"Designing my EV system"

Okay, I've purchased a couple of books on this conversion process. The big one is Convert it! by Michael Brown. I was a bit hesitant, cuz from what I could tell, it was not much more than the sort of thing you'd pick up from the copy store that your college professor told you to get for class. I went to school in the late 80's so college professors probably don't even use paper anymore. But this is what this book reminded me of (a color copies, self cover, kinko's bindery job), but so many people recommended it, I got it. At Amazon, if you can believe it.

Also got this other one that was recommended. I'd go get it now to get the title right, but I hurt my back picking up a sink today, so I don't feel like getting up again. Something about building an electric car. It feels like a real book. Has a lot of charts and graphs that force my eyes to glaze over and think about going to see the new batman movie. But has some good info too.

What's the strangest thing about these books? "Convert it" was released in the 70's i think, and the other one in the early 90's! These people have been doing this since the 70's?!!! WWTF!?? Really? 

But the technology must have changed drastically since then. Right? 

Not so much.

There's a lot more in the way of motor choices, controller choices and places to buy this stuff now than there was then, but the design is pretty much the same. Okay, some confidence building there, and something I can mention to the missus, since she's quite skeptical about this whole plan. 

I don't want to paint a hackneyed portrait of the missus, she's always supportive, but her main concerns seem to be: 1) what the hell am I gonna do with the kids while yer under the car 2) ultimately, is this gonna be safe? Legit questions. I'm planning on setting up playdates and ordering safety belts. But before any electrical stuff goes in, I'll make sure the brakes are serviced, pad replaced, lines replaced etc and I'll work on the suspension a bit, beefing up the shocks etc.

So, at the most basic level, here's my design plan based on my driving habits.

All the driving will be within a 4 mile radius, back and forth, dropping off kids, picking them up, getting groceries, hardware store, post office, that sort of thing. In our little town we have a speed limit of 25mph, which is pretty strictly enforced, so neither my speed or range is very challenging. It's also completely flat, as we're right next to the bay. Pretty ideal driving conditions. Plus our office is 2 blocks from the house, no big commute for us.

I don't need much. We have a Suburu that we can take outside of town for anything requiring range/speed/highways etc, but 80% of our driving is this stop/go in town crap. 

Based on that, I decided I needed room for the kids (so the rest of the passenger area won't be filled with batteries, unlike some vehicles,) I didn't need much range (settling for 12vlt batteries, 6 of them for 72 volts. You see, if you have 12 6 vlt batteries, you'll get a lot more range, but you lose that space in the car etc...then have added problems cuz of the weight you added, and what that does to the car etc - I read about some guy who put about 8 or 9 batteris under the VW hood and seemed surprised when he busted the point where his axle sort of attached to the chassis. A bit heavy, maybe?)

Okay, so only 4 batteries behind the back seat, in a well carpentried heavy duty battery box (remember, I can cut and join wood purty good!), 2 batteries under the hood in a 72 volt system. That should get me up to 45-50, conservatively if I need it, and about 20 miles range. It should have the same power (accordingly to Michael Brown's Convert it!) as the original 1200 engine that was in this bug when it began life in Germany. 

[Sidenote, for the gearhead: The engine I dropped turned out to be a 1600 cc long block rebuild my dad had done (or had done) back in 94. The original engine had been rebuilt in 81, and then he decided he wanted more power, so in 94 got the long block. maybe that's why it was harded to get out with the exhaust?]

Okay, putting a motor in the back, with some sort of adaptor plate and motor coupler to attach to my clean tranny. There are a lot of choices on this but I've decided (more on this in the next entries) that 1) I need a system that uses the clutch and 2) these adaptor plates/couplers are on a long delay from whoever you buy them from. One company, actually M. (Convert It) Brown's out fit, Electro Automotive, quoted about 10 weeks to get that part done. I don't have that kind of time. 

Needless to say, I haven't decided on the motor or controller yet, just the voltage, the fact that I'll use lead acid flooded batteries (more on this choice reasoning later) and maybe that's it.

I'd better talk to some experts...I joined a club (something I've NEVER done before in my life.)