adam

no heat yet except for hat, mittens and the warm happy glow I get from driving an electric subaru! and yes i use mostly the lower gears 2nd to start and then leave it in 3rd- sometimes if i'm crusing 65-70 i'll shift up into 4th for more power (strange huh) and less rpms. Ill try to get more pics when I bust it out in the spring i might try to build another one, a 4wd winter beater out of scavenged parts and then swap my batteries back and forth. and remember..

Hey everybody- thanks alot for all the compliments and nice words about my car- it was a big project for me and took all of my cash and then some, and I have to admit it was a little anti-climactic, i was expecting constant free love and sunshine maybe:-\ - anyway sorry for the delay in responding- people had stopped posting so I hadn't checked for a while Sako T Grimes it is a 5speed and yes the electric motor has peak torque at zero rpm. (peak horsepower? i'de have to check) the motor is most efficent near redline, around 5000rpm, but it feels too busy there, i think mostly 2nd gear feels a little wierd spinning that fast so I mostly drive around in 3rd. and really I am hardly an electrician, i've done a few car stereos and a couple outlets and light switches. its pretty straight forward stuff. the relays were a little difficult for my little brain, and I eliminated some of them like one that prevented you from driving away while the car was charging and ripping the cord out, i'll just have to remember which has been easy enough so far. 85 TRex there are direct drive versions but you end up limiting either your power or speed without the mechanical advantage of gears, also clutchless versions where you can still shift but only at certain rpm points. i don't know too much about automatics have only heard that you need to keep hydraulic pressure up with an electric pump and that it takes more energy beyond the normal efficiency loss, if you search evlist they are a good resource.

yeah leeroy, 240 means a quicker charge, almost twice as fast and more efficient too. some people are using inductive (?) chargers and the like which drop charging times to minutes rather than hours. the technology is constantly evolving, one cool thing about my car is all the systems are interchangable, i could slap in some lithium ion batterys, or a 2000 amp controller, or a 240v charger, and all would work with existing parts.

right now i'm using a wool hat for heat, which is low tech but effective. there are other different options for heat and i really should have something to defrost at least- mostly ev people in cold regions use some sort of hairdryer heating element- i haven't gotten too far with that project. I am putting the car up for the winter as we use alot of salt on the roads up here in maine and i've seen the demise of too many nice old subes. I'll probably just tough it out until then, but there are lots of options for the initiated. Also timers are available so you could have a common ac heater on the same circuit as your charger that is set to come on 15 min before you leave, if you leave at the same time, otherwise a button in your house that would turn it on via relay, you would then step outside and into your fully charged and warm vehicle and then have a small dc heater to maintain a comfortable level for the journey. this will be my eventual method. maybe. and there are many gas and propane heaters on the market:Flame: but then your back to fossil fuels. how bout a tiny little forced air woodstove, plenty of heatshielding, warm your mittens, boil water for tea, heat a tank of water for a steam powered passing boost....

added some photos for those who want to check em out

this car is supercool. i might get tempted to thrash on it though -it looking all bad rump roast and all.

not really sure how to post more pix -can i put bigger ones somewhere? the little ones don't really do it justice.

hey leeroy- it takes about 5 hours or so with a totally flat battery pack, but i have a fairly small charger that operates on 110voltage. The agm batteries could take alot more power alot faster. Also i can plug in for a shorter period if i stop at a friends house- most of the power comes in the beginning of the charge much of the charging time is to taper the charge to the right voltage. and even with coal power used to source the electricty it is still cleaner then running a gas engine. one huge power plant can be run more efficiently then a bunch of little ones operating at different speeds, temperatures and efficiencies. and australia has great solar potential as well!

Hey folks- finally posting some pix of my project. I've driven about 800 miles as a full electric vehicle. It has great acceleration and a top speed of around 100mph (i've been 85 with plenty left) range about 40 miles. It costs about a penny a mile in electricity. 700 lbs (10x70) of AGM 12 volt batteries wired in series for 120 volts. 500 amp controller. We are talking 60000 watts here people. It is a smooth ride- I can leave it in third and drive it around everywhere like an auto, if I want better range or power i can shift the 5speed tranny. Adapter plate is the one custom piece (other then mounts etc.) that attaches the new motor (140lbs) to the transmission. I didn't weld anything- used angle iron for the motor mounts and oak beams for the lower battery mounts. The top wood is mangaras some tropical stuff i had lying around, would have preferred local wood, but it seemed like a good way to recycle it. In maine we can choose green power for our electricity which is 80% hydro (free flow, fish ladder) and 20% wind. Low rolling resistance sumitomo htr 200 tires. Synthetic tran fluid. No oil, no coolant. No filling the batteries (sealed). Unplug and peel out. Vaccum pump and resevoir to maintain power brakes. Dc converter that steps 120 down to 13.8v instead of an alternator. I am very happy with my car. And now electroautomotive has an adapter plate design for this transmission so if one of all yall wanted to build one it would be easier. Car cost about 2000, components about 6000 (mostly brand new) batteries and misc. another 2000 so 10 grand which is what I sold my insight for. The only thing I cut out were the mounts for the gas tank, which i still have. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions. Keep subin!

yeah whats up with that? i thought about trying to fabricate a replacement from wood. would certainly be a p.i.t.a. but if i could get the method down maybe i'll make a bunch. might look cool. or i was going to try and epoxy coat the old eggshelly ones i have and take it from there. dunno

hi moosens- hope your trip went well and those secret boxes of stuff on the bottom were filled with radiant discoveries. if you haven't left already or might go back, i sure would like for my 79 coupe a pilot bearing w/oil seal, those interior door latch cover thingies (2 black), black carpet, windshield gasket. funny-my adapter fabricater guy just called, looks like he found a bearing, so nix that part. i'll pay solid money- $20 or so for the latch covers- or whatever stuff goes for ya know -no really, if you pick em up for me I won't leave you hanging, also bearings, suspensions parts, pretty bobbles, are of interest. you might be able to sweeten the deal a touch when you make the geezer developer an offer. unless you hate me because I sold 75sube the fe engine:confused: i plan on keeping my car for a long time so any wearable type mechanicals (what aren't) are of interest. thanks, adam

hi all, i am in near desperate search for a pilot bearing that will work with my 5spd tran from a 79 FE coupe. i am converting the vehicle to full electric power and the gentleman making the adapter needs this bearing (or accurate dimensions) to finish the job. i already sold the motor (to 75sube- hey are you around?) and didn't realize i needed that bearing. it's almost funny trying to get one through napa or the dealer. one scientist at the dealer told me that i meant 97 three times. no 79 -you know round headlights -27 years old... any source, dimension, part number, lead, anything at this point would be awesome. i would also buy one out of a donor motor- unsure how they like being uninstalled. thanks!

hi yeah i considered using ac power but like you said it is more expensive, like twice as much. i guess it has less issues with resistance in the cables and such but I'm using pretty thick 2/0 cable with the dc system so there shouldn't be too much trouble there. dc is a simpler technology and i wouldn't need any inverters to charge from solar if i ever get that far. thanks for the web site tips. i'll check em out.

cool. or have the batteries under the hood and under or in the bed (for weight balance) and you can just slide the generator in the bed when you need it, slide it out when you don't. one drawback is the amount of electricty required to keep the vehicle at cruising speed. it ends up being a pretty big generator. i like the clutch idea. one problem i can think of is designing a progressive type electric motor assist so its not all on or all off. might get jerky. i think we will be definitely be seeing a lot more diesel hybrids- maybe yours!

yeah it should be a bunch of fun. one cool feature about electric motors is that they develop most of their power at zero RPM and taper as the rpm climbs. for most powerul accelleration you would pick a normally too tall gear, for most efficency you pick a gear that gives you high rpms, the opposite of an internal combustion engine. also you can leave it in 2nd gear around the city and drive around like an automatic since the motor doesn't idle it won't stall; 2nd gear has enough torque to launch the vehicle and you can stay in till 40 mph or so. wind on it! only one moving part- no recipricoting engine parts. the deep cycle traction type batteries (usually 6 or 8 volt, sometimes 12 in smaller or faster conversions) are said to last 2-4 years depending on quality and if the water levels are kept up. with a 110 volt on board charging, a fully depleted pack can charge in 8-10 hours (overnight). faster with a 220 charger. the plan is to add solar panels on our house when we replace are roof, but all my cash is wrapped up in the car right now. cool thing about where we live (portland, maine) is that you can sign up for green electric power, which is 80% electricty from a sustainable flow through dam in Lisbon Falls and 20% windpower from new england windmills. it costs 9cents a kwh. even using oil fired electrical power, it is 97% cleaner then an internal combustion engine because it takes power from one huge efficient plant rather then a bunch of little plants rolling along. not that i'm dissing on the venerable i.c.e., it still offers the best range to weight ratio. but the oil is running out. check out www.eaaev.org. you could make an electric lifted beast brat:slobber: the range would probably suck, but who cares!