Electric car conversion: Project ForkenSwift

[MetroMPG]

For anyone counting (I am!), that brings the net cost of the parts we kept from the old Baker (2 pump motors, cabling, EV-1 controller, fuses, contactors etc) to $34.95 after recycling refund & the drive motor sale.

[MetroMPG]

No grand news this week. It was either cool or rainy, so I didn't get much work done. But the weekend is supposed to be nice, so I will complete the cosmetic rust repairs.

Also, Ivan & I picked up some scrap metal (square tubing & angle iron) to build a towbar to drag the FS to Ottawa for next weekend's EV expo. That'll be the project for this coming week... then it'll be back to work on the functional type stuff: battery racks, cabling, etc.

Also also - out of the blue today I got an invitation to display the car at an alternative energy exhibition in Montreal in June. But it's a little far to go (not to mention it still won't be ready by then). They're cheekily billing it as the "anti" F1 event, since it's being held the same day as the F1 races at Montreal's le Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

[MetroMPG]

Finished the body & paint work this weekend. Turned out OK - not exactly pro... somewhere around (slightly above?) "used car lot" quality.

Even got the polishing compound and wax out - sure cleaned up nicely. Didn't polish/wax the roof though - gotta save some for Ivan. Anyway, it looks quite respectable for a $74 car! I'll post pics once the racing stripes are on. Not sure if I'll have that done for next weekend or not - we have to make our tow bar this week.

[MetroMPG]

A new visitor to the thread writes:

hello,this is my first post on this forum and i would like to hello to everybody.after reading what's been done to build the forkenswift I too are considering the same sort of project,while looking through the US ebay sight I came across the listing which I thought might be of some interest to somebody.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...2757298&rd=1,1
anyway all the best,cheers---palu

That motor would be fine for a large vehicle - it's a beast @ 375 lbs! (I thought the Torque Monster was heavy @ 240.) The main challenge would be finding / making a controller for it, since the field is separately excited, rather than the more common series setup (some people run 2 controllers - one for the armature, one for the field. You can also buy dedicated Sep Ex controllers).

The shipping cost will be the other big challenge.

Funny: I've had 3 inquiries about the Torque Monster since receiving the deposit for it. Which makes me think that, as usual when I sell stuff, the price was probably a bit too low

[MetroMPG]

Got the racing stripes on! I like 'em. Drove the car back to Ivan's house and his gf said, "wow! It looks like a car you might actually want to drive now." She thought the whole car was re-painted (that's how dull the paint was).

Started work on the tow bar this evening. It's going to be tight getting it done for Sat. AM. Things always seem to take longer than you think they will...

[MetroMPG]

Busy couple of days... The EV Expo was today, and the ForkenSwift received first "Honorable Mention" per crowd votes.

The home made tow bar worked like a charm.

Set up one of those tent/awnings over the front of the car - hood open - and answered questions all day long.

Also accomplished 3 items off my list of things I've been wanting to do:

1) had a very short ride in a brand new GoOne (electric assist - which I didn't engage)

2) got a ride in the oldest operational Milburn electric (1915). Too cool for words. This actual car:



3) rode around on a professionally built tadpole trike.

On returning home, I installed the "new" used batteries in the FS (we took the forklift co. batts out to save the weight for towing). They're charging... tomorrow I'll see how much more capacity they have...

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I've been pretty scarce around GS lately, spending a lot of time preparing for today, among other stuff. Should be able to catch up this week.

[MetroMPG]

- Ivan took his camera. Don't know what he shot, but here are some others (showing many of the vehicles, with 2 of the FS):

http://www.twobikes.ottawa.on.ca/sha...Expo/index.htm

- The photo of the Milburn a couple of posts up is fairly recent.

[MetroMPG]

The crowd seemed to like the underdogs. The first place vote getter was a home built electric bicycle that was done for around $200 with surplus oddball parts:


note the ironic battery box.

http://www.twobikes.ottawa.on.ca/sha...346-145-1d.htm

Other cool vehicles: there were 2 EVs (Cavalier, Miata) with built in range extending generators (both in the trunk). The Miata's is a high tech (high buck) low-emission bio-fueled diesel.

And the Queen's U solar car was there too.

I didn't get to spend much time checking out the other vehicles as I would have liked! Busy talking to people under the FS tent.

[MetroMPG]

Yee haw: the "new" used batts are going to do the trick!

I just feather-footed the ForkenSwift 15 km around the neighbourhood (seeing many people and streets multiple times). 15 is significant because it's our minimum range target.

And I didn't overly discharge the batts: the oddball lowest one read 6.21v ten minutes after I stopped, and the average of the rest was probably 6.28v.

If they were all at 6.21, that would mean my 15 km circuit used only about 45% of the total capacity (based on 6.5v = full & 5.85v = empty).

Which means used "normally" a driver might expect 15 km or more with no attempt at hypermiling.

To put this "achievement" in perspective: I didn't exceed 40 km/h (25 mph), and my average was maybe slightly more than half that, and I may have braked "significantly" 5 times over those 15 km.

That said, this type of driving is actually "doable" where the car will be used. I only had to signal/wave 4 cars past.

[MetroMPG]

Make that 22.5 km.

I drove with an eye on the volt meter, being careful not to draw the voltage down too far under load. Below 5.25v under load brings you close to battery damage/cell-reversal territory.

For the first 15 km, I set an arbitrary lower limit of 5.8v. On the last run, 5.5v. I was watching the batt with the lowest voltage at the start of the drive (which doesn't necessarily mean it would be the first to sag below 5.25...).

Anyway... next on the list for the ForkenSwift...

1) remove the motor so it can be re-installed with the terminals in a better location. clean & repaint it while it's out

2) clean up & paint "motor bay"

3) fabricate & install front battery racks

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I've been thinking about battery load testers again. I'd really like to make a tester which can be left unattended. So it needs to:

a) switch off, when the battery voltage falls below 5.25 volts (higher is OK too - as long as it doesn't go below 5.25).

b) record the time of the test