006 Electric Car Conversion 101

Video 6 of converting a Dodge Neon into an electric car. In this video, Tom points out how to remove the original gasoline engine.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• EV
• Dodge
• Neon
• Electric
• AC
• Volt
• DIY
• car

[UpNorthLiving2011]

I like your vids.. but my question is I drive a v8 and put about 80 bucks a wk into the tank. Give or take this only cost me 4k a year in fuel.. your batteries cost allot and only last how long? 2-4 years maybe? plus no room and can only drive for so many miles? it would be nice if you could get 400 miles and the batteries did not take up the whole car. plus its slow!

[BenjaminNelson]

@UpNorthLiving2011

The driver of this car is a single guy, so not having a back seat isn't an issue. The entire project was less than $4000, or in your example, one year of gasoline. He lives in the city, so there aren't too many times he has to go any great distance. It is his second car, so if he does have to drive cross-country, he has another vehicle available to him.

This car is cheap to run, quiet, does freeway speeds, and has almost zero maintenance.

[dsealp4746]

Tom. Excellent job. Could you tell me name of the motor. Is it delta or wye?

[BenjaminNelson]

@dsealp4746

Ben here. I did the video, Tom did the car and on-screen acting.

The motor is a Baldor brand. Sorry, I don't know if it's a delta or wye. It is just a stock, AC, industrial motor. A big part of the inspiration for this project was getting a number of parts from closed-down factory equipment.

[DanFrederiksen]

how much does the parts taken out weigh?

you didn't show the car battery which I hope you will also take out

[BenjaminNelson]

I don't know how much the taken out parts weighed. An electric car usually ends up being heavier because of the batteries. The car battery did get taken out too.

It's in my Electro-Metro now!

[pipersall]

All you guys who do this are real American patriots and are leading the way to a better future for our country!!! Thank you!!!! You have me dreaming for the day when I can do this myself!!!!!

[anewlow23]

@BenjaminNelson Watch out on those throttle position sensors sometime they are affected by cold temperatures and the car can take off by itself at idle speeds I know it happened to me one time and I since replaced it with a hall effect.

[marcheseDS]

@jonwhunt It is important to say that not every el.motor can be used with every inverter, AND not every inverter has the same performances. Some have 90% efficiency only from half "throttle" to full, others from 20% to full because they are designed differently (and usually cost more having more power parts and control electronics).

[marcheseDS]

@jonwhunt As far as I know on ICEs you need the gears because the motor can run only around the maximum torque peak efficiently; using gears allows a very small motor to start and drive a car, or a large motor to drive it much faster. Electric is different because you can start from 0 RPM with max torque and run up to 3000RPM (or 13K on a Tesla) but this depends largely on the motor and inverter you use; sometimes it's cheaper a simple inverter + gears even if these consume power (friction).

[jonwhunt]

Does using a transmission reduce the amount of power the engine takes? For example, if I put one of these engines into a rear wheel drive RX-8 would it require less energy while cruising in 5th gear then if I took out the transmission and linked engine shaft straight to my driveshaft? Or is it still the same principal of using transmission gears to reduce the rpm (and thus energy needed) that the engine has to produce?

[ironoarsman]

The way you explain stuff is very very good.

[DanFrederiksen]

I would be quite intrested in hearing the parts weights. it would aid us in making educated guesses on future vehicle weights and design better.