Electric car conversion: Project ForkenSwift

[Clev]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

It is enough to swoon.

Lugging that much lead in and out of the car? Yeah, me too. :-)

[Piwoslaw]

Paraphrasing Robert Palmer's song "Addicted to love":
"Might as well face it, you're addicted to lead!"

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

New batteries for the ForkenSwift!
[...]
The ower of the Jetta that they came from is upgrading to a lithium pack.

So in 4-6 years ForkenSwift will be on lithium?

[Angmaar]

Nice score with the batteries. It's good to see people "recycling" them.

[MetroMPG]

Yeah - these are about 2.5 years old and have seen regular use.

The OEM's are also talking about "repurposing" their EV lithium packs once they can no longer provide the desired range of the owner. I've read about them going into UPS/standby duty, or as storage for renewable energy.

More likely...

I'd wager in 10-15 years people who live in smaller cities/towns should be able to get good deals on used packs that will keep their OEM EV's humming, from other owners who demand more daily range and so have to replace them sooner & more often.

[electricman]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

New batteries for the ForkenSwift!

Well, "new to the ForkenSwift" batteries.

These are from the same car that provided our current pack (Hallowe'en 2009... We'll call these the Valentines 2011 pack).

The ower of the Jetta that they came from is upgrading to a lithium pack.
...Price: "core" rate of $15 per.

Great! Now I have a reference price for 'Sold' used EV Batteries - since I 'Sold' a set of 18 Commercially used UPS batteries to a buddy for just $10 per - Power Battery AGM High Current Models - 44 lbs and 55 Ah!

On another note - I would like to invite knowledgable EcoModders to my April 10, 2011 Event - Electricfly Aero Mods - The First electricfly Event - "Electricfly Aero Mods" - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - as Instructors, assistants, and exhibitors, as well as folks who just want to come out and check out electricfly and hang for a few hours!

[MetroMPG]

Time to get underneath the electric blue beastie and see what damage the winter salt has done. (I think I said the same thing last year and never got around to it.)

But I'm certain there's some underbody welding in the ForkenSwift's future.

I'm concerned about the usual achilles heel of these cars: weakness in the mounting area of the front control arms.

So just now for comparison sake I measured up the 3 Suzukiclones in my posession. Checked the distance between the center of the forwardmost bolt/stud (the bolt/stud at the bottom of this picture, beside the welder ground clamp) holding the control arms, and they were all within 1/4 inch of one another.



For posterity/future reference:

• 27.125" - 1998 Firefly hatch (Blackfly)
• 27.000" - 1991 Firefly convertible
• 27.250" - 1992 Metro (ForkenSwift)

Not laser accurate measurement either, so I'd call these within specs, more or less.

(And I confirmed in my 1998 service manual, the 2 key dimensions in the front frame are the same as the previous generation car.)

[dcb]

ahem, spend the $6 already and equip your whole fleet
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-bar-8585.html

[Christ]

Darin - clean the paint around that rust, then apply raw white vinegar a few times over a period of a few hours with a normal paint brush (dab it on). It'll allow you to basically wipe the rust away, then you can clean up and oil/paint/coat whatever's still there.

If you really have time, you can continue the vinegar treatment over a couple days, and it might save any sanding that you might be considering here.

By all means, I'd get it fixed before it turns into an issue, and with rust, it's the sooner the better, ya know.

[MetroMPG]

Dave: but $6 x 3 is $18! :O

EDIT: I should try to read more carefully. $6 for the entire fleet is in the budget!

As a matter of fact, I was actually already reading your DIY lower brace bar post this morning.

Topher: didn't know about the vinegar trick - thanks.

[MetroMPG]

The car was parked in the garage, and was this close to disassembly & welder-based first aid...

Then it was pressed back into service hauling brush to the city compost yard - result of a big wind storm.

It's really satisfying using it as a light duty hauler, especially the low speed maneuvering...I guess it's all low speed with this car . Forklift DNA ftw!!





So... a few more brush runs are required early this week... THEN it's into the garage for first aid. (I should get someone to hide the keys so I can't pull it out again!)