My Electric Porsche 914

I'm Harrison and this is a video showing a test ride in my electric 914. I, influenced by Tesla Motors, converted this with my father, a physicist. The kit we bought was NOT very well designed. We made many improvements.

Specs:
200 volt Li-ion battery pack, 48 cells - Thundersky Batteries
DMOC 445 Motor Controller - Azure Dynamics
3-Phase A.C. Motor - Azure Dynamics
Close to original curb weight
Sorry to say that we haven't quite tested its full capabilities.
So far I've driven it at 55mph, but it could go way above that -- 70 or 80 perhaps.
The range is hardest to test because you have to run the battery all the way out which makes it hard to get back. 60 miles before recharge is what we've done which is a week of driving.
I'll update when we do more range/speed tests.

If we could do it again we would make better purchasing decisions and actually design it before the purchase.

www.electroauto.com sells kits and individual parts.

Feel free to ask questions!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Electric
• Conversion
• Porsche 914
• EV

[mrmixjay]

how about the acceleration?

[luminarycrush]

Now that you've had some time with it - what's the range you've been able to get? I've got a 914 and the engine started making a rod knock recently, so it's parked and I'm convincing myself to convert it to electric (other option is TDI... I'm done with gas motors). I'd definitely go LI (or LiPo) on the batter packs, AC for regenerative braking, and a motor which will give it sporty performance when required. I've been spending some time on the DIYelectriccar forums as well.

Great project !

[luisportas]

duuuude. Awesome stuff. Wish I had a ride like that in Portugal :P. Keep us posted with new info. Congrats

[del787b]

awesome work man keep it up

[marcandreviau]

LOL @ 4:07

pretty nice i might build one.

[jboy11ful]

Dude that's pretty cool I have not seen a Porsche 914 electric that's cool

[RichardBeriault]

Beautifully done conversion ... Bravo. Nice layout of gauges in the pillar. What is the size of your battery pack and what range have you been able to achieve so far?

[markcbrems]

All a DC controller does is regulate voltage, but an AC controller has to manage the relationship between frequency and voltage. I don't get how you could lose torque at lower RPMs on an AC system unless the controller programming isn't optimized for your battery pack/vehicle weight.

[markcbrems]

If the voltage isn't there to provide the torque at high RPMs, I suspect that the controller will drop the freq to match the given voltage, regaining torque and avoiding a motor stall.

The equation is much simpler for DC. RPM is directly related to voltage. The higher the voltage, the faster the motor spins. Torque is fairly constant at lower RPMs, but falls off as you approach your maximum RPM/voltage.

[markcbrems]

Here's my nutshell understanding: The RPM/torque relationship in an AC motor equates to frequency/voltage. The controller can spin the motor at any speed, but the voltage needs to increase proportionally or the torque is lost at higher RPMs. Getting high end performance out of the system puts you in the 300+ VDC range.