Hey, WobblyBob.

That is one heck of a coincidence!

You just made me think of something. How many people here have heard of Grassroots Racing? The concept is something like: build up a $2000 car (total cost), then race it against everyone else who entered the contest.

Maybe we need to have a Cheap EV Build-Off competition. Like $1500 US max expenditure, cars judged on top speed, range, creativity, safety, aesthetics... :)

Anyway - best of luck to you, too. I say forget the house and start on your Metro. What's the saying... You can't drive your house, but you can live in your car.

Tomorrow the recently-neglected FS

Wow... You're the man Metro :) Errr.. well, that is... if you're a man... the point is, I mean that in a good way - or something o.0

He is a he.

Ha! Funny comment just posted at YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDERyAILOak)

The idea of setting up a carbon offset program to fund the build did occur to me... :D

BTW, does anyone know what's up with YouTube's comments? I'd say 4 out of 5 times I try to reply to someone's comment, my reply never appears (even though I get the javascript alert saying it has been posted).

(PS - over 2k views. This one's popular.)

De-exhausted the

How did you stop the car then!!?!??

Hand brake. Wasn't going very fast (that goes without saying :D)

The 36v idea sounds good - and surely it would cause less Peukert effect rather than more?. Because, from the viewpoint of each 12v battery, less current will be being used (because there are 12 rather than 8 batteries), so the current gets spread out?

See, landspeed, now you've got me in unfamiliar territory.

How to build an electric car that pays for itself
 

So, I bungeed one of the cooked floodies onto my

Oh - and further to the 36v parallel / 72v series idea, I have been recently talking to folks

Chicken!

;-)

Not chicken - cheap!

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In a loud announcer voice "You are correct sir!" ding ding ding.

Personally I would lean towards 48v bank at this point, like you noted it's less batteries overall and less load per battery for the same "speed" and more potential top end power ;) but not for as long as 2 strings of 36.

Not wanting to tear up your stuff does not make you chicken or cheap. I was just teasing. This is such a cool project. Thanks for letting us all follow along.

Brock - thanks for the confirmation.

Bill - but not wanting to spend the extra bucks for components that can handle more than 48v is. :)

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MetroMPG: I am following your project and progress with great interest. Thanks for keeping us posted. You could consider your recovery and recycling of the dead batteries as purchasing some more green energy credits.

On the junction, you can use a acetylene torch to heat up the nut and the junction, so that you can get it loose. Pretty freaky thing when the brake lines are rusted enough their breaking open, but you can't get the stinkin fittings loose. Best of Luck.

Gary - yes, I should try the torch before monkeying with the splice idea. I do own one now, after all (my brother & I share one).

You're right: the situation with the nuts & rusted lines - it's irony defined. :D

Oooo, don't get dead or anything.

I like that giant motor. Surely someone is trying to build an electric small pickup truck and could make good use of it. Or something really cool, like a 240Z... :-)

On testing the loading on the batteries, could you just get a set of jumper cables and put your coat hanger load across the other ends of the cables, so that your not trying to hold anything with your hands?

And yes, don't get dead or anything.

Bill - actually, someone doing a 240 conversion inquired about it. And I agree - I would think a small pickup conversion would be an ideal candidate for this motor. Or a Volvo - had an inqury from a someone thinking of de-icing an old Volvo 240 wagon as well.


Gary - yup, that's how I did it. We may build a dedicated rig for load testing. Something we could put on a shelf, rather than a tangle of jumper cables & coat hangers...

Took a 35 minute break before lunch and aimed the torch at the frozen brake line nuts.

This brings up something to me - maybe it's been asked before and I overlooked it - is it difficult driving without the power booster on the brakes? How do manufactured EV's overcome this? Do they use a non-assisted master cylinder that has a large diameter?

A lot of conversions use electric vacuum pumps & larger reservoirs

Sweet deal on the motor! I wish you luck with it. Perhaps I will update my own project...but I'm tired. Working on it much this weekend?

Yes, please update the scoot thread.

I heard from the prospective motor guy again tonight - sounds promising. But I'm not going to say another word about it until I have the cash. :) Don't want to jinx it.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so that would be good "garage" weather. I'd like to get the tranny oil leaks completely sorted out. Plus need to remove the e-motor and rotate it 90 degrees to get its terminals out of the way of the battery rack that will sit over top.

Once that's done, we can look at continuing with rack fabrication. Now that the welder is broken in, I'm eager.

And of course: drive it around the neighbourhood to "test" each little repair/mod ;)

If you decide to go with a vacuum pump from a VW diesel for the brake booster let me know, i should be able to find one.

Thanks nathan - noted.

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One axle seal and 2 other gaskets later, the transmission leaks are fixed. Henceforth, no driveway shall fear the ForkenSwift!

Didn't do any more work to the FS today,

Had a very productive visit to the Ottawa EV association meeting last night.

You lucky dawg! With all the batteries you'll be making money on this damn thing soon enough!

Yeah. That's funny eh?

There are other people in the group who might be able to use some of the leftover batts (we can't use more than 12 max, and more likely only 8). So we probably won't just turn in the extra ones for the recycling fee in a desperate attempt to reduce the build cost :)

your video has inspired me to do the same ! i found two forklift for free but one is 24v and the other is 36v could it work ?

Hi Eric -

Depends on what your goals are. Can you make a highway capable car with only the parts from a 36v forklift? No. Can you make something similar to what we have made (low speed, slow acceleration)? Sure.

The advantage of used parts is they're cheap (or free). The disadvantage is their voltage ratings are lower, plus you end up doing more "custom" work to make things fit together (e.g. non-standard motor shafts, etc.)

It's too bad there is no EV club in the Montreal area. If I recall, there seems to be a few cars in that area in the EV Album.

If your going to be driving on the highway with a load of 50lb+ batteries I'd at least stand a piece of 3/4" plywood at the front of the bed to cover the rear glass. Just in case. I've seen my fair share of people seriously injured by there cargo in small accidents.

Yes - that happened to a friend of mine carrying a load in a small pickup. He was injured by his load crushing the back of the cab, not the collision with the other car.

Metro, I have an SAE paper on automotive electric motors.

SAE 1999-01-1152.

If you think it would be of any use to you, I will get it to you.

Hi, CO - is it as technical as it sounds? Would it cause me to stray from the path of "winging-it-ness"? :)