Has anyone built any type of electric or electric vehicle? We are in the auto repair industry and both my boss and I commute (mostly freeway) 42 miles each way. We have been thinking of making an electric vehicle just for fun and was wondering if anyone has tried this in anyway.

We have an old ford ranger pick-up and we are thinking of removing the engine and adding an electric motor to the transmission (any h.p. suggestions?) and then a bank of batteries with a controller to modulate speed. We were also thinking of adding a diesel genset to give it a longer range or maybe just a large genset alone and run it like a Train does. We will need to see how the fuel requirements for the genset running full motor power vs just charging the batteries will work out.......any ideas?

Also I am not in anyway a greenie. Just thought with all the people we know in the auto/electric motor/electric fields at work this should be a fun project.

 

I'm currently in the process of converting an '87 CRX, will probably sell it and try to make enough to build one for myself. These guys seem to have a pretty good deal going: http://www.e-volks.com/


BTW, the ranger is a good vehicle to convert (other than it's a Ford), as is any small pickup from what I hear.

 

Yep. Strong enough suspension to handle the batteries and the RWD driveline is better equipped to handle the torque.

 

Get the lightest car you can find, and swap in a turbo Kubota 3 cyl mated to an overdrive trans. If the donor car is aero and light enough you should be able to pull down 80MPG or so. I have an old Popular Mechanics article on this somewhere... Forget the expensive and heavy batteries and electric motors!

 

I always hear about the batteries. I was wondering and thinking, if you had your internal combustion engine to get the vehicle rolling and two generators mounted(somehow) to turn off the non driven wheels, like the rear wheels on a front wheel drive car and ran somehow to your electric motor that, in my theory would give you limitless mileage. The generators working off the rear, because your rolling and then why would you need batteries?? Seems like from what I have heard the batteries are environmentally unfriendly and costly. Am I missing something in my way of thinking??

 

Yes...that's called perpetual motion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion

Basically, to keep the car moving, you need to account for aerodynamics, rolling resistance, driveline friction, and general inefficiencies. That's why we use engines, or batteries, to keep us moving.

 

In other words, there is no free lunch with energy use. I wish there was.

 

ah yes, forgot about friction. Wish I could hit the lottery just so I could spend my days playing around with stuff like this. My mind is better at figuring the stuff out if I am actually building, working with it....not the worlds biggest genius when it comes to the book stuff!!

 

You will be going some pyshics law..cant think of the one right away but an example goes like this:

The only way to get around this is to install a solar panel all around the car. It wont create more energy than you use but it will extend your range and when parked it will charge the batteries. I have researched this and wanted to change my dads 90 dodge spirit to electric.....Then I found this site and want to put a 3 cyl kubota in a car!

Try looking for a site that shows a Pennsylvania high school that took a VW 1.something diesel engine and mated it to a honda motor with 450 volt ultra-capacitor pack. The article I first read it from said it went from 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds! It also got 50+mpg. The capacitors charge in seconds but also discharges at the same rate. So for stop and go traffic, it is great! But for speed and mpgs, excellent! I also like the car itself.

There goes my pay for the next year! Wait, is that a bad thing??

Link:http://www.penn-partners.org/evteam/attack.htm

Edit:Some better pictures. http://www.autoauditorium.com/TdS_Reports_2005/photos_007.html
Jon

 

well my wife and i are planning for it she would get free downtown parking at a charging unit outside her building. we are twenty five miles one way. portland has an electric car club with many folks attending i went for a while but life gets to busy sometimes.

 

As I said in a previous thread. When I was a kid (mid 60's) Popular Mechanics had a project where you could mate a 3 clyinder diesel engine to a Triump Spitfire. It mated up very easily. One of my family friends did this, as he was going to commute quite a distance out in Ca, and he got about 65MPG. It was sure no speed demon though.

 

Yea it's a good idea but energy is always lost during the process. So you will end up stopping rather quicly. BMW came up with a prototype that was interesting. They used the heat from the exhaust to heat up steam in pipes. Then they used that pressure to make energy, just like a nuclear power plant.

 

Use a turbodiesel-driven generator to electrically power drive motors on the rear wheels... powerplant operates at it's highest BSFC rpm, and all of the mass and efficiency loss of the drivetrain is eliminated. Regenerative braking to load the batteries, ready to discharge as needed for higher take-off acceleration. Decoupling flywheel if you want to get serious.

 

That is simular to the huge (mine) dump trucks isn't it?

 

Yes, and some small special purpose vehicles also feature that design, since it's so efficient.