Electric Car Conversion 101 part 002

[mike081283]

you still need the clutch right

[BenjaminNelson]

@mike081283

No, a clutch isn't needed. You can control the speed of the motor to match whatever is needed for shifting.

[webworkhere]

@BenjaminNelson I'm thinking our motors are going to drain some batteries man.

[webworkhere]

@BenjaminNelson I have a Baldor Super E 10HP 28amps motor looks just like yours however it's three phase will this work?

[danyalalyasa]

what is the configuration of this motor , please recommend me an electric motor , my car weighs about 1000 KG with petrol engine ,i am removing the existing petrol motor and want to go for electric motor, i have a hatchback .

[dunn98632]

Things would be so much easier with a rear wheel drive car and not a piece of shit front wheel drive car . Guys come on use your head we have no worry about gas mileage with electrice so why use a area so small and haveing to cram everything in such a tight spot . use a old car hell use a 57 chevy more room ya heavier who cares were experimenting. way more roon under that hood and trunk for all the batteries and way cool than anything that is front wheel drive of today .

[yj1992jeep]

i have a 1992 jeep wrangler what do you do about the power breaks vacum and power steering and cluch

[BenjaminNelson]

@yj1992jeep

For power brakes, you can add a small electric vacuum pump, to run the vacuum assist. For steering, you could add a pulley to the power steering pump or replace with a manual steering rack. Tom replaced his original steering rack with manual. You do not NEED a clutch for an electric motor. Some guys keep them, so guys leave them out. This project is clutchless.

[Grimdopple]

that's a huge electric motor

[mrmikemanify]

THATS WHAT SHE SAID x5000

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

transmission :|

I personally like the idea of using an electric controller like the zilla

[danoldsbb]

thanks !! hey and do you know how are the noise levels?? is it a smooth transition, dose de coupler makes too much noise? i want to use this system on a 99 mitsubishi lancer that we are building at college, and it must be realy quiet.

[BenjaminNelson]

@danoldsbb

I've never had a dB meter in Tom's car, but it's quiet. The coupler itself doesn't make any noise. If you could hear the coupler at all, it would mean you have some sort of problem.

[danoldsbb]

hi! were did you get the cupling yokes with the ruber???? thanks!!! love your workl

[BenjaminNelson]

@danoldsbb

A "Lovejoy" coupler can be picked up through any industrial supplier. They are usually also available at any place that deals in electric motors, or some store with a good mechanical isle, such as a farm store.

[WoodyNFla34482]

Excellent! Hope you'll leave this one up. I'm not at this level, or stage, yet, but find it VERY interesting for some of the details of building a car.

[horse4ever100]

Hi. Im trying to make my first electric car and I love what your doing. finally some one is makeing a step by step vidio on all this .Do you have vidioes on all the electrical parts and hook up. And Thanks Again .

[BenjaminNelson]

@horse4ever100

Just click on my username link to go see all the videos I have. I have several on Tom's Dodge Neon Electric Car, quite a few on my Electro-Metro, and some on the electric motorcycle and other projects. For anyone really going for a first electric car build, they should check out the BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC CAR DVD at 300MPGdotORG .

[KoolJust4U]

omg, even a fat guy can convert/build an electric car in his garage.. it so easier compare to combustion engine. no wonder they try to kill the electric car off.

[chikanub]

The opening of this reminds me of Pod Racer 64

[stratline7]

What size motor? I'm thinking of building an electric Ford Ranger pick up, what size motor do you think I need?

[liviooo18]

i am just wandering why didn't you use plastic transparent foil, paper or cardboard to draw the template of the gear box and then simply put the template on the piece of metal?

[CalabreseMPC]

you just put the bolts in and weld  aframe around it, that's your jig

[Scorpion85629]

Why didn't you just use a piece of cardboard to make a template? You could have just pulled the two items away from each other placed square piece of cardboard that squarely touchs the table and the motor shaft and tap on the cardboard to get the shaft impression then cut out the impression enabling you to slide the cardboard to the motor face which would aid in getting the bolt pattern. These steps could then be carried to the transmission. Much less crap to go through this way.

[newpage123]

the only question i have and im sure its adressed sumwhere is What do you guys to with the trani lines that would normally run through the radiator? do u just keep them in a radiator?

[BenjaminNelson]

@newpage123

The car has a manual transmission, with no cooling lines. The is no need to keep the radiator, so it was removed and sold.

[themeaningoflife38]

@newpage123 If you used an automatic you could just put an aftermarket transmission cooler on it.Manual is better they are lighter and have less drag.

[thegoosebrain]

Great series. Thank you.

[mouayad888]

this comment for chevy and volvo and in some way for you i have a better idea if you want to know im here.

[mouayad888]

this is 100% wrong concept because the battery will drian its power quickly why?because charging a battery as its giving power to motors will be very hard or not efficient or will charge it about 20% in 60mile driving so it will need to be charged everyday which is not practical, what is the right concept of this?im making a car that will need charging once a week or 12 days or more i will make my prototype soon but right now i dont have the means to do it but i have the idea,

[goku1940]

Why do you even bother with a transmission. Most electric cars have so much torque that you don't even need a transmission. Why are you using one?

[BenjaminNelson]

This is a common question. For the quick and easy answer - you still need some way to connect the motor to the wheels. On a front-wheel-drive car, the transmission does exactly that. Since the transmission is already there, why not just use it?

The only other option would be to remove the tranny and build something from scratch to take it's place - that's a lot of time and money.

[Spastb00n]

I do not mean to critizise you or your design, because you obviously know a lot more about these issues than I do, but wouldn't it be possible to save quite some weight without the old transmission?

I mean just while you're at it, creating a more efficient car and considering the energy capacity issues these cars already have, why not make it a lightweight as possible?

[BenjaminNelson]

Another consideration is that this particular electric motor does not have a wide RPM operating range. Because of that, you really do still need to use various gears to match road speed and motor speed.

[Spastb00n]

@BenjaminNelson

Oh ok, that makes perfect sense.

Too bad that building some half-decent electric car is this time-comsuming and that one needs so much expertise. Would be great, if it'd be possible to just gather some friends and finish up a usable vehicle over the course of prolonged holidays :/

[BenjaminNelson]

Knowing what I do now, I think I could do a motorcycle in a weekend.

I would love to see someone do an "EV-Raising" where a bunch of people get together and crank out an EV in some short period of time!

[martyrindia]

@BenjaminNelson sir , how could be if u use BLDC motor with rare earth magents Neo-dymium attached diectly to wheels as electric bikes, we can save more power in transmission? this is my idea ..thank u

[andrew0901280]

where do you get the electric motors from and how much do they cost.

ive always wanter an electric hotrod and i ran into some cash and want to build one i dont know much about them so if you could give me and advise you think would be usful that would be great thanks.

[MrCoolguy6273]

@andrew0901280 get one from a fork lift, get a start from a big semi truck or you can find them online like ebay

[CastIronCarousel]

@CapitanoGUC:

A land rover is not too heavy but it's not ideal. Actually, there is no such thing as a vehicle that is too heavy. Many earthmovers are electric vehicles and they can weigh fifty tons, easy. The problem becomes distance traveled per charge. See Bob Brant's book, 'Build your own electric vehicle' for a table on voltage vs. weight vs. motor power. That should get you on the right track.

[Tedzy]

You could also buy a transmission gasket to use as a template.

[CapitanoGUC]

how difficult would it be to convert an land-rover defender - or is this fore wheel just to heavy to drive on electricity ??? - can someone please tell me ???

[jabbamagnus]

Nice video.

Couldn't you have used the gasket for the transmission (if available) to get your holes?

[frvfilms]

wish i was able to do this  but resources and lack of knowledge makes it hard

[mijaresk2007]

do you use a altern current motor ?

[zeewrath]

hey great vids thanks for taking the time and posting them.

[cyberbulldog13]

i would've just used a chalk stick and marked that way then laid it flat and made permanent marks.