Project Land Yacht (BMW 5-series EV conversion)

[320touring]

Adding a post to mark this- something I'd be interested in! Looks good!

One question- is it easy to insure a conversion like this?

thanks

[bennelson]

Insurance on an EV conversion is a common question.

The simple answer is YES you can get insurance, and look before you start the project.

I had no problem getting insurance on my electric car conversion through Progressive. I was also using a full-service insurance agent, and explained to her exactly what I wanted to do before starting the project.

Other things to check on before you start your project include, license, title, registration, pollution control tests, and local, state, and federal laws.

Rules and regulations vary considerably from one area, county, state, country, to another, so look to see what applies to you.

By planning ahead, you can have a project you are proud of AND be able to legally drive it!

Here's a few more comments on it at my blog.
http://300mpg.org/projects/electro-metro/insurance/

[Daox]

Originally Posted by jackbauer

Though not quite related to the build here is a high discharge test of a 180Ah CALB grey cell

It looks like you're going to change your signature now since you have batteries capable of delivering 2000 amps!

[jackbauer]

Insurance can be an issue especially in Europe. I was lucky enough to have a broker friend who did a lot of leg work to get it sorted. The thing is its all precedent. Now that the company have covered me in one ev another is no problem.

Last weekend I jacked up the front of the car for a look see as I had a sneaky suspicion that I may have a clearance issue between the motor frame and steering rack. Sure enough unlike on the E36 where the rack is mounted on the side of the crossmember on the 5 series its on top! Bit of headscratching later I think I have a solution. I picked up a driveshaft for the automatic version on ebay which is shorter than the manual. This will let me more the gearbox / motor assembly rearward by about 3 inches allowing the motor to clear the steering rack. I'll need to shorten the shifter linkages but that's only a bit of welding. Plenty of clearance in the tunnel. I doubt even a 9" motor would fit without this modification and I want the power of the 13"

[jackbauer]

This is what I'm looking at for the aircon :
Toyota Prius 2nd Gen XW20 (2003-2009) 1.5L Hybrid Air Con Pump ACP638 | eBay

Couple that with a 2hp vfd and i'm up and running with aircon for less than 300 euros. Just need to graft the prius pipes to the bmw but again that's just a bit of silver brazing.

[jackbauer]

Here's the latest on the yacht!:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kKFYM060tY

I've attached the arduino sketch in txt format. I'd be grateful if someone could have a look and tell me if it outputs 58 pulses then misses two as i don't have a storage scope at the minute!

[z_power]

Megasquirt community is a good source of info on topic, take a look for example here: Megasquirt MSEXTRA / MS3EFI • ms1e 60-2 wheel can't get wasted spark to run (View topic)

edit: stupid me, misunderstood your question

[wndsofchng]

This is awesome!!!!

[mechman600]

For a functional tachometer, why not remove the tone wheel from the ICE's crankshaft, install it on the DC motor shaft and mount the crankshaft speed sensor in the appropriate spot? No need to fool the ECU - simply give it a real speed signal.

I would also use some other useful ICE sensors, like mounting the coolant temp sensor somewhere on the motor or controller so you have a functional temp gauge.

[jackbauer]

Few reasons I can't do that. First is that its buried in the engine , second i dont have an aux shaft on the motor and third if the signal drops below 250rpm the mil light illuminates. While that presents no practical problems driving the car it would result in a failure during the mandatory vehicle testing which I will have to do. So the arduino will produce a false 300rpm signal to the tach when the motor drops below 300rpm.