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Old 04-05-2009, 08:27 PM   #1073 (permalink)
bennelson
EV test pilot
 
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Oconomowoc, WI, USA
Posts: 4,435

Electric Cycle - '81 Kawasaki KZ440
90 day: 334.6 mpg (US)

S10 - '95 Chevy S10
90 day: 30.48 mpg (US)

Electro-Metro - '96 Ben Nelson's "Electro-Metro"
90 day: 129.81 mpg (US)

The Wife's Car - Plug-in Prius - '04 Toyota Prius
90 day: 78.16 mpg (US)
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I'm not too worried about the springs for now. It may be as simple as just swapping sides.

Today was an EV build day. Most of the guys seemed to think the springs were pretty good overall.

One fun thing was that I got to drive Brian's electric S10. It was very weird to drive an electric with a 5-speed and a clutch! It took a minute to get used to. You really short shift on it. It's got a Zilla controller, and it was very easy to forget that the thing had a ton of lead in it.

Mostly, it just drove like a truck! Better acceleration than my 2.2L gas engine and a heck of a lot quieter too!


Trying to figure out what to do next on my car, we went back to the storage space/platform vs. retain a backseat design.

So here's the official plan:
A modified "stair-step" wood battery cover.

The rear-most batteries will be covered with plywood, as will the "back-seat battery box" batteries, although those are much lower. There will be a step down between the far back batteries and the back seat batteries.

The small area of overlap between the two with be a "hidden compartment" to house the charger and main contactor. This will also help clean up the wiring, cover the manual battery disconnect, and whatever other junk I have.

When it's finished, the plywood will be covered with carpet to look nice, and be hinged to access the batteries, charger, etc.

The lower platform will be perfect for groceries and other cargo. The upper platform will not be as deep, but will still be useful (flatter) cargo space.

I think a cargo net across the front might work well.

Here's a view of the rear battery cover as just rough-cut plywood.


Here's a view from the front of the car, so you can see both the back seat platform, and the upper battery plywood cover.


The charger and contactor will go in that extra space in front of the batteries. Then, a vertical section of plywood will cover that up.

Here's another angle for you to see.


The plywood is a little extra long right now. I figured I can cut off more, but I can't cut-it back on later!

Hope these photos give you an idea of what I am going for!




Hey look! It's another one of those fancy electric car charging stations!
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