EV on the road again.

[Jerry]

Bill? e-mailed me a question about a coment I made on EDs recent EV posting.

I said if I had to do the conversion again I'd go 144v or even 156 volt rather than the 120 volt system I did.

The higher voltage would produce higher top speed and longer distance.

However I was quite pleased with my trip to my sons place on the Fourth.

This was the longest trip so far for this truck. 10 miles each way. I didn't know what to expect so I loaded a 5KW generator in the back just incase?

When we arived (wife & I) I pluged the ranger in to a standard 120v ac outlet.

We had a family barbique for about 3 HRs then hugged the grandkids then headed for home. The other half of the 20 mile trip.

Going down the highway at 55 mph on flat terane the amp meter reads about 200 amps.

The golf cart batteries onboard are rated 220 amp hrs. My asumption is they can deliver 220 amps for 1 hr.

If thats true and I'm not mistaken the amp hr thirory then I should have about a 50 mile range.

However if I back the throtel off to 150 amps I can still manage an easy 50 mph.

I've been doing 150 amps anyway. The controler and motor run much cooler.

Anyway its fun to drive and its a good feeling to never stop at the gas station.

I'm seeing about 150 volts from the onboard pulse chager accross the battery bank in the mornings.

I'll try to get some pictures in the near future.

                            JK TAS Jerry

[SparWeb]

Congratulations on the triumphant EV journey.

120V x 150A / 746 = 24 horsepower.

So why in the world was my old Ford Ranger so anemic, even with the V6 engine?!

I dare say you have improved the product!

[tecker]

 Shunt wound motors dump a lot of power to the chassis . With some tinkering Jerry you can recover some of that power . Some pulse width control and catch the pulses with some copper is easy .Also there's a lot of drag at the front grill to divert  . DC  motor technology was set on crash and burn a long time ago very little of the good power technology has made the open market to be purchased at a reasonable price.

[windstuffnow]

Great work Jerry!  I think boosting the voltage will make a big difference in the way it performs.  My original intension was to go with a 144 volt system in the S10....

150 amp cruise is darn conservative!  Do you know or have an guestimate of what the truck weighs right now?

.

[richhagen]

Hi Jerry, It looks like it is working out pretty well.  The 220 amp hours that they are rated at is generally at the 20 hour rate.  Discharging it in an hour would result in quite a bit less power being taken out and a lot of heat radiating from the battery bank.  I'm not sure exactly how much less though.  Sometimes on cheap marine batteries you also see a 'reserve capacity' which is generally how many minutes it takes to fully discharge the battery at 25 Amps.  Of course you would never actually want to fully discharge the battery.  I would probably hedge on caution and limit myself to 50% discharge for planned trips based upon your method of range calculation if possible, and if you run across a very small generator it might be worth keeping one in the back rigged to charge the batteries in the event you push the range a bit too far.  On my Commuta Van, when the batteries are going flat, the top end speed starts dropping.  I've limped it back here at about 5MPH a couple of times, and I am sure that running the batteries flat like that injured them a bit.  Rich

[thefinis]

I am sure that everyone uses the regular DC motors because they are easily available in large sizes and cheaper but wouldn't a PM DC motor get better distance on a charge? I guess that the regular DCs are easier to control too as you can vary the strength of the fields but if the math from building alts is right then you should save about a third on battery draw with a PM motor. Am I just lost here? What are the factors in play?

It also seems to me that there might should be a place on this list for folks building DIY electric transportation. With the way the world is going it will be needed as a part of self sufficiency.

Great work everybody.

Finis

[Chuck]

I'll second that motion, about a DIY transportation section here. This is my next big project and I'd love to share it with others doing the same here.

Chuck

[vawtman]

Hi Jerry

 How much does it cost to recharge the batteries from the grid kwh price after the  trip?

 Mark

[windstuffnow]

I agree, it all falls into place with wind and solar.  Alternative transportation is simply another step in the evolution.  

.

[Jerry]

Mark, my son esamated I pay the grid $20 a month for the charging. I've got a watt/HR meter. I think I'll conect that and get a per day cost?

Ed, I think I'm about 500 LBs over stock.

OK on the road again.

                              JK TAS Jerry

[commanda]

As Rich said, the rated capacity is usually at the 20 Hr rate. At 1C, you can generally halve the advertised capacity. Google "Peukert Effect" if you want to know more.

Most of the EV crowd hang out at Endless Sphere.

I personally have owned an EVT-4000 electric scooter for over a year now, and am building an electric assist push-bike

http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5191

The scooter will be converted to Lithium batteries later this year.

Amanda

[TomW]

EV section. Oh joy, yet another diversion from the topic the forum is intended to cover.

There already are a few EV fora to check.

Start adding in the "want to drive cheaper" crowd to the want cheap electric crowd and there goes the DIY crowd, lost in the overhead.

I don't think you will get the boys to change much of anything and if they do, I hope its NOT an EV topic.

Newbies just opened the floodgates for the lazy.

"EV" will just open it for more silliness.

This forum is pretty much fine as it is. Any changes should be in regards fixing the bugs. Not to mention fixing the dozens of pages of erroneous information in the old static [fixed] pages that do not reflect advancements in the field. People still think the "Air X" is worth building, for cripes sake because nobody with the access has taken the time to update it to reflect it was a very very early project! Just one "for instance".

Besides, thats a good use of the Diary section.

It is fairly apparent to me that we already have an insane list of topics and most are simply there because nobody will change anything.

Thought up on the fly 6 years ago and never retouched. If they add any more they MUST remove a couple. IMHO

There, thats my raw opinion. Its not exactly up to me, but thats how I feel.

I actually am considering an electric bike of some sort to charge off the RE so I am not "against" the subject. I just feel it is inappropriate here as a new topic when the site needs a good going over to prune and clarify topics that we already have. Again, nothing I can do about any of it, so probably a moot point.

Tom

[spinningmagnets]

I love this site, but I have to agree with Tom.

If there was a new EV section here, a lot of smart people would be re-inventing the wheel.

visforvoltage.com is smaller, more family friendly, and environmentally active. Endless-Sphere is like a very large college pub. All types there and lots of activity. I'm sure there are even several other sites that are useful.

[Tinbendr]

Here is another site about DIY EV's.