Electric Starion EV - Part 5 - at the Electric Car Show

The Electric Starion is now at a drivable state and we take her for a spin at the annual electric car show in Sydney. Some say that by international standards, the AEVA show is probably not a huge event, but conversely, for a small population, there is a high proportion of interest in EVs in Australia plus R&D attracting international attention, despite little interest from the government to date (although the recent Climate Ready initiative may change this). Many types of makes and models of new and old cars converted to electric drive were on display; regular daily commute vehicles, sports cars, classic cars, electric bikes, roadsters, hotrods and even a Formula 'E' race car. The 'H' word was well and truly overshadowed by 'full EV' and many people were interested in how to get their own fully-electric cars. There was one vehicle, a Prius with a K2 battery pack for extended range; these are small lithium phosphate cells up to 3200 milliamp hour, banded together into modules to make up the required voltages and they have a high energy density and handle a high charging current, ideal for regen braking. There's a test review which explains this better, at http://zeva.com.au/tech/K2/ and from there a link to the K2 Energy site where you'll find a video comparison of the cobalt and phosphate impact penetration test. As for my Starion, with an adjustment on the Curtis trimpots, it drove well, gear changing was minimal (we tried 2nd and 3rd starts (and not game for a 1st start test yet) and essentially we're convinced that I'll only ever need to drive in second or third gear as there is so much torque in the Kostov. Reverse gear exhibits a typically higher torque (not as high as first), and as seen in many EVs reversing will have to be handled carefully but further refinement will be looked into, and all in all, the Starion drove like a regular car - a regular Starion in fact with all the handling (including drift test) expected in a sports car. There was no noticeable increase in weight and the batteries delivered the power quickly as expected. We're still a little ways off completing the project as there is calibration to do, incline tests, road compliance and a couple of areas that need respray, some minor body fixes and so on. Overall though, very exciting. Apologies again for the shaky camera, there were so many people bumping around (and a Nokia N93 is not that noticeable compared to the larger cameras the media had), and I really should write a new piece of music (hope this old one's okay). Keep watching http://electriccarsforeveryone.com for updates and Nathan's http://www.converturcar.com website for news and info on upcoming vehicles to convert.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• electric
• car
• show
• Sydney
• motor
• Thundersky
• Lithiums
• Tesla
• EV
• starion
• recyclable
• lithiums

[johnson1095]

i wish someone could make a FOUR seater instead of just a TWO seated conversion

[cityofdomes]

My Starion is a FOUR SEAT conversion; yepp, and passed by road authorities as a four-seater with slightly higher tar weight than original. Batteries are under the hood and where the gas tank was, so plenty of room for four fat bastards and a cat.

[cdowell1976]

Cool! I love your car conversion! =D

Just curious what's that giant silver thing on your wrist?

[cityofdomes]

Hah, that's just my home-made watch -yeah I've actually sold a few of these - a stock analog watch mounted in an old vcr tape head to look cool (not much use for a vcr otherwise :-D )

[fenrisnz]

wtf?! lol... thats cool.... still prefer petrol starions :). mmmmmmmmmmmmm boost :)

[cityofdomes]

Oh we're planning on boost, an electric boost using IGBTs. I just need to save up for a few more batteries and a couple of IGBTs. Gotta finish an Echo for someone first.

[SPORTFUNDcom]

Hooray, I saw myself in your vid! I gotta say the Starion looks much slower in this video than it did in reality. The silence is confusing I suppose because that red car of yours was pretty bloody fast. (So was the little white ute).

Can't wait to see the next installment.

[mariovr4]

I never wanted to be a red shirt til i saw this video:)

[J4CKTHESN1P3R]

poor starion:(

[mcmanus1806]

back to the future :P

[valvetrom]

Good car, terrible music

[cdowell1976]

@cityofdomes I think it looks pretty cool. Nice work & great idea too.

[SniperViper1000]

Don't call me a liar >:(