[bennelson]

Hey Guys,

With all the interest that I have been getting showing off my electric car at various events, I would like to be able to expand my demo.

Because the car is basically a big array of batteries, I would like to show off more about electric use and renewable energy with the car.

One thing I am planning on is to add a small power inverter and run a floor lamp next to the car, demonstrating how an electric car could be useful to connect to a house in case of a blackout. It also would start the discussion on Vehicle to Grid technology.

That would be easy to do. I already have a lamp and an inverter, although I wish I had a 72Vdc to 120AC converter instead of only a 12vdc to 120ac converter. It will still work fine though. One CFL lamp is NOTHING compared to driving a 2800 lb car for a mile.

The other thing I am toying with is to build a small wind generator to recharge the car. The idea is NOT to build a windmill that would be a practical recharger for the car. Rather, it is simply to show that it can be done. You can power an electric car from wind, and can't do the same thing with a gas car.

I am imagining a unit that could fold up to be carried inside the car. I would use a base of a flat piece of metal welded to a short piece of steel pipe perpendicular to it. I would just park one of the car tires on the plate, and then slide a longer section of pipe into the pipe on the base to make a simple tower, maybe 10 feet tall. (2 5-foot sections of pipe with a coupler would pack easy into the car)

I understand the BASIC theory of wind generation. Ideally, I would like to be able to use it to charge the 72 (or 144V) battery pack. Alternatively, just charging one of the 12V batts would also be acceptable.

What I am looking for is an tips you might have on good, simple ways of building the generator, using inexpensive (or free, or salvaged, recycled, etc.) parts.

All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

-Ben