Chevy Metro 1999 (gas for now, potential future EV)
 

Hi all,

I purchased a 1999 5-speed 1.0 liter 2-door Chevy Metro with the intent of going electric. Until that time, I intend to enjoy the 45+ MPG and possibly try and improve this as it will only help me when I eventually go electric. I was very rusty, but I had the body work done and re-enforced the frame in the known weak spots and hope to keep rust under control for at least 2 more years to come.

Cheers,

Joel

Hi Joel - welcome to the forum.

You'll want to use an anti-rust spray annually to keep the thing together. These cars were badly designed in a way that lets water (and salty water, from winter roads) into critical structural sheet metal cavities that rust out from the inside. But you know this already!

Where are you in NS? I was just there last week - Halifax & Lunenburg.

I'm in Halifax. Do you use a tar based spray or is it a rust primer?

Neither. Every other year or so I use a commercial service like Krown Rust. In between, I do touch-ups with a spray can of the same stuff. It's a very thick, apparently non-toxic oily film (veggie based maybe?) that creeps & wicks into cracks/crevices.

Lots of people just spray used oil into vehicle panels/rockers etc., but then of course you have the issue of oil dripping where you park/drive. The Krown stuff also drips a bit, but doesn't leave the near-permanent marks like oil does.

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What are your goals as far as your potential EV? Range/speed/cost?

PS - I may be back in Halifax this summer in the tall ship event. I love NS.

20km range at 80km/h top speed and cost below 3K.

I chose to use a 3 phase AC industrial 10hp motor and a 30hp controller. I read about a guy in Australia who did this successfully but used a Jeep. I will probably have to use lithium cells to keep the weight down because achieving 600 volts with lead acid will be way too heavy.

I want to build a switch-mode power supply to boost from 100 volts so that I can use lead acid but that is more time than I have available right now, so my project is going slow.

Still, in my 3k budget I have about 2k left to spend on batteries and misc after buying the car, motor and controller.

I enjoy living in Halifax. I've been here for about 7 years now.

I would have said 20km & 80km/h would be doable on lead and series DC for that budget (if you're a good scavenger!). Squeezing lithium into that budget will be a challenge though.

Link for the Australian Jeep EV project?

EDIT: post the link with spaces between the dots to get around the noob link posting restriction. It goes away after 10 posts.

I've been in touch with Lithium cell companies in China and have found reasonable prices but I would have to look into battery management and charging etc. There are possible DIY options for those.

I tried to find that link a few days ago and failed, but I will post it once I locate it again.