Paul & Sabrina's Cheap EV Conversion

[MPaulHolmes]

I like the idea of the AC fan. That would be a nice easy fix, and it wouldn't run down the 12v battery. That would be weird to use the 12v battery while it's charging. Who would win? The charger, or the battery!? I think the charger would win, but would it mess up the charging algorithm?

They are AGM batteries, which never need water added. They might still let out a tiny bit of hydrogen, but from what the people told me about them, they are certified to function in environments where extra hydrogen in the air is totally unacceptable, like aviation applications. Maybe next time, after letting it charge overnight, I'll bring out a lighter and test the low-hydrogen environment claim. Maybe I'll attach the lighter to the end of a giant stick just in case. Or maybe I'll violently punch the air inside the car. Because hydrogen is just a proton, it will be equivalent to the Large Hadron Collider experiment. If I detect any evidence of some sort of Higgs Boson, I'll be sure to let the Ecomodder group know first.

[MPaulHolmes]

I drove like a gangster around town. I didn't care at all about low amps today! It accelerated about like the Kia Spectra. It felt nice like I was in a normal car, and nothing seemed to blow up. I might do that from now on. I did start shaking back and forth on the way back though, since I haven't fixed that yet. It's really fun to drive it. I kept driving in loops around the store parking lot, but no one seemed to care at all. It made me really sad. It's a very useful car, though. There is no trade-off for performance! Only limited range! And the cost was only like $2200 or something like that, because the stupid batteries were like $1500! That's messed up! When I think of those really expensive batteries, I just want to... (WIFE EDIT)!

They make me so mad! Our next plan is to save up and buy like $10,000 worth of Thundersky Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. They don't blow up, and can cycle like 3000 times to 70% DOD. One guy on the EVTech list has actually tested that claim over the last YEAR, but just quit testing at 2500 cycles since he wanted to free up his equipment. The batteries are still going strong. So, With a battery management system and everything, wouldn't it cost maybe $12000 or something like that???

Why is it that the first Lithium based production electric car that's not the tesla is going to be like $50,000 or something retarded like that. That's what I heard at least. Why can't it be $13500? $12000 for the batteries, and like $1500 for everything else? hahaha! ya! Once the Kia goes to Gasoline Heck (dies), maybe we should do that. I bet we could get around town range of like 200 miles or something ridiculous like that.

[MPaulHolmes]

I just checked the Thundersky prices. For a 73 volt 180 Amp*hr pack, the price is $10,000. That's pretty good I guess. That would only work out to about 50 miles or something I think. Crap. Maybe that's not very good. Hmm... Oh well.

[MetroMPG]

Good video. I love the commentary. Lithium prices are crazy, and I wonder how much they'll come down, if at all. I'd hitch my horse to Firefly batteries instead for a potential upgrade for all us lead acid conversion drivers...

[Tango Charlie]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

...I(t) did start shaking back and forth on the way back though, since I haven't fixed that yet...

Ya really need to look into that. I'm fearing for your life!

[MPaulHolmes]

OK, so where do I order the parts that I need to fix the shimmying? JC Whitney doesn't have them. I don't know what they're called either. I'm going to a WE campain (how do you spell campayne?) event on Saturday that's about green jobs or something. I don't know. Maybe I can pitch the idea of converting pieces of crap that can become functioning members of automobile society again, but with zero emissions, except for the electricity generation. Even that in my area is in large part Hydro-Power! (like in parts of tacoma, it's 89%!). Where I live, it's more like 40-50%, which still isn't too bad.

[dremd]

Umm, I missed which parts you need to buy . . . . ..

I got a lot of VW parts at Pep Boys back when I drove Air cooled . . .

[MPaulHolmes]

I don't really know the parts I need. I do know that when I move the wheel (off the ground) at 9 and 3, there's an inch of play that happens at a rubber joint thing. It's pretty close to the wheel. There's a metal bar from the wheel to the rubber joint thing. Next, I probably should buy a new steering damper (I think it's called that). Basically, I have no idea what's wrong, and I just want it to not shake violently at 35 mph.

[dremd]

How about posting a short video of the back of the wheel while you shake it around?

[MPaulHolmes]

DANG, THAT'S A GOOD IDEA! I'll do that this weekend.