SubiEVee

My neighbor finally finished his EV, but it was worth the wait. The donor is a Subaru Forester and the new guts are an Azure AC motor/controller, custom adapter plate, GBS LifeMnPO4 cells, Elite Power BMS. He has maintained many of the original vehicle controls AWD, etc. Very nice! 

Eco auto & 
Article in the local paper

Revenge

"The electrification of the automobile is inevitable." - Bob Lutz

http://www.revengeoftheelectriccar.com/

While not quite as powerful and inspiring as the original title, there are some key bits of insight that make it worth the watch. I'm convinced we will soon reach a tipping point when the availability of easy to reach oil gets low enough, driving up the price of gas high, that driving/purchasing gasoline only vehicles will only be for situations that have no other choices.

Artificial Noise

Please, no artificial noise requirements for EVs. The quiet is a beautiful thing. The basic noise of tires on the road is enough to easily hear a EV.

http://evperspective.com/content/artificial-ev-sounds-will-add-noise-pollution

Battery Monitors

It has been a long time but EV's are in the news more now than ever. For many, building your own EV is still viable especially compared to the cost of a new Leaf or Volt. I did a quick search for battery monitor systems from http://evalbum.com and here are some numbers, which by the way are not scientific but do offer some insite into what others are using.

• Paktrakr 144


• Curtis Fuel Gauge 74


• Xantrex 30


• Westberg 29


• Evision 25


• TBS E-Xpert Pro 25


• Elite Power 22


• Elithion 19


• Trakr 16


• Mini BMS 9


• Victran 3

EV Dashboard for Android

Porting over the EV Dashboard code to Android went pretty well. Since I'm without a car, however, testing the code will have to wait. Here is a screenshot.

Free Drive

Congrats to a neighbor of mine who sold his Solar Bug company to W2 Energy. Here is a picture of him from a previous post.

Next EV

With a few lessons learned with the last 2 conversions I've been thinking thinking about and planning the next EV. This one to keep. Why a conversion instead of a Leaf? Our driving patterns are so limited that we don't need a new car with highway capability and the price of a leaf is way out there.

While the first car was aimed at low cost (40 MPH and 15 mile range), the second convertion, which did suffer a bit from the second-system effect, was mid-range performance (75 MPH and 40 mile range). Here are a few system requirements for the next car.

• Donor - This time I can be really patient and wait for a donor that is in great shape (everything working), has good tires and fits our needs: 4 seater with a hatchback. Ironically, an '88 civic wagon fits.
• Budget - I'm pretty sure I'll be constrained to under $4K, which could make things very interesting (i.e. it could take a while to find everything on sale).
• Simple build - A donor with manual steering. While the end result of installing a manual rack in the del Sol was great, the effort was big. I'm also hoping to find a donor with manual windows to simplify things.
• Batteries - I don't really want to battle bleeding edge BMS, charger and battery combinations (again). It will have to be something bomb proof. Perhaps Panasonic's acquisition of Sanyo will yield a bomber HEV or PHEV product that will also be cost effective.
• Clutched vs. Clutchless - I throw up my hands because I really didn't mind driving clutchless but everybody says they need it.
• 4WD - Ask me again in about 6 months. There are about 30 days a year here where you can't drive at all with out a 4WD. So, I guess I can ski...
• Solar - Keep the solar panels at home (on the roof) let them collect while you drive.
• Battery racks - They need to be versatile, to accomodate different sizes (future). Perhaps a pickup truck. Toss some lead in the back and replace them with LFP when the price is right?