Electric car conversion: Project ForkenSwift

[Thalass]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Hi Thalass...

Yup, that was for the total distance. It works out to 3 cents / km for me at the more expensive renewable energy rate. 2 cents at the normal grid rate.

Hold on, I thought most of Canada's power was generated with hydroelectric power stations? Which is pretty much as "renewable" as it can get. Hell, most of the people around the town where my wife comes from call electricity "hydro" (which confused the hell out of me when I first got there).


Though I spose being in "eastern Ontario" puts you closer to Toronto, which is probably powered by coal or something. Still, just wondering.

[MetroMPG]

Depends on the part of the country. Ontario's standard grid mix is about 24% renewable (mostly large scale hydroelectric), 39% nuclear, and the rest being a mix of coal, oil & gas.

Newfoundland is over 80% hydroelectric. I don't have figures for Quebec, but it's probably up there as well. Alberta is <5% renewable.

[MetroMPG]

Ivan's winter transportation is his '95 Nissan pick-up truck (2.4L 4 cylinder, 5-speed). He's grumbled a bit about the price of fuel lately (about a buck a litre).

It's getting about 25 mpg (US) on the highway. He hasn't figured out his city economy, but let's be generous and say he's getting 19 mpg.

So I made him a little chart to show him the price differential - based only on energy costs - of driving the truck in town vs. driving the ForkenSwift:

• A few posts back we saw that the FS is costing about $0.02/km at the standard grid rate of $0.06 / kWh (which Ivan uses at his place).

• Ivan's truck: 19 mpg (US) in the city = 8.1 km/L, and @ $1/litre, he's spending about $0.12/km.

[MetroMPG]

Well, a bit of free time over the holiday, curiosity and a gift to myself (in the form of a free pass for some guilt-free, aimless motoring) = new data about the ForkenSwift...

Neither Ivan nor I have done anything other than sub/urban driving so far, so this afternoon I headed the other direction and drained most of a charge in one fell swoop on a stretch of road/highway with no stops/lights.

Speed limits were 50, 60 & 80 km/h in different sections. I was going faster than 2 of the 3 speed limits at various points in the drive, but I only broke the law in one speed zone (it's a puzzler!).

Notable observations:

• New top speed (maintained, briefly, on flat road): 66 km/h (41 mph) - with gravity assisted acceleration part of the way there.

• It seemed to take about 120A @ 44.8v, or 5.38 kW, to maintain 55 km/h on what appeared to me to be a level bit of road (though that's something which is notoriously hard to eyeball).

• So then, for most of the drive, the pack was delivering over 120A.

• Distance travelled: 18 km - that's the farthest the car has gone on a charge in winter driving (dry roads; temp around 0 C).

• It's also the longest the pack & cabling has been subjected to sustained current of that magnitude. As soon as I got home I went around and touch tested all the major connections - they were all cool. Good sign.

Based on distance travelled & SOC of the batteries at the end of the drive, I think it was a pretty efficient run - maybe even better than the very careful sub/urban driving I've been doing - which also includes a lot of coasting.

Anyway, I'll know the answer to that question tomorrow morning when I check the kill-a-watt meter on the charger. Stay tuned...

[MetroMPG]

Yup, it was a pretty efficient run yesterday:

• 107.7 eMPG (US)
• 311.5 Wh/mi
• 193.5 Wh/km

That's a best ever since I got the kill-a-watt.

[Peakster]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Speed limits were 50, 60 & 80 km/h in different sections. I was going faster than 2 of the 3 speed limits at various points in the drive, but I only broke the law in one speed zone (it's a puzzler!)

So... you were doing, say, 61 km/h (faster than the 2 limits) but it was in the 80 zone, so you weren't breaking the law there? Is that what you mean?

Driving an electric car sounds so thrilling!

[MetroMPG]

Peakster: I have to say that it is thrilling. The car's got nearly 600 electric km on it so far, and I still grin when I drive it.

---

News flash!

It looks like the ForkenSwift's identical twin is under construction in Hawaii!

[mjamgb]

that I found your thread!

I have been reading it (woof, it's long, can't wait for the actual wesbite to be completed) and can only say... good on ya!

I recently decided to convert my old VW KG to a 48V-ish "demon" but may have stupidly purchased a weenie motor, oh well.

Very inspiring story and gives me a benchmark to shoot for.

So far I have...

"free" car... need to get title cleared up as I lost the paperwork and the old laundering services don't work in Nevada any longer
$200 motor. Unlabelled unit "rated" at 10hp with 48V @ 155A
That's it, although I'm about to ebay up a controller for about $150.

Getting the batteries for free makes me a bit jealous I'll have to see if anyone about here is similarly generous

Looks like your time to completion is better than most from the lurking I've done on other sites. The average home converter operating without a kit seems to be on the "nearly there" phase for pretty much years. I remain hopeful that I can do it in under six months and under $1500 usd.

My big issue is similar to one of yours... the drive on my motor is an itty-bitty splined shaft that did not come with the coupler yours did... drat! I'm looking at a $400 custom bit to even get mated to my tranny exclusive of the adaptor plate

Take care and look forward to further updates.

Mike!


Mike!

[MetroMPG]

Hi Mike - glad you found it too!

Don't hold your breath too long on me getting the official site done. For the foreseeable future, this thread is the ForkenSwift's home on the web.

Congrats on scoring a Karmen Ghia! Nice, nice, nice.

As for making it a 48v runabout (the "run" in runabout may be an exaggeration @48v, you understand), I highly suggest you do so... while simultaneously planning to upgrade it eventually to 72v.

Seriously, DO the 48v version first so you'll be more satisfied with the upgraded setup afterwards . If you just start @ 72v, you'll be itching to upgrade that to 90v before you know it...

$200 motor. Unlabelled unit "rated" at 10hp with 48V @ 155A
That's it, although I'm about to ebay up a controller for about $150.

You're probably OK with that motor, provided you don't have any hills to contend with. What did it come out of? Series wound? How many brushes? How heavy? If it's relatively beefy, you can over volt it without worries.

For $150, I'm betting you're getting a used 36-48v Curtis controller. My advice: save up & go for a 48-72v unit - or start with the 36/48 but keep on shopping (the 72v ones are few and far between on eBay).

I remain hopeful that I can do it in under six months and under $1500 usd.

I think it can be done for close to that, if you'll be satisfied with ForkenSwift levels of performance.

Good luck - please post back with updates, or a link to your site/blog if you've got one.

[MetroMPG]

"Filled up" the ForkenSwift last night.

This charge cycle saw me doing several foot-to-the-floor 1st gear hill climbs (with not particularly memorable glides down the back side - ie. forced to brake on some of them). I usually avoid these hills.

Add to that some less than turtle style acceleration, and I'm left scratching my head, because this one turned out to practically tie my best drive/charge cycle to date @ 107 mpg (US) equivalent.