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Old 08-15-2016, 12:41 PM   #102 (permalink)
adamj12b
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Charlton MA, USA
Posts: 463

EVVette - '71 Chevy Corvette Coupe
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Well, Im sure many have forgotten about this project, due to how long it has been.

Years back, when a123 fell apart, I lost the ambition to finish the car without a cell that was going to give me the performance I wanted. The car got stored in the shed, and the frame ended up buried under box's in the garage.

Well earlier this year, I found the push to finally get back to it. I found batteries that can do what I want and are affordable enough to beat on and replace every 3-5 years.

SO! EVVETTE is back in business!!

And! I have alot of updates.

I have moved the frame to my house and have collected all of the parts Ive gathered over the years.

For the first time in about 6 years, the body and frame have been back together.

I have also picked up a once in a lifetime deal. A Dennis Berube motor with a race built powerglide transmission. I got this from a good friend that was going back to direct drive with this motors twin. He was not able to keep the pressure high enough with his external pump and didn't have room for anything bigger, and kept burning up bands in the transmission.

Since picking up the motor at the end of July, I have been working hard at getting the car done. Getting this motor and visiting some electric racing events gave me the motivation to finish the Vette!

Ive always wanted to put a powerglide in the car as the gear ratios match my manual transmissions 2-4th gear. This one is a hair different at 1.80:1 1st and 1.0:1 2nd. Once I had the motor/transmission combo in hand, I quickly realized I would need to build a subframe to carry the monster. When I saw monster, this motor has produced, so far, 516HP and 1400ft-lbs of torque at 1900RPMs! I would need something that could handle this power and channel it to the frame. The things I was really happy about is that I am able to put most of the driveline in the tunnel of the car. This keeps the motor only 6" out of the firewall leaving even more room for batteries.

Batteries... I made the decision to go with Chevy Volt batteries. They are cheep enough to run them near their limits and get the performance I am looking for, and easily available so when the time comes, I can easily replace them without rebuilding the car.

I am planing on using 2 full Volt packs, one in the front, and one in the back. These will be set up in their stock configuration 96s3p, and both packs in parallel. Effectively 96s6p. Figuring 900A hard peaks in each pack, I can get 1800A from the batteries. I wanted to be at 2000A with the a123 cells so this is close enough. The 350V nominal voltage will keep the sag away from my motor which will be set for 215V.

As for a controller, That is back in development now, and hopefully done in the next couple months. I have taking my Uprising 1K and turned it into a monster. The Uprising 2.4k. I have doubled all components, upgraded the bus plates to 1/8" copper and added water cooling to all the IGBT's. My cad drawings say I will be close to 20lbs of copper...

Going forward, I plan to post more updates that are smaller.

EDIT - I am having trouble with google sharing pictured directly. Here a re the links and descriptions.

Frame with gathered parts and body on dolly.
https://goo.gl/photos/4QwwZbeCNPZJPbkr9

Dennis Berube motor with Powerglide next to Warp11HV with Muncie M20 4 speed.
https://goo.gl/photos/CnhnUmHWZr5Sttb87

3x2x0.120 box steel sub-frame and Dennis Berube Motor.
Side - https://goo.gl/photos/MrLhwVhRMMGzsxCFA
Front - https://goo.gl/photos/QXCQUbkPw3LQaHYZ6
__________________
www.EVVette.com - 1971 Corvette Coupe Conversion to all Electric!
www.AdamBrunette.com - Machining, CNC, Robotics and Electronics.

You can download RTD Explorer for the Cougar controllers at www.EVVette.com

Last edited by adamj12b; 08-15-2016 at 04:39 PM..
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