Electric Vehicle Information - Start Here

[NeilBlanchard]

Edmunds has a 9 EV car comparison, with some useful real world data:

Testing Electric Vehicles in the Real World

Edmunds Embraces EVs by Putting 9 EVs Through Range Test | PluginCars.com

Here's the Edmund's video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=diJj-zQ09yc

They did a decent job, though they still are stuck on some platitudes. It would be interesting for them to release the data on charging that they got - and it would be interesting to see how much it cost to drive each of these EV's per mile.

They should drive all cars they review on the same loop, and report on the cost, and the pollution, as well. And it would be really important to compare the EV ranges to what people actually drive each day; and how much money they would pay for an EV vs their current car.

They do post the kWh/100km (for all the cars except the Tesla Model S, curiously), and since their test loop is ~30MPH average, all the cars do significantly better than their EPA rating.

[sheepdog 44]

Hey, is there anyway to retrofit a drive axle to the rear wheels of a front wheel drive car? Adding cv joints and all that stuff, and then mounting a motor to it and affixing it all to the empty spare tire well?

Or any way to power the rear wheels without resorting to poor performance expensive hub motors? Id like to do it on the cheap and power it by 48-72volt lead acid system. It'd be a low performance system geared to 40mph and 10 or more miles of electric range.

Weight is an issue so it'd be 200lbs of lead acids that would provide a constant background assist at higher speeds. This would increase my mpg by displacing the minimal amount of throttle needed on level ground. Say if i held 65mpg at 55mph, maybe i'd get 85mpg at the same spot.

If i can scavenge the materials and make it as low cost as possible for every 1mpg gained i would see a better return of my investment as opposed to larger motors and lithium packs.

As an added benefit, the 48volt system batteries, controller, etc (and possibly the motor) would be easily dismantled from my car and installed into an electric motorcycle.

Anyways that is the low cost system i've been contemplating for the past few months.

[NeilBlanchard]

Question: do the Ultragauge or the ScanGauge work on EV's? I ask especially for the i MiEV since it has such a information drought...

[janvos39]

Eindhoven brengt auto op zonne-energie naar de openbare weg - Video's - Tweakers

An electric four person car soon on the Dutch roads. Using solarpower.

[NeilBlanchard]

If someone who speaks Dutch can answer this - the video shows the Stella with the solar PV cells covered up, and my guess is that they are testing the battery and the drivetrain as a 'stand alone' system?

The rollcage is a new addition since the last video, and it seems to have stabilized the whole structure.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Question: do the Ultragauge or the ScanGauge work on EV's? I ask especially for the i MiEV since it has such a information drought...

I asked the same question of somebody who has an iMIEV, and apparently those ODB2 tools will NOT work with it.

[NeilBlanchard]

The i MiEV forum does have a solution for this:

Mitsubishi I-Miev Forum • View topic - Canion

[Daox]

That is awesome! That is something that was cool (just for the, I'm a car kind of people), and also sadly lacking for the geeky side of me in the miev.

[Skillfulist]

Hello, I'm planning on doing a cheap conversion and I was wondering on what I would need for a car in a town that's roughly 8-10 miles in diameter.

[mechman600]

A cheap 72V conversion would likely be plenty. Check out the links in the first post of this thread. All three provided excellent inspiration for my conversion.