Planning a budget EV build

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by puddleglum

But, If you were to use yours for another project, wouldn't you need another controller anyway? I thought you were still using your Altrax in your car.

Yes, it's true. But smaller Alltrax controllers can be had for a song on eBay. Plus, it would be more interesting using two controllers. Using proper parts is too boring!

[MetroMPG]

Post deleted - transmpair was actually a spammer. (I thought his name/post looked suspicious.)

[puddleglum]

Well, I'm still dreaming of this project but unfortunately life keeps getting in the way. I'm gathering quite a collection of forklift parts though that I think have gotten me a little closer. I recently got to wreck out an old Hyster with two good motors (11" and a 7") and a EV100ZX controller. I've been looking into this controller and thinking it might actually work not too bad. If so, it would cut a major expense out of the budget. It's a dinosaur but it's built like a tank and rather impressive in it's own way. At 80v nominal, it should allow me a 96-98 volt pack fully charged and 600amps. It has 1A contactor control (up to 1200amps)and field weakening which should give a boost in low end power and in top speed. There is even on demand power steering control built in.
I know low voltage conversions are going to be speed limited but I'm now thinking that if I want to have any hope of ever actually building something, I will need to lower my expectations. I really only need a 80kph car anyway and I think it should work. Any thoughts on how well it would work? It doesn't look like very many have tried using one of these in a car so not much to compare to.

[puddleglum]

I'm going to resurrect my old EV thread because dreams are a long time coming in my world. I finally have a EV project car. Although I think the low budget part may go out the window when I start to restore this very unique beauty, I'm now much closer to being able to drive electric. The previous owner offered me the chance to carry on his dream and it was just to interesting to turn down. The car is a 1970 Citroen D Super (ID20) that was converted about 15 years ago. I believe it's the first one ever and the only one in N. America to ever be converted.

[Stubby79]

nice. What does it need, besides maybe batteries?

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by Stubby79

nice. What does it need, besides maybe batteries?

If it was the first one converted, it's likely a DC drivetrain on lead acid batteries.

DC is reliable. There have been problems with
- grounded motors when the brush dust infiltrates the windings and grinds through the insulation. But that's after thousands of miles.
- moisture getting into brushes and causing pitting or arcing, faster wear, that sort of thing. It's hard to seal that up and still get good air flow
- overheating of the motor on the highway. Now that lithium packs can run cars on the freeway for over an hour, the lack of liquid cooling can be an issue

If the use case allows the original drive-train, a new battery pack from a Leaf, Tesla, Bolt or whatever ... plus a charger and BMS to match .. should do the electric part.

The outside of the car looks good. So does the interior need work? Did he get the suspension, steering, brakes, etc get restored?

How close were my guesses?

[puddleglum]

Yes it is DC and it's a sepex not a series motor so that is unusual as well. Sepex does regen though, so that's a plus. The car was a lead acid conversion and the batteries are long gone. The former owner told me he drove it for 4 years, but after two packs failing, he gave up on it. It hasn't run in 11 years so it needs a lot. There actually is quite a bit of rust that doesn't show in the pics, plus all the mechanical's need to be gone through and he never finished the interior. So, it really needs a complete restoration, but at least all the EV parts are there and used battery packs are getting easier to find.

[Stubby79]

Find out the specs on the motor if you're concerned about whether it can handle highway speeds for long. You'd probably want 20+ HP continuous.

[Piotrsko]

Think volt batteries. The whole wrecked & totaled car is available for about $2,000, they have the bms hacked, controller hacked, and the charger hacked.

If the packs aren't leaking coolant and have at least 240v measured they are good.

[puddleglum]

The car did highway speeds before so I'm assuming it will again. I would rarely have occasion to take it on the highway anyway and not for more than 15-20 min. at a time. Most of my driving is short trips in town.
Volt batteries were my first thought, but I'm not sure their configuration will work well for this car. Lots of restoration work to do first anyway, so time to think about that.