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Old 12-15-2008, 06:38 PM   #1 (permalink)
bennelson
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Oconomowoc, WI, USA
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Electric car heat! Liquid?

Hey EVeryone!

I got my Electric Geo Metro back on the road today!

Unfortunately, it was really cold out! - 2 degrees at my place this morning!

I have minimal heat in the car right now.

I have experimented with just placing an oil-filled electric radiator in the back of the car, and having it set on a timer to start heating in the morning an hour before I would leave.

This seems to work fairly well in that the interior of the car is already warm. The seat, steering wheel, and glass is already relatively warm, and none of the battery capacity was used to create that heat.

Since the car was originally designed to use heat from the engine, transported by liquid, exchanged into the interior of the car, I was thinking it should be fairly easy to do a similar heat system in my electric conversion.

If I installed an insulated coolant tank in the car, it could have an AC electric heating element inside it. The n, coolant could be heated in the tank from wall power, using a time, while the car is parked in my garage.

A 12V heating element could also be in the coolant tank, to heat it while driving, or on the return trip home at the end of the day when the car wasn't plugged in.

I know most EVers use some form of electric heat for defrosting a car, as it is simple and compact. However, my car has a relatively small 72V battery pack. By using a liquid system, I would be able to carry with heat that came straight from the wall, instead of from the battery pack.

I have followed some information on a similar thread on an EVer forum, but I want to get YOUR input.

Any thoughts on this idea? How to make it simple and inexpensive? Let me know! It's cold outside!!!


EDIT:
Here is roughly what I am thinking.

I don't know the exact size needed for the tank, maybe 2 gallons or so? Can't be too big to fit in the car!

I am also not sure if it needs a pump, or if the system could be driven by convective currents. Reading about in-line heaters on this forum seems to indicate that they are typically installed to circulate coolant using convection.

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Last edited by bennelson; 12-15-2008 at 06:52 PM..
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