RAV4-EV Secrets: Plugs into solar, instant Volt

[orika001]

hey, i really want to stop using gasoline, ahhhhrrrggggg....... I hope no one deletes you video... thanks

[OnlineAutoAuctions]

Brilliant video, I hope we can be friends. EV enthusiast here. Might want to re do this and slow it down into a couple of segments for educational purposes. You will still get people who say we will pollute with electricity > coal fire plants, etc. Thanks for your efforts. Well done.

[shawnbfromjersey]

nice! hey check out this guys chevy s10 pickup. He installed a portable gasoline generator in the back of his e truck to double the range. and it can charge anyware.

youtube wont let me putup the email address. so google portable generator electric car

[ItsRainmakingTime]

This video is so exciting that I hope it goes viral and the world sees it.

Please spread this around. This is a wow. Thank you.

[TheIndustrialphreak]

How did you get your hands on one of these? from the website it looks like its not something availible as of yet.

[salsavona]

You are great!!Keep up the good work!You are totally on the spot!!! Recharge your car with free solar energy of course it is possible today!!! We have to push the companies to produce more efficient electric cars that can be charged from our solar panels. Oil companies can't prevail over technology and knowledge!!! Please keep us up to date. Knowledge is power and Evil prevails when good men fail to act!!

[johnson1095]

HOW FAST DOES ONE OF THESE CARS GO AND MORE IMPORTANTLY...

WHERE CAN I GET ONE AND AT WHAT COST???!!!

[maumad103]

how much did you spend on everything including batteries, charger and other stuff?

[vanityvideo]

these car companies are lying to us, they know they can make this kind of technology but instead they are making plug in hybrids that go only 40 miles on a charge, like the volt, can you imagine if they perfected this technology throughout the years we would be home free right now they might even have gone 300 miles per charge, damn oil companies are evil!! they have to be stopped we should make a no gas buying day, and protest their evil asses

[jtgoodwrench]

@vanityvideo Protesting was done by a lot people that LEASED and LOVED there There EV1- from GM..But GM was determined to get every last car back. Protesters went to jail if they didn't co-operate. And every EV-1 destroyed . Except one GM allowed a auto museum to keep, That one has no motor or45 battery.Watch .Who killed the electrfic cars

[Blockiee]

Really nice video's liveoilfree! The rav4 ev is also a prove that an EV doesn't need to look like an unattractive car. I think they make it on purpose an unattractive so nobody is interested.

Keep up the great work liveoilfree!

[emailmemrstara]

Man saw the story where gm and toyota under pressure from the oil companies sheded all the evs in Cali... see the move "Who killed the electric car" We should have let GM die and not bail them out the F**&kers!!

[emailmemrstara]

OMG!!! You saved one... HIDE it!! i wish there were more... LOVE EV!!!!

[000eMan000]

if you charge the car with solar power, do you not need to buy batteries as long as you charge it well? PLEASE ANSWER

[liveoilfree]

LOL we CAN'T buy batteries at ANY price because Chevron filed a lawuit in 2001 and stopped Toyota from making NiMH batteries for plug-in cars. Our batteries are all pre-Nov.-2002, you cannot make them legally due to Chevron Oil (they bought controlf from GM, sound familiar??)

[sirellyn]

@liveoilfree You should be able to make them if you have the means (which isn't cheap or easy.) Copyright only disallows the sale of things you make that have a patent. But you can make it for your own use without any issue.

The premise behind filing a patent is that it becomes public knowledge but is protected by law.

[m1aws]

@liveoilfree Yes you can. Nobody wants NiMH batteries. Whatever you replace with will be superior. Thundersky, CaliB et al. They now have official importers they control so you US guys can pay safely by amex, visa etc.

[Zc0ol]

Posting comments on youtube is a bad idea and complete waste of time as proven time and again by other people. I wonder what possessed me to put up my thoughts here this time. sheesh! *smacks head*

[liveoilfree]

Well, sometimes some people learn something from comments; but quite often, they are abused by spammers or by paid "sockpuppets" who spread lies. It must work, because some are paid to do it.

[cobraman96]

i own a car with aluminum block and heads.Where do you get your info from?

[willanddave]

can I convert my regular rav4 into a better powered one?

[willanddave]

battery powered one I mean

[gukonni]

Pretttyt coool that you're fueling your car at home. Imagine having an oil rig in your backyard to get gas!

[ekuwa69]

Weight, that's the problem, the gasoline engine is heavy, you would not get all that range out of the batter carrying around all that weight all the time. Plus you would need a powerful engine, if you only had a week engine like your suggesting, when the batter runs low your power and speed would be limited.

[fakiir]

electric cars are heavier than regular cars. electric motors are heavier than the all aluminum engines used in cars now days. and the battery bank weighs upwards of a ton in most models that have been proposed that have more than 15 mile range. the tesla roadster is the only possible exception, and its battery bank is made from a pile of laptop lithium battery.

[liveoilfree]

You are SO F.O.S. it's funny. The car you see in front of you has a pack that takes it over 100 miles on a charge, and it weighs about 900 lbs -- appx. the weight of the engine/trans it replaces.

[Enviroman101]

I have been saying the Volt is a token justure towards the public who want electric cars like ten years ago. Hang on! WoW!

Weird as we did have them ten years ago and the irony is they were better then.

Hmmmm! No silly me for a moment there I thought they were trying to slow down the electric car for the sake of their monopoly.

I don't know where I get such silly notions!

[kostea13]

I dont understand why even now Toyota dose not continue ist RAV -EV line it is a great car ! With 100 miles range is more than enogh !!!

[FromCanadaEh]

Because the car manufacturers make a ton of money selling you oil filters, air filters, belts, and other parts, etc, etc, as well as, the $95.00 per hour service charges to service and tune the GASOLINE engine.

[kostea13]

I meen EVEN NOW when evryone has on autoshows with hybrids and EV or like BYD EV Dual Mode !

[shakaama]

that's not the problem.

the problem is, the highest user and purchaser of cars world wide are fleet cars. fleet car contracts dictate exactly what the "consumer" wants, because they are the "consumer".

so when they say the consumer doesn't want it, that's what they mean. however the fleet car system doesn't pay individually for gas or maintenance. sucks right?

[Lynnch1]

Funny.

[snicka12]

the reason that they cannot produce it anymore is that the battery pattent is owned by an oil company, and no other battery is good enough or cheap enough to be worth while.

[orelshow]

lol true

[FromCanadaEh]

Ah ha ... so the big car companies have been pulling the wool over everyones eyes for years ... I figured that charging a EV from Solar panels was possible.

[2Bfreeliberty]

they arent cheap but at least u can buy them !! UNLIKE THE EV1 !!! see ' who killed the electric car' -- yes GM is playing footsie with the VOLT spectacle ! they will string that concept along and milk that daisy as long as obama can last as presidentt !

[LemmingHerda]

Fuck oil companies and fuck GM.

GM want a bailout - why the fuck are they getting it from the US taxpayer and not from their buddies at Texaco, their same buddies that they sold the EV battery patent to so it could be suppressed to protect oil profits?

Auto/oil companies are technology suppressing, retarding, cancers, that need to be surgically removed from the planet.

[utuber001001]

good video

[narfer121]

Im stripping an s10 to build an EV. All together should cost 3-4k.

[tekdemon]

While it's certainly possible right now, I think the problem is that the RAV4EV is quite an expensive vehicle...that, and the fact that Toyota can't make the batteries anymore after being sued by Texaco/Chevron.

[tekdemon]

BTW, just to clarify, even 40K is a very expensive car which is the proposed price of the Volt. Electric cars should be priced a lot cheaper if they want to widespread since most people just can't afford 40K cars!

[ivanbunny25]

This is such a beautiful car, and it is a tradgety that GM and the oil companies killed this future. This was a mass produced and sucessful ALL ELECTRIC car. Those bastards should be shot for killing it.

[taj7575]

Yes, but atleast companies like toyota have learned their mistakes and are making a plug-in Prius. GM is just making a weak electric car.

[liveoilfree]

Talk is cheap: SO FAR, NO CAR!!

[ThLuckyOne]

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[taj7575]

what i dont understand is...

why the hell doesnt the Volt use a better battery? 40 mile range? are you kidding me? didnt GM create an electric can in the late 90's with better range than that?

I still think the volt is a nice car though....it just needs better mileage in city.

[Ukrainatrain]

u.. because a battery that allow longer ranges get a lot more expensive. The EV-1 cost GM about $80,000 to make in the 90's, and they can not afford to take that kind of loss nowadays, and nobody would buy a volt at that price. I'm sure Toyota took a large loss on this EV also. Why do you think they discontinued it?

[taj7575]

Oh, ok. Gotcha

[liveoilfree]

You're just repeating Bob Lutz' lies. No one knows what it would have cost GM to make the EV1, if GM had been honest; by lying about the EV1, GM's figures are UNTRUSTWORTHY.

[liveoilfree]

Because GM is not serious about the VOLT, it's just a lie.

[Carlibra57]

Great video, thanks. Cheveron, with it's patent on the large NiMh batteries is standing in the way... but Tesla Motors figured out how to cool down their 7000+ LiOn batteries using the car's air-conditioner! It's so stupid to be using up oil for common communting purposes but will probably be the prefered method for long-haul purposes, i.e. trucking. The oil & auto industry have good reason to throw inhibit electric cars eventhough they would curb global warming tremendously... wind, solar.

[Ukrainatrain]

its probable that the patent they own would not be used now anyway, because a technology improves, new patents are issued to reflect the changes, and this was like over 10 years ago.

[liveoilfree]

The patent got Chevron $30M from Toyota, and shamed Toyota.

[liveoilfree]

The Tesla is based on the T-zero, which was created by the same folks who were kicked off the EV1 program. They went to Lithium since they could not get good lead-acid batteries (after JCI bought optima), and because NiMH won't put out the power (800A).

[gandy74]

Electric cars are great as towncars and shorter range commuting. You could have a gas car for longer ranges. Most people have 2 cars anyway.

[SwineNahNah]

Oh c'mon, range places it in citycar position, so, it sould be something like Yaris-EV or Corolla-EV, not the RAV4

[ernnst14]

you are a very smart man! we need these cars more than ever, i just wish these car companies would see tha the world is dieing, instead of how much money their making.

[liveoilfree]

The RAV4-EV retailed for $42,000, the battery cost was $12,000, the rest was due to design cost amortized over only 1600 copies.

[liveoilfree]

The cost of the batteries is NOT a barrier! This is a GM lie! The life-cycle cost of EV--95 Toyota NiMH, which lasts longer than the life of the car, is much lower than a gas car.

The entire pack retailed for $25,000, when new; now, you can't buy it at ANY price.

That's the major cost in building the car, but Toyota's cost was about half that, so they make a lot of money on it, too.

[Ukrainatrain]

a lie? this is why GM won't even break even on the volt? and Toyota canceled the rav4 ev because they were making money on it? You do not make any sense whatsoever.

The battery pack retails for 35 grand (which is by far the bulk of the cost). On top of that, add on a car with all the required safety features and technology to make it more lightweight.

[liveoilfree]

The battery pack cannot be purchased at ANY price, since GM sold control to Chevron's cobasys unit and sued Toyota, which then stopped production of the EV-95 batteries.

[pvelectric]

I'm delighted city gentlemen, like liveoilfree seems to be, are doing what we used to call "shade tree mechanics." After finishing a five year career as a professional auto mechanic and heavy duty farm machinery operator and mechanic (laying flat on my back often in them old dusty at times and flooded at times, alfalfa pieces, at my old California home, way back when), I actuall plan a business model to build Solar Powered Houses, featuring a plug-in at the carport or garage...ah well, live...

[sexmoron]

What years of Rav4 can this be done to?

[SatwaMan]

Wow, I wish I could do this. I love the Rav4, don't have and EV version, but wish Toyota would make a good one.

[atsidlm]

80 to 100 miles on 75 % is totally awesome. Im a electrical engeneering looking to build myself an ev. AC motor like that. I need 70 miles range for my needs, well 70 miles is twice my daily need for a good safety ratio. Where can i learn more about this truck and how can I contact you? I just saw you run a pack of 335 volt. More voltage, less amp, easier on batts. Id like to do something very similar to your truck but in a car.

[liveoilfree]

The EV comes from Toyota, which no longer supports it. The pack is nominally 288v, that's at 1.2v per cell, while the actual voltage ranges up to 1.45. Higher voltage, more power, but harder to get the battery to that voltage, also. No one is pursuing NiMH, since Chevron bought up control of the batteries. NiMH lasts a long time, is cheaper than Lithium, and works.

[diamondsmajestic1]

This technology has great potential when it is packaged for non tech consumers.

Imagine the possibilities for using renewable energy and electric hybrid cars and the reverse process of keeping your house going during a blackout. Robert McMahon Mr Solar Energy

[killian1701]

dont buy a rav4 ev.. just BUILD one! Lithium Ion batteries have come WAY down.

[SatwaMan]

How do you build one?

[kokabian]

Oil companies killed the EV car.

Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and the production line for the large NiMH batteries was closed down and dismantled. Only smaller NiMH batteries, incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in, are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco.

[SatwaMan]

How come Texaco had the patent for the NiMH battery in the first place?

Also, where can I get the information you quoted here to reference as specific sources? Any ideas?

[Leibensborn]

they are both preventing current EV development and securing their profits if or when oil finally runs out.

[diggingforgold]

Check Wikipedia's NiMH article. There are lawsuits going on because of patent suppression. But NiMH patents expire 2015, so if LiIon fails, we will still have NiMH to fall back on (and it might be cheap by then).

The problem right now for E-REVs is cost of batteries (whether it's NiMH or LiIon, it's still expensive). To give you an idea, a 1.3kWh NiMH Prius pack costs $3,000. The Volt has a 16kWh LiIon pack, which can end up costing well over $25,000.

EVs are not cheap, but neither is oil. :)

[liveoilfree]

Actually, that's the cost for the Prius pack, which has 40 lbs. of computer and fans, and is an entirel different kind of battery.

The EV-95 used in the RAV4-EV cost at most $1000 per module, but ARB estimated it would be $400 in quantity production. Even in 2015, you won't get NiMH unless Toyota chooses to make them.

[Ukrainatrain]

Toyota did not make the batteries used in the rav4. The cost you just mentioned is a total lie. If it was so cheap, why would they make a very limited run and then cancel it as soon as the mandate was reversed just like the EV1?

[liveoilfree]

Toyota-Panasonic ("PEVE") made the batteries; PEVE is now owned only by Toyota.

The program was cancelled for reasons that are complicated; Toyota got membership in the Auto Alliance. Before 1999, Toyota was excluded. The EV was not formally killed until after Chevron's lawsuit was filed.

[randytooth]

THANK YOU for sharing ur knowledge with us!!

[Dilekz]

I wish i could buy an electric car like the RAV4 ev... I would installe solar panels on my roof etc. Did you know that you can earn your solar panels way more faster back because of the oil prices that are high ?? Think about it.

[Dilekz]

I wish i could buy an electric car like the RAV4 ev... I would installe solar panels on my roof etc. Did you know that you can earn your solar panels way more faster back because of the oil prices that are high ?? Think about it.

[JacksonWesleyRice]

Thanks for the awesome demo. I wonder if the poly lithium ion batteries made by Advanced Battery would provide longer range.

[liveoilfree]

Maybe, but they cost more and don't last as long.

[liveoilfree]

Funny thing, people see the EV and solar power, and want to do it themselves. But GM and Toyota are refusing to sell an EV, which makes it all possible. Without a plug-in car, you can't use the solar power credits to charge your car, and the money formerly spent on gas to pay off the solar system.

[Rickdeckard2020]

Q1- Would it be easy, possible or hard to have a setup with Home roof Solar Panels that would charge a battery or something while you are at work so that you could plug the EV overnight (even if the solar panels dont get sunlight)?

Q2- The in the typical setup I suppose you sell electricity from the solar panels during the day and use the grid at night?

[liveoilfree]

Q1--Yes, using cheap lead-acid deep-cycle batteries. We have 13 kWh of batteries, which can easily cycle 5 kWh per day the way you suggest; it could be 40 kWh.

Q2--Yes, the grid is greedy for power in the day, and has too much at night.

[TypeORedPill]

I agree, GM is either lying or is technologically inferior to Toyota. Seems GM/Lutz would have us think the latter, too.

[1972volkswagen]

Wow. Nice car. I really want one, but seeing as i'm only 14, that's a while off. My parents want to buy me my first car, but they don't like the idea of electric cars. Something about them being unsafe or unreliable. (Which they're not!)

[SimpStone80]

Get a hybrid then. short local trips you use the electric motor, long trips you use the biogas engine or something.

[1972volkswagen]

Not to sound argumentative, but they don't like hybrids either. Especially plug in ones.

[1972volkswagen]

My parents think that EVs aren't practical, either, and that the only people who drive them are actors and "Long haired sandal wearing jobless hippie freaks".

[diggingforgold]

Why does the Volt have such pitiful range (compared to older EVs like the EV-1 and RAV4-EV) even though it's using much newer, higher capacity, smaller, lighter batteries? Because it also has to house an ICE. This increases cost and weight, and decreases available space. It's an engineering challenge to not only make this thing work for a certain range, but also make it affordable. When we start seeing more competition, I'm confident price and range will improve.

[liveoilfree]

Actually, the VOLT doesn't exist. But it only would hold a 200 lb. 3-cylinder 1000 cc. engine genset, not really a weight problem!

The EV1, which originally had 1300 lbs. of Lead batteries, had a version with a genset.

[diggingforgold]

200 lbs of ICE could be 200 lbs of LI-ION batteries, which could be 30 miles worth of range. Weight, space, and cost are all issues going against the Volt's all-electric range because it has an ICE and uses expensive LI-ION batteries. Also, remember GM is trying to make a profit on this car. At $30K, you can't expect the same range that we saw from of a car that GM never saw a cent of profit from (each EV1 cost GM $80K+).

[liveoilfree]

Actually, GM claimed each EV1 cost them $800,000.

The VOLT battery would cost $38K, if it were real; but it's not. NiMH is here, now, and works every day, but GM doesn't want to use what works. GM wants to lie.

[XMODStitan]

if NiMHs do better in cold weather than im all set!

[liveoilfree]

NiMH batteries do better in cold weather.

[mianersiyok]

OH MY GOD! can you believe this!?! I just did a search on Google for "electric car cures traffic congestion" and it asked me "Did you mean: electric car causes traffic congestion" if you don't believe me, try searching for 'electric car cures traffic congestion' on google. lol! What is wrong with the world? ....

[mianersiyok]

I just thought of something I havent read or watched yet. If more cars out there are charging instead of being driven, it would relieve traffic congestion a little. What a break through! is there anything electric cars won't solve? it never ceases to amaze me. lol.

[dandykman269]

how do you heat it when its 10 below zero? the volt will have gas engin.

[liveoilfree]

NIMH works fine below freezing. We have pictures of our HondaEV charging up with ice all over, when we were the first production EV over Mt. Shasta Pass. NIMH likes cold, not hot. It's just the opposite of lead acid. Each battery chemistry is different.

[mianersiyok]

I don't think there will be mass marketing of the volt. It will be the new ev1! Ofcoarse, they'll make a little more of them and maybe lease or sell them to a few hundred more people than they did with the ev1, but really, like Doug has expressed, it's ultimately just most likely going to be another public relations reboondoggle.

[mianersiyok]

Personally I don't see any need for any sort of gas engine in an electric car, it's just a ploy to sell you more gas and replacement parts. You could easily go across country with a standard conversion plugging into any 110v outlet overnight.

[mianersiyok]

I really hope, for Chevy's sake, they are really serious about the volt though, not so keen on the gas engine in it but atleast it'll help regular people get the picture that electric is better. It will also ween people off gas incrementally, which is a good thing, it wont be all electric, but it's a start.

[Rickdeckard2020]

I dont know about todays EVs, but my friend has been using an electric car since it was initially tested in the 90s and its working just fine in winter(Canadian winter). If it had no heating I would have heard about it. My winter question was about the charge, and he told me that its theoretical since in practice he did not use 100% of a charge to go to work and back and by the next morning its recharged

[Rickdeckard2020]

On the other hand the car may have been in a garage (as opposed to spending a whole night at -30)

The other aspect to consider about recharging is that while a full recharge takes time, you can do this overnight, and a partial charge can take much less time.

If enough EVs are used, there will likely be more places to recharge at. Its easy to imagine the possibility of pluging in at restaurants thus allowing travellers to go on long trips.

[hoeyhimself]

Looks like too much work, why not just go to the gas station and fill up??

[liveoilfree]

Well, to get that gallon of gasoline, you have to pay $3, we pay nothing since our system paid for itself 2 years ago.

But you also have to do oil exploration, conduct oil wars, elect corrupt oil presidents, allow oil spills, construct refineries, burn electric, natural gas and use water to create refinery pollution, and so on.

[mianersiyok]

Don't forget the gas people waste to DRIVE to the GAS STATION! lol.

[Rickdeckard2020]

"Don't forget the gas people waste to DRIVE to the GAS STATION! lol. "

Yes and also the gas wasted to transport the millions of berrels of gas by gas tanker trucks to the GAS STATIONS! LOL

(has liveoilfree pointed, the drilling, wars, spills, polution, refineries, etc)

" do turn a blind eye to the killing required to get me the oil"

BTW, I think the killing is atually not about Oil but about Oil Profits(how much money they can make).

[tribluered]

Whats so hard about plugging the car in, when you get home from work. Wake up, unplug it. Drive to work. See simple.

Why would you want to drive to the gas station, wait in line, pay a boat load of your hard earned money, then pump in smelly gas?

[tribluered]

Your car, stays parked for long periods of time. Why not charge your car, while it is parking? I mean going to the gas station is a hassle.

[Xebranut]

How much work is it to kill people so you can "just go to the gas station and fill up??"

[hoeyhimself]

Just the whole conversion, and I dont really min stopping at the gas station because I like to grab something to drink or what have you. In addition, I drive alot, and I enjoy the sound of a roaring V8. I enjoy it to the point that, yes, I do turn a blind eye to the killing required to get me the oil necessary for driving a good looking vehicle that has some pep.

[liveoilfree]

You'd have loved the power of the EV1. Save your cans and bottles to buy a Tesla, it's got even more power than the EV1.

[HAL11000]

How many kilowatts of photovoltaic solar pannels do you have?

[liveoilfree]

4.2 kW actual (AC) rating. The nominal is 4.6 kW.

It's not visible from the street, and has both Siemens 130 W and 100 W panels, and a battery backup inverter (SW5448).

[hempev]

That regen trick is so cool - "car thinks it's going downhill"! My Ranger EV has very mild regen, but then it has an Avcon that is much easier to make into a plugin (haven't done it, but needs a signal generator to fool the truck). Really wish I could do the PalmPilot monitor! Perfect explanation of the Volt, too.

[liveoilfree]

Actually, no one cares if YOU want to buy the Volt, or any other EV. Manufacturers know that there has ALWAYS been more buyers for EVs than there were EVs!

So it isn't like, "I'll be willing to buy one", it's "I can't buy one because they won't sell it to me."

No one can buy one, except a used RAV4-EV.

[bjhorton2005]

I hope like crazy they get the volt working. Come 2010 if either the volt, or the plug in prius comes out. I will try them both out and buy one. Of course, I dislike the prius (had one) because they are simply not electric enough! It is a gas car with an electric "booster" if that. :( CANNOT wait for a good solution.

[liveoilfree]

Sorry to say, I don't think GM is serious about the "volt". It's just a Public Relations exercise. If an auto maker wanted to build a real EV, they could do it, the battery is here, the drive-train is easy, the rest is just building it.

But no major is planning to build an EV or even a real plug-in serial hybrid of any sort.

Toyota did build one, but GM and Chevron stopped that.

[liveoilfree]

The charger is from Manzanita

[liveoilfree]

The max output of the gen doesn't matter. Taking 2/3 out BY WEIGHT depends on how you do it, just retain the specific power. There are working models, and have been for 40 years (GM had one in 1969). It's not impossible, your scepticism might show an IC engine is impossible!

[willdryden]

The key to your PHEV assertion is that is should be a SMALL generator. The generator in the Volt is 53kW and that is not small.

If you took 2/3 of the batteries out of your Rav4, the acceleration would be so bad you would not drive it. You can not get enough amps out of your NiMH batteries to compensate for the lack of voltage.

[liveoilfree]

Actually, the generator on the VOLT is still IMAGINARY since they don't yet have a working model. The video of the Volt limping along on a golf cart motor shows GM 's idea of the VOLT is mostly fictional.

[liveoilfree]

Use lower amp/hour versions of the same voltage battery.

It's EASY to make a 50-mile-range conversion, we have TWO of them. By your argument, no EV would be possible with less than 120 miles range!

[willdryden]

I never said you could not make an EV with less than 120 mile range. What I said was that performance would drop if you did it with NiMHs or you would have to draw more power from the cells than they were rated to give.

[liveoilfree]

So you're claiming that no EV with NiMH batteries can be made that only goes 40 miles??

[willdryden]

I did not say that either if you do not mind 0 to 60 MPH in the 20 to 30 second range, drop the top speed from 80 MPH, or put in more weight by adding a transmission. There is only one other option and make it a bike like the Vetrex (sp?)

[liveoilfree]

We have TWO EV conversions with 45 mile range, so it CAN be done. All we need is a small generator that meets mobile smog, and we'll do this if and when the RAV4-EV batteries wear out.

[e1p12007]

Doug: I'm a long time reader of yours, and really appreciate your passion. But if this is so doable, why doesn't someone buy a used Rav-4 EV and convert it to a NiMh serial hybrid?

You'd think all the Hollywood EV-1 fans could easily finance such a project, and the result would be an even more undeniable thorn in the sides of GM, the Bushies and the oilies.

Hell, I'd donate to the cause...GRASSROOTS!

[flir67]

where did you get the 12kw charger, and how big is your inverter? nice set up. would like to try this but need more info.

[liveoilfree]

The 12 kW charger comes from Rich Rudman's Manzanita Chargers company. The inverter is a Xantrex SW battery backup with 13 kWh of AGM batteries.

[pedroatlarge]

That's so cool! I like the licence plate, accurate and inspired!

[radumicu]

Good Job! You are wright, definitely. Keep on the good work.