How to Build an Electric Car DVDs for sale!

[bennelson]

DVDS AVAILABLE NOW!

Go to Electric Car Instructional DVDs
to get your own copy.

It's a two-disc set:
1) An instructional DVD video with almost two hours of "hands-on style" filming showing how to build the car.
2) A DVD-ROM disc with 50 original YouTube videos (as MP4 files, some in HD), over 600 hi-res still photos, web links, and more.

The cost is $29.99 and includes world-wide shipping.

Hope you enjoy the disc. A lot of hard work went into it!

-Ben

[bennelson]

I've been busy making a whole new back of instructional videos!

I will be out at the first ever Mother Earth Fair this weekend as a presenter speaking about electric car construction.

Come see me Saturday afternoon, Sept. 25, 2010.

The BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC CAR - CHEAP DVDs will be available at the MOTHER'S BOOKSTORE at the event, and I will have some on me as well!

[Ryland]

After having watched the DVD with some friends and talking it over I have a short list of suggestions.
The ECU is still in the car... how did you work with that? air bags still work but does the check engine light stay on all the time?

More info on motors would be nice, maybe an interview with someone from Warp or another motor company?

adding more sub text would be nice for cramming more info in to the shot.

One of the friends who watched it is an actor and now a science professor at the local collage, he said if we ever get around to doing an electric motorcycle video that he would be willing to be in it, as he could tell that being on camera was not your favorite thing in the world, for the most part I didn't notice, but I could see how having someone who really likes being on stage AND knows the subject matter would be fun to work with.

[bennelson]

Comments noted. I'll see what I can do about adding some of that to an updated version.

As to the airbags vs ECU, they are two completely separate things.
The airbag computer is under the dash, right behind the stick shift. That was not modified in any way.

When I turn the car on, no check engine light comes on. It's a pretty basic car, with only a few analog displays. Besides speed, there are also dials for fuel and engine temperature. Frankly, I don't think the car even knows it's rolling anymore. At turn-on, the airbag light flashes 7 times, that's the correct self-diagnostic and indicator that the airbags are working correctly.

By default, without their sensors hooked up, the fuel gauge reads full, and the temperature gauge reads hot.
It shouldn't be terribly hard to find the other ends of those connections, and repurpose them, but I seem to recall that it was some odd style of resistance the sensors were looking for. I could make the gauges display something different, but it would be a lot of monkeying around.

I wasn't terribly uncomfortable on camera - it's that I was on camera, running the camera, running the sound, and producing the content all at the same time, and without cue-cards!

On a future project, it might be fun to do it with an actor (as long as they could donate their time.)

I also have an idea for another electric car instructional video that would feature interviews with a whole slew of interesting and knowlegable folks.

[bennelson]

I finally bothered to make a YouTube video announcing that I have the DVD available for sale.

Pretty much ALL of the first couple of comments said "shame on you" etc.

Apparently, if you work on electric vehicles for 3 years of your life, and give away all the info and experience of it on YouTube and Web forums, you are a hero.

But if you have EVEN ONE ITEM that could possibly help you earn an income in any way, then you are an Capitalist Pig!

</end rant>

Ack! Sorry... I am WAY too sensitive of a person to ever allow any comments on the web!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stWGuqJYYLc

[vpoppv]

If we all get together and vote down the negative comments, they will be removed. I'm sorry that there are people like that in the world Ben. You certainly don't deserve those comments. I am fairly certain that they have a vested interest to be hateful that way: they must have their own amateur videos for sale and they are afraid that your professional, high quality ones will cut into their business. It's so ridiculous that someone is doing positive things in the world and receive criticism for it....

[bennelson]

Thanks man,

I am WAY too sensitive of a person to be doing ANYTHING on the internet - but I would much rather try to share the best that I have, then to hide in the darkness.

Everyone's positive feedback on this forum is the stuff that helps keep me going.

Thanks everyone!

-Ben

[The Rooster]

I'm sure all the people complaining are on unemployment anyway.

Does your video touch on AC motors, different batteries like the LifePo4, and motor/battery needs based on weight, drag and desired range and speed?

I'd love to do an EV version of the HyperRocket trike with a 150-200 mile range. Is that even feasable?

Maybe I should just get to the point. Could I build an EV that goes 60 mph, 150 miles for 10 grand-ish? If so, what would it take?

[bennelson]

The video covers entry-level construction - so it sticks to lead-acid batteries and DC motors.

I am self-employed, but work was DEAD this summer. That means I was unemployed, but without any unemployment benefits...

I would like to do some work on an instructional video for electric motorcycles.

In terms of conversion costs in general, Lithium battery prices are coming down all the time. 60 MPH isn't hard to hit, even with lead batteries and a DC motor (I have clocked my car at 72 mph...)

Range is what most people would consider to be the single biggest difference between a gas and electric car. None of the coming commercially available electric cars (with the one exception of the the Tesla Roadster) go more than 100 miles per charge. GM decided to make the Volt a hybrid for long distances

I do personally know one guy who built a lithium battery car with a theoretical range of 200 miles, but he spent $20,000 on JUST the battery pack. It is a really cool car though. Near-Tesla performance in an El-Camino!

For now, I would say that a low-budget car, together with an affordable gas vehicle is the best way to "tag-team" transportation needs. If you can only have one vehicle in your life, a plug-in hybrid might be the way to go.

[The Rooster]

I have 2 vehicles, 3 if you count my Sportster.

I plan on keeping a truck around to haul firewood and it could be used for extended trips so the commuter dosen't have to be all encompasing.

I've been contemplating buying a 1st gen Insight and using it as intended. However it might be a good EV conversion candidate. (Light weight, low drag) If I couldn't get 150 mile range, I'd need at least a 75mile-ish range and be able to recharge the vehicle at work in 6-8 hours. Charging at work would save me half the electicity...make the boss pick up the tab.