Hello

[j8reign]

Hi all, I am Jason, 32 and from WV. I am tired of spending my entire paycheck filling up the bottomless tank of my Blazer, and so I have decided to research, and then begin a 100% EV conversion. I will need much advice along the way, so everyone please be patient and try to bear with me! I always appreciate feedback and constructive criticism where available!

[tehgyb]

Welcome! Advice and guidance? Thats kind of why we're all here, to give and receive!

My advice at this time? Read read read read, and when you have questions use the search function and you'll usually find an answer, if not, then ask!

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Jason. Glad to hear another person looking at an EV conversion. What kind of goals and budget did you have for the project?

[j8reign]

Originally Posted by Daox

Welcome to the site Jason. Glad to hear another person looking at an EV conversion. What kind of goals and budget did you have for the project?

Well, I'm on a budget of about $10,000. I'm sure that probably about 3/4 or more of that will go towards batteries, I plan on using LiFePo4 cells... Looking to get about 80 Miles per charge out of my dodge neon, which is stripped down to just under 1400lbs. I'm thinking 96v 200ah??? hopefully that will meet my needs. Just need to find a cheap place to get the cells if anyone knows where?

[Daox]

80 miles is a pretty hefty range, but it is quite doable. I'm not sure for $10k though. 96V @ 200Ah gives you a 19 kWh pack. That is a fair amount smaller than the Leaf's 24 kWh pack that gives it its ~80 mile range. I'd try to pack a few more cells in if I were you. I'd also increase the voltage if possible as well especially if its going to get on an interstate.

[j8reign]

Originally Posted by Daox

80 miles is a pretty hefty range, but it is quite doable. I'm not sure for $10k though. 96V @ 200Ah gives you a 19 kWh pack. That is a fair amount smaller than the Leaf's 24 kWh pack that gives it its ~80 mile range. I'd try to pack a few more cells in if I were you. I'd also increase the voltage if possible as well especially if its going to get on an interstate.

Well, I won't be doing any interstate driving, but I will be driving the majority of it at about 55-60mph. So if I'm reading this right, I should shoot for the voltage/ah/kwh of a leaf? Also, I'm hoping that since the neon is fairly aerodynamic and since I've gotten the weight down so drastically that should help with range?

[Daox]

I don't really see you lightening up the car by converting to electric. If I had to guess I'd say you're probably going to add weight. By using lithium it won't be a ton of weight, but it will be heavier.

As for the aerodynamics, the Neon unfortunately isn't really amazing (though the Leaf isn't amazing either). The Leaf has a CdA of approximately 6.94, the Neon is slightly worse at 7.13. Throw a grill block on and you can probably say they're the same. So, you can probably compare these two vehicles pretty closely at least for highway driving.

There are some things you'll need to take into consideration though. First off, the Leaf has regenerative braking and unless you go with an AC drive system you won't have regen. This might not be a big deal if you're doing mostly highway driving, but in city driving it will be a much larger issue.

Even at 55-60 mph I'd go with a higher system voltage. Its almost always worth it to go with as high of voltage as you can. For most 144V seems to work out well and there are a decent amount of components for this voltage.
If you got 45 160Ah cells would get you 23 kWh and you'd be real close to your 80 mile range... in summer. In winter, you'll see range reduction due to the cold and its many effects on mileage. I would try to search through the leaf forum to see what kind of range reduction they are seeing in winter.

[j8reign]

Originally Posted by Daox

I don't really see you lightening up the car by converting to electric. If I had to guess I'd say you're probably going to add weight. By using lithium it won't be a ton of weight, but it will be heavier.

As for the aerodynamics, the Neon unfortunately isn't really amazing (though the Leaf isn't amazing either). The Leaf has a CdA of approximately 6.94, the Neon is slightly worse at 7.13. Throw a grill block on and you can probably say they're the same. So, you can probably compare these two vehicles pretty closely at least for highway driving.

There are some things you'll need to take into consideration though. First off, the Leaf has regenerative braking and unless you go with an AC drive system you won't have regen. This might not be a big deal if you're doing mostly highway driving, but in city driving it will be a much larger issue.

Even at 55-60 mph I'd go with a higher system voltage. Its almost always worth it to go with as high of voltage as you can. For most 144V seems to work out well and there are a decent amount of components for this voltage.
If you got 45 160Ah cells would get you 23 kWh and you'd be real close to your 80 mile range... in summer. In winter, you'll see range reduction due to the cold and its many effects on mileage. I would try to search through the leaf forum to see what kind of range reduction they are seeing in winter.

Ok, good advice there, thank you. At this point, I've located a very cheap source for LiFePo4 cells, or at least they seem fairly cheap, so my plan is to go with 48 cells, making a total of 153.6 V/160 AH/24.58 KWH... seems like a good setup? I've run the calculator @ EVsource and brought the projected weight of the vehicle up to 2200lbs. to allow for the weight of the battery pack, motor, and other components. The calculator projects that at 80% DOD, I'd get around 89.37 miles per charge. Does this seem correct to you? Regenerative braking isn't something I'm real concerned with, and I certainly don't want the expense associated with AC. In the winter I will be predominantly driving my Ford Ranger, just for the 4WD, so my EV would really only be on the road from March-November. A grill block sounds helpful, thanks for the input!

[Daox]

I put my reply in your other thread.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ect-22006.html