to come the nuclear waist that is stored will have to be looked after by trained people or it will contaminate the entire world and make it uninhaditable for life. Nuclear only makes since for people who want to make money off it.

[sirandy666]

his 914 is a riot! it's set up for drag racing and it's pretty damn fast at that ...

[MPaulHolmes]

Otmar is very helpful with people on the EV Tech list. And his controller is like nothing else out there. He is downright revolutionary. I think he is the only one using IGBTs in DC controllers right now. They are so popular that there is a 6 month wait when you order one.

[a68rebel]

Compaired to fossil fuels, Nuclear is an extremely clean source.

[peakmoment]

Clean? Piles of highly-radioactive waste that should be monitored for millions of years, waste that increases cancer levels -- clean? There are more factors than just carbon that need to be considered with nuclear.

[thetazzbot]

Piling up

lol

Look, we use the salt mines to store nuclear waste. 3 miles down, no chance of rain or moisture getting in, no chance of corrosion. disposal is clean and safe. transportation may not be but disposal is. considering the cost of life wars and all the baggage oil costs us, nuclear is indeed cheaper and cleaner, and more morally acceptable

[repfreedomforce]

@a68rebel This comment is from 2 years ago. How do you like Nuclear power now?

[a68rebel]

Nuclear energy costs almost NOTHING and is extremely CLEAN.......please promote this option.

[peakmoment]

Nuclear energy It is neither clean nor cheap. It has a large carbon cost -- in the mining, processing and transport of uranium & other materials, and in the building structures also. We have not solved radioactive waste disposal. Financial costs to build, operate, and decommission are also very large.

[truthbeacon]

What kind of liberal bull are you listening to?

First off, the "carbon footprint" associated with the implementation of a Thermonuclear power plan is roughly equivalent to that of a traditional Natural Gas, or Fossil Fuel power plant. The implementation footprint is a very small fraction (think triple-digit denominator) of that for Solar. The only power cleaner than Thermonuclear is Wind or Hydroelectric (or Nuclear Fusion which is still decades off).

[marktech101]

The mining, processing, and transport of uranium & other materials is trivial compared to the constant carbon output of coal-fired plants. In fact, the cost is even more to mine and transport the coal by itself, not to mention burning it. As to the waste disposal, we can simply recycle it. Up to 95% of the spent fuel can be recycled.

[braddockakalatis]

Yeah, exactly. Just look at all the CO2 France emits. They can't even conform to Kyoto. And they have the most cancer per capita in Europe and the U.S. because of the waste they can't contain. And their electricity rates are the highest in the world. Just like you, because you must be "high" to believe in the nonsense you just said. OOOOOOooooooooh, snizzle!!!!

[HADJEE]

hydrogen cells are for schemers and dreamers

[CourteousCreep]

hydrogen is just going to be the new oil. buying a bottle of water already cost more then gas, whats the future got in store for the price of water

[peakmoment]

Hydrogen is not an energy SOURCE, it is an energy carrier. It takes energy to split the hydrogen from the oxygen (in water). So we still have to come up with energy sources to do that. There is no known substance or source with the energy density of oil.

[ghostjaguar]

Ummm, Nuclear?

Sorry, I guess you were meaning with reference to whats currently available in the automotive industry. Which I might add, $billions has been spent on patents to ensure that oil is the only choice.

[cruisedragon]

i heard its possible to make a water powered engine and genators through the process of electrosis, running a current through the water splitting the water molecule and burning the hydrogen instead of gas, it also creates more energy than it uses, this is a great idea but inventors of water engines end up dead or missing, if your gonna invent water engines, keep it confidential

[BOMangles]

search youtube for the 'petrodollar' that is why we are still using oil because it keeps our nation rich.

[MPaulHolmes]

That was awesome. I don't think there's a conspiracy though. It's only $100,000,000,000,000 of oil left in the earth. People are basically not greedy, and I really think that the money is a non-issue for Chevron/Texaco, and Cobasys, which bought NiMH battery patents and sat on it.

[bluzy25]

why didnt you give her a ride?

[peakmoment]

Well, it was fun to watch him burn rubber peeling outta the garage. Actually, I got to drive the EV later and was astounded by the sheer quiet (press the accelerator and NO SOUND), and the incredibly rapid response (EVs have more torque than fossil fuel cars). Sometime we'll do a Peak Moment drive in an EV. -- Janaia (host)

[NicholasJBrown]

this video is teh sex - i love electric cars - i want a electric go-cart so bad! lol

[CzechEVclub]

For some potential customers the only negative aspect is the lack of regen capability for the Zilla. I know it has been a wise decision based on the realiability of their powerfull controllers and Otmar used to experiment with AC system at one point or is he still on the project? But many people just need AFFORDABLE emotor and inverter combo with regen around/bellow 50kW peak output.. So you can perform some range wonders even with those VRLAs in your basic conversions..

[liveoilfree]

Otmar is a wizard, but what we really need are production EVs that anyone can buy.

[TommeyLeeReed]

The price for batteries and controller need to come down.

WE are designing controller at low price range from 12v to 144v at 200amps to 5000 amps $300 to $800 range.

144v 5000 amps only $3000,00 this would run a 965hp motor 24-12v batteries

rotarypistonengine(dot)com

[JohnDeBunkTest]

All we need is charging stations in every shopping plaza & a manufacturer willing to make and sell the cars.

[tribluered]

Yeah, they were building up charging stations. Then some how Hydrogen stations were setup. Anyways, if you want an Electric car, go to Lionev website. $30-40K for Electric Sedan, SUV, and Truck. 456 miles max tested.

[NoirMusic]

SIZE MATTERS!! Electric cars are all well and good but people are still talking about SUVs. Is there any reason these should be used by the public? "I have 2 kids, a wife, a dog..." SO?! That means you need a Taurus 4 door. My dad and I are both 6'5" and broad and growing up we had a Festiva. We fit, we could even cram a person in the back seat. Fuel source discussions are great but it will just enable people to say "cool now I don't have to be guilty driving a GIANT SUV. SIZE MATTERS!!!

[tribluered]

If people want to drive SUVs, and feel guilty about polluting. They can purchase a Electric SUV from Lionev website. Max tested range 456 miles with high end battery core. Cost about $30-40K.

[wardrone8]

This presentation seems very one sided in its concept. It seems as if it is a sort of set up to boost the image of the electric concept. My reason for thinking this is that the host is heavily uninformed. The guy obviously has products to sell proning him to be rather positively biased about the concept. I am yearning for someone to challenge all this "electric car" concept so that we can get a more substantial argument regarding why it is the next best idea to sliced bread.

[peakmoment]

Electric vehicles are just one option as we enter fossil-fuel decline and have to find alternatives for transportation. This program is intended for people new to this idea.

[jphwacheski]

sliced bread? If you watch some more of the PeakMoment shows you will see that they are showing all sorts of 'alternatives' for people. the curent system is blind deaf and dumb,. the OIL will of course run out eventually,. well it is now hence the wars in the mid east,. and we need all the alterantives we can get,. no ONE solution will replace OIL, do some research.

[nathan49nathan]

Please consider a follow-on interview of this guest or another who can provide information, examples, and film footage regarding electric vehicle conversion options for back yard mechanics. This interview was disappointing in that it provided neither actual examples, nor information / contacts for those who want to learn more. This interview could have been a recruiting tool for forming relationships between such people.

[peakmoment]

Great idea - thanks. If there are folks who could show how-to for backyard mechanics - especially in northern California - please contact me. While we're at it, how about electric conversion for our Peak Moment motorhome? My hunch is electric isn't viable for heavy vehicles.

[terrorist420x]

Try aerodynamic modifications to your motorhome to dramatically increase highway fuel economy, make it a plugin hybrid with SAFT NiCd batteries also runing all appliances(probably around a 25 mile EV range with 800 lb pack), roof mounted solar panels, 100 horsepower diesel engine as its main power source running on some kind of plant oil, and huge 150+ gallon fuel tank. Would be mobile and aside for biofuels, able to produce all its own energy in a pinch.

[peakmoment]

Many of the global oil reserve numbers are unverified and on paper only ...Some of those numbers were doubled practically overnight in a very suspicious way in the 1990s--when there was an incentive to have higher reserves for OPEC nations. Don't count on those reserves being there--energy investment advisor Matt Simmons doesn't, and he should know (author of Twilight in the Desert.)

[wijaya47]

Guys relax, petroleum will be here for atleast 2 or 3 hundred years to come. We have plenty reserves and other sources are way too innefficient. There are over 2 trillion barrels of crude left, so no panic.

[peakmoment]

Of course there will be petroleum here--essentially forever. The last of it will remain in the ground because it's too expensive to extract it. The problem isn't how much is left, but that demand is outstripping supply. It appears that in the last couple of years we have extracted the last of the easily-extracted (cheap) sweet crude, which is why the per-barrel price of oil has gone up.

[terrorist420x]

Oil production follows a Gaussian Bell Curve, much like any other resource. We will probably never match the amount of oil produced in 2005 ever again. Demand for oil keeps climbing.

Oil is about the most inefficient way to use energy as it is. Energy Return of energy Investment of oil today is about 10-15, while wind turbines are exceeding EROEI of 30.

[saygolfcar]

Also oil creates a lot of pollution, so probably oil will here in the next 2 or 3 hundred years.

At actual level of increasing oils disasters, global warming and pollution,... will we be here to use that oil?

[softwarelibre]

Redid a Lectric Leopard, put in new batteries and upsized the wire. Wished I had the Zilla controller. Try evamerica on the web. Conversions are easy, and my months of ownership showed up on my electric bill as $2 a month more for charging. Dish washer uses more power than to charge up - that's from experience folks.

BTW go clutchless folks. I had 60 mile range.

I missed the oil changes, the grease, the smell of the exhaust.

- less money spent on gas, more money for beer...

[terrorist420x]

If you got a zilla, you'd need AGMs to really make use of it. A 156V pack of Universal Battery UB121100s, Rudman regs, PFC20 charger, and a 156V/1000A Zilla 1k would do your car a lot of good.

With aerodynamic modifications, low rolling resistance tires, synthetic transmission oil, adjusted alignment, and other stuff, that 60 mile range could have been 100 mile range.

[leebond67]

I'm quite new to self sufficient solar technologies and Otmar's Zilla controller is something I'm keen to use to convert an ICE car. Thank you to Peak Moment for posting this video. It's interesting to see nearly 14000 like minded people looking for an alternative to fossil fuels. I'd like to see more EV interviews Janaia, as this is clearly one of your most viewed topics.

[greyflcn]

Do you think biodiesel is at all sustainable? I've been seeing some scary stuff in that Brazilian Soy, and Malaysian/Indonesian Palm Oil are causing a lot more damage than good. greyfalcon. net/ biofuel Ethanol? Even worse. greyfalcon. net/ ethanol3 greyfalcon. net/ ethanol2 greyfalcon. net/ ethanol4 greyfalcon. net/ ethanol5 greyfalcon. net/ ethanol6 greyfalcon. net/ brazil I'm kinda scared that BioFuels are mainly just another red herring like hypedrogen.

[peakmoment]

I don't think any biofuel is sustainable, particularly at the level of usage we now have. Making biodiesel from waste oil, making ethanol from plants grown on marginal lands (like switchgrass or jatropha), on local scale, yes. Richard Heinberg suggests using biofuels, EVs & hybrids for emergency vehicles.

[ROCKSOLID19]

Yeah, Brazillian rainforests have to be cut down in order to grow soyadiesel and ethanol. With solar power for example, anyone can put panels or a wind turbine on their house and can plug it in with a connection into the car, motorcycle, go-kart, eletric SUV etc.

[terrorist420x]

There are some biofuels that can be sustainable. Sugarcane ethanol has an EROEI about 4-6, and mildly depletes the soil it is grown on. Hempseed oil is great for biodiesel, with an EROEI > 2, grown in any climate, and 300 gallons of seed oil per hectare yield; most 1st world governments refuse to allow its cultivation because it threatens many entrenched industries. Governments and business want more economic growth and consumer spending, not less, and that is why peak oil will be a problem.

[terrorist420x]

Realistically, biofuels could perhaps replace 10% of current oil use without further encroaching upon the environment or hindering food production. But this requires the right crops to be used(no subsidized and unsustainable corn ethanol) and sustainable farming techniques(no heavy use of oil-based fertilizers of pesticides). May not seem like much, but combined with the possibility of 80+ mpg cars, this could go a very long way.

[pailesy]

converge your lithium ion battery cell with Sion Powers' lithium sulfer batteries and you have 50% longer charge hold and recharges 80% in under a minute.

[bennycouch]

LMAO, sorry folks the electric car wont save us. We can't add another user of electricity to the market. If electric's we re-introduced it would cause blackouts. Not to mention HOW THE FUCK DO YOU SUPPLY 50 MILLION NEW CONCEPT CARS WITH OIL SHORTAGE!!! You people arn't getting the point, your hypmotized on oil.

[peakmoment]

You're very right in pointing out that it takes oil to produce the cars, not just move them around! Any ideas for this problem?

[bennycouch]

Thanks for replying! Yes, there is only one mass transit left. Train. We MUST rebuild all previous trail routes. Steam locomotive is the best solution right now. Passenger trains, horse and buggy and wind powered boats are the future for the majority. Oh ya, and remember...asphalt is made of oil.

[terrorist420x]

We need trolley systems like we had until the 1940s. People will simply not accept mass transit unless it is cheap, convenient, and runs most times. We had that mass transit early in the 20th century and as a result auto ownership peaked at about 1 car for every 3 people of driving age in the 1930s. The auto and oil industry along with the federal government tore it down to induce car purchases and grow the economy, and now car ownership and use is what it is today.

[peakmoment]

What will entice and enable people to get out of their cars? We've laid out our suburbs - residential and shopping - to make it very difficult to have bus/trolley lines that would go everywhere. It seems we might need intermediary transport from trolley lines to homes &work.

[terrorist420x]

The suburbs actually existed before the trolleys were torn down. The trolleys first connected city and suburbs in the late 1890s.

The amount of cash squandered on senseless oil wars would have been more than enough to get this system back in place. And a god portion of people would use it, being that the most common use for using a car is a lack of convenient/cheap/time-efficien­t alternatives to the car for most Americans.

[terrorist420x]

The suburbs existed back in the 1890s, before mass adoption of cars in the U.S., and the trolley systems actually connected the suburbs to the inner city. If such a mass transit is available, people by default are enticed out of their cars since their excuse for car use is often lack of convenient and time-efficient alternatives to the car. Unfortunately, the motorized lifestyle is heavily subsidized and people go with what's economically feasible to them.

[sirfalconx]

Once the car is made, it wouldnt require any more oil to run. the amount to create the car and the amount to drive it 120 Thousand miles... there is a big big diffrence... Also stop buying garbage GM's with plastic doors/body panels. those plastic body parts use up a good bit of oil.

[terrorist420x]

Consider that an AC drive will easily last over 1 million miles with no maintenance and a properly cared for DC setup can last 500,000+ miles with a $15 brush change every 20,000 miles or so. If you build the car out of composites so that there's no rust, all that's left is periodic battery replacement. People would end up buying a lot less cars and there'd be almost no repairs or servicing barring things like accidents, and the auto industry completely frowns upon that concept.

[peakmoment]

Wouldn't it be interesting if automakers were REQUIRED to lease, not sell, their vehicles? And had to repair or replace them when they broke, take them back to recycle when they wore out? You can bet vehicles would be far more durable and long-lasting.

[terrorist420x]

Probably not; the greedy bastards would just pass increased costs onto the consumer to maintain any profit margins. Good thing that the Japanese offer marginally better products than the Americans, as American buyers are getting the hint. Bad thing that the Japanese could do so much more, but only stay one small step ahead of the Americans since they too want to milk each new advancement for everything it's worth while slowly rationing out new technology like the Americans.

[terrorist420x]

It takes about 12 barrels of oil to make a car, IIRC. Many times more oil will be consumed as fuel over the car's lifetime. There have also been studies that have gauged the energy needed to make an electric car's batteries, and it is still miniscule compared to the amount of electricity an electric car would consume in its usuable lifetime. Since electric cars last about 3 times as long as gas ones if properly cared for, oil used in car manufacturing could actually go down with adoption of EVs.

[peakmoment]

What is the full picture on fossil fuel use if the electricity comes from oil, natural gas or coal? We need to think of the full lifetime of the cars.

[terrorist420x]

Well to wheels, an electric car is about 2 times as efficient as a gasoline one. If hypothetically all cars were turned electric tomorrow, overall energy consumption for 'fuel' would drop by about half for every vehicle mile travelled. Only 2% of US electricity comes from oil. Coal and natural gas are far more plentiful(albeit still limited), and even getting energy from a coal fired plant, an electric car is usually still cleaner than a comparable gasoline one.

[sirfalconx]

BTW The average user would only need 6-8 180 Watt Solar Panels to fully charge/drive their EV 50 miles a day. Considering the cost to make an EV at $12K DIY, and a complete home solar kit runs under $10K for everything required, thats still less then you would pay for a decent new car, and no more gas = pays for itself

[terrorist420x]

More realistically, that solar setup you list will give more like 20-30 miles range a day counting for things such as the sunlight not being at maximum strength most of the day. seasonal changes, weather, ect. Even still, that's more than enough.

Not everyone has even an idea how to build their own EV. Hobbyists and engineers surely have the upper hand and could do it, but most people would have a bit to learn.

[terrorist420x]

You forgot battery costs. Depending on charging/management setup, cost for lead acid batteries ranges from $.04/mile to $.30/mile. To save money with an EV, you need to size the pack so deep discharges are uncommon(also giving longer range), need a charging algorithm suited to the battery model, need charge regulation, and need have temperature regulation. EVs can easily be far cheaper to run than gas cars, but many wind up being more expensive because these details get inadequate consideration.

[terrorist420x]

It takes about 8 kWh of electricity to refine a gallon of gasoline from crude oil. This same 8 kWh will take an electric midsize car about 25 miles.

Not only can our grid currently handle an additional 100+ million or so electric cars according to multiple studies, but the amount of electricity saved from no longer making gasoline for one gasoline car would be enough to power a similar electric car.

[peakmoment]

So does this mean that if a gasoline car gets more than 25 mpg, it's more energy efficient than an electric car?

[terrorist420x]

That same 8 kWh would take an Ultralight EV 80 miles or a converted large SUV 15-20 miles. I was merely stating that the electricity used in making gasoline is so much that exchanging that gasoline car for an electric one of similar weight, aerodynamics, and other characteristics would not only save gasoline, but also so much electricity that would otherwise be used to make that gasoline, that it basiclaly cancels out the increase in electricity consumption the electric would be responsible for.

[terrorist420x]

For the record, a gallon of gasoline contains about 34 kWh of energy. This amount of energy measued at the outlet would take that same midsize electric car over 100 miles. About 0.3 kWh/mile is the norm for midsize electric cars measured from the outlet, 0.3-.4 kWh/mile for minivans and luxury cars, 0.4 kWh/mile for small trucks and SUVs, 0.5 kWh/mile for large SUVs and large trucks, 0.1 kWh/mile for ultralights converted to EV, 0.15-.25 kWh/mile for sports cars.

[tooomp]

Very informative. Great editing and overall production.

[giovannicanella]

thank goodness you mentioned about electric cars 100 years ago...

[fusionfreq]

I would be very proud to pedal on my bicycle behind this car.

[michaelhh2]

this is great - thanks. Lots of great information!

I have forwarded this to many friends who are interested in electric cars. Nice to hear the truth from experience rather then the negative propaganda about these cars and their potential.

[vudumojo]

Does this guy have a website?

I'd be interested in trying my hand at this!

If his parts are resonably priced I just might.

It's not like you have to be an attention-hound with these beauties. Just save yourself money and enjoy it.

Wink Wink...

[terrorist420x]

cafeelectric(dot)com

Making a car with performance similar to his will cost about $18,000-25,000, and it does 0-60 mph < 5 seconds. You could settle with a modest 0-60 mph in 6-7 second 120 mph conversion for about $10,000-15,000.

His controllers start at ~$1,700 for the 156V 1000A model, up to ~$5,000 for the top of the line 348V 2000A model with additional features.

[Zobeid]

This is a highly educational video, the man knows his business and is not trying to dance around subjects like range, cost or limitations of today's battery technology. I also like this kind of low-key, down to earth style of program. It's a far cry from the ridiculous hype I see on commercial cable TV (like Discovery's Futurecar show, which was completely a joke).

[amsombat]

It is grate, I love it.

I am here in Thailand, What can I do, I want to have one.

[tobie5000]

See "Who Killed the Electric Car?" on DVD!

[mohalive]

lol

super

[terrorist420x]

On the National Electric Drag Racing Association website, you can see a video of this car pulling a 13.9 second quarter mile drag at 98 mph.

It runs a 240V pack of Exide Orbitals, twin ADC 8" motors, Zilla 2k controller, and PFC30 charger. I've talked to Otmar and he estimated 140 mph top speed.

His controllers own. I'm using a Zilla 1k HV in my conversion of a Triumph GT6 MkII.