The Homebrew Electric Car Saga - Escort EV Installment 2

[georgekush]

i dont see why anybody would be hating on this, this would increase the economy/ saving of money wasted on fossil fuels. But of course the powers that be dont want this right now. How much does it cost for everything.

[hipofalcon]

@georgekush - lot's of folks have issues with change. I think the same thing happened when the car became mainstream and the horse was on the way out. The real funny thing is that there were electric cars before there were petrol cars. Henry Ford's wife drove an electric car. They are not a new concept. Just imagine if even half as much R&D went into electric vehicles as was spent on gasoline cars since the late 1800's and we would all be driving EVs right now, saving oil for other uses - Ken.

[frank0067]

@hipofalcon all depends on WHAT change it is !

[TheManInDboX]

Ok, So its cool, not saying its not, but you loose heat, power steering, power breaks, and the freedom to go anywhere that you could call a road trip..

[hipofalcon]

@TheManInDboX - yes, but I also don't get to go to the gas station, or for oil changes, or air filters, or tune-ups, or emissions tests, or exhaust repairs, or anti-freeze, or belts. Ken.

[hipofalcon]

@TheManInDboX - oh, and remember, gasoline cars actually use more electricity than electric cars, due to the amount of electricity it takes just to refine a gallon of gas - about 6 KW per U.S. gallon. Ken.

[TheManInDboX]

@hipofalcon Listen, its cool, you get no questions from me on the cool factor, but for a realistic daily driver, i live in a cold area of the states, it would suck to drive this in the winter, then the fact that where i live you need to bring the batteries in your house at night so they dont freeze solid tells me carrying in a dozen batteries every night then back out in the morning would suck..

[hipofalcon]

@TheManInDboX - actually, you can drive it in the winter and you can hook up a heater. If you use a ceramic heater (standard 120 volt AC - aka MicroFurnace) and just use the element in where the heater core was, it will provide tons of heat at 72 volts DC. The batteries will not freeze unless they are stone dead, so not really an issue. The range will be reduced for sure (about 40%), but if you only need to do short trips, then it's no issue. Not good for the long haul. Ken.

[TheManInDboX]

@hipofalcon Ken, Just curious, have you clocked it to 60? is it faster then the Gas motor was? I am curious really because the more i read about these things the more i become interested in building a Drag 60's Beetle with an electric motor.. I would imagine with the batteries in the nose and the motor at the rear it would be like strapping a rocket to my ass..

[hipofalcon]

@TheManInDboX - yes, I have had it up to about 63 MPH (100 KM/H), but I never intended it to go that fast. Mainly city driving. Electric drag cars exist now and some are very fast and a beetle is a good choice. Check out evalbums on google and there are some examples there. If you want to see a great street/strip combo for an electric car, go to youtube and search for white zombie - you will be amazed. Ken.

[hipofalcon]

@TheManInDboX - BTW, I do have power brakes. I use a Thomas vacuum pump that runs off the 12 volt accessory battery and it provides the vacuum for the booster and they work as well as they ever did. This car was a purpose-built unit to do short city commutes, so it does exactly what was intended. At 25 km range (or about 15 miles), we were able to do grocery shopping, go to the Home Depot or the beer store and only needed to plug in every 3rd day. Was never a problem in the city. Ken.

[DanFrederiksen]

how hard was it to find a scrap forklift motor? and how much did it cost?

[hipofalcon]

@DanFrederiksen - was not hard at all. I just looked on line for a place thatr repaired electric forklifts. They had a number of used ones for sale. This one was a Hyster model and when I told them what I was doing, they actually even took it out of the unit, including all of the cables and contactors and controllers for $750 all-in. There are lots of places around that will do this. Ken.

[DanFrederiksen]

@hipofalcon ok that's not exactly scrap prices though.

brand new ones can be bought from china for 4-600$

my local metal scrap yard actually had a nice looking forklift motor I could have gotten for around 100$ but it was a sepex. in retrospect I should perhaps have bought it anyway. scrap motors are fairly rare here in DK.

I contacted the manufacturer just to know and they wanted 12000$ for a replacement which is just stupid.

it was about 8-9inches wide and a good size length.

[hipofalcon]

@DanFrederiksen - trouble with motors at scrap prices is that most of them are just that - scrap. This one was $750, but it came with 2 GE controllers (worth $600) and enough cable to do the entire install with leftovers, and the main contactor (500 amp unit) that would be another $100. So, it wasn't as bad a deal as it sounds - and the motor was in excellent condition. A friend of mine bought a motor for $75, but he's put more than that into repair parts and a ton of time, so no real deal - Ken

[abaneyone]

Impressive! Will this truck and your Escort work well this winter in your Ontario climate? What about heat during the winter? Can you drive it during the winter?

[hipofalcon]

Yes and yes. The range in winter will be reduced due to cold, but still reasonable. The heat is provided by a ceramic heating element (taken from the heaters that you buy at CT or Walmart). It replaces the original heater core and the original fan and controls are still used. Ken.

[ogwen040]

Nice one, Ken. Very impressive progress. (Once you done all the development work) Im going to get one of Uncle Henry's UK version Escorts and do the same conversion!

Wooooooo...indeed. :-) Keep steaming

[evric2008]

Is it the drive train or the motor which is so noisy?

[hipofalcon]

Mostly the drive-train. It has been up on stands now for over a month (and outside too) and the rotors are really rusted now. The motor is noisy too, as there is a plastic "fan" thing behind the front motor cover that is not quite centered on the shaft and it actually rubs on the casing of the motor. It's a pain to get at, and I don't really want to remove it. I was hoping that in time it will just "wear-in" as it runs. Ken.