New User-Electric Van
 

Hello, I'd like to introduce myself; I just found this site yesterday. My name is Glen Hoag. My daily driver isn't terribly efficient; it is a 1975 AMC Pacer. My reason for joining the forum is that I acquired last year a 30-something year old purpose built EV. It is an EVA Electrovan, originally known as the P-500 Electric Delivery Vehicle manufactured by Otis Elevator Special Vehicle Division. (In 1976, a joint venture of Electric Vehicle Associates (Cleveland OH) and battery manufacturer Chloride America bought the Otis Elevator EV businesses.)

Here are some photos of the van, taken by the previous owner. http://www.glensgarage.com/images/EV/

The van is in pretty rough shape; the front drums are frozen and time has taken its toll on the GE-built control systems, not to mention that nearly all the glass must be replaced. The glass should be relatively easy; it is all flat safety glass.

This is a long-term project; I am just beginning to understand how it is put together. It runs on 16 6V golf cart batteries, plus a 12v car battery to power accessories. The motor is connected directly to the driveshaft. I read all 35 pages of Darin's ForkenSwift project log in one sitting, so I'm inspired to get this thing moving along. All the rust on the terminals of the logic modules in the GE controller leads me to believe that I should rip it all out and replace it with a modern controller.

My day job may be of interest to some of the ICE owners. I run Glen's Garage, a distributor of MegaSquirt fuel injection systems and accessories.

--Glen

Welcome Glen,

The van looks kinda small in the pics. Looks like it might have a comparable length and width to a golf cart. Is that close?

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

Looks pretty neat! I'm sure you'll have fun with that project.

Welcome to ecomodder!

Allan,
I don't know golf cart dimensions, but the van ia 64" wide and 137" long, bumper to bumper. The wheelbase is approximately 94".

The traction motor is 12" in diameter. I have worked out the functions of the contactors, but all the screws on the GE modules on the two control units are rusty from exposure. I wouldn't trust any of it to work. The motor looks solid and appears to turn freely. It may yet be a while before I get to do much work on it.

--Glen

loooks like it was in a drive by, gansta electirc van anyone?

It sat in a junkyard for a number of years. I don't know whether the windows were broken when it got there.