[skooler]

Hi All,

I have been following these forums for the last year or so with a keen interest in converting a car to electric. The only thing that has really stopped me is lack of money!

To introduce myself I am a 19 year old IT consultant based in the UK. My mechanical skills are OK, I service my own cars etc but I am by no means a mechanic! I have friends that can help me with the trickier stuff if needed. I would say that my electrical skills are up to the required standard but again I can get help / advise if needed.

As mentioned the main thing that has stopped me converting is the cost of doing so! I have a 2000 Vauxhall (Opel Corsa) sat on the drive that I think would be an idea doner vehicle. (picture of a similar car below). Kerb weight of the car is under 850KG. it currently has a horrible rattly 1.0l 3 cylinder engine. There is plenty of room under the bonet (there was a 1.7 Turbo Deisel model that sat in the same engine bay.

I priced up converting this with a Warp 9, Soliton Junior and 45 100AH Thunderskys but the cost came in over £10,000!

Anyway still having a keen interest i have decided to look elsewhere and come accross this motor from a milk float on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200636173188&fromMakeT rack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

My requirements are:

• Half decent accelleration, i would say to match the standard 0-60MPH but this was 16.5 seconds! Under 10 would be good
• Top speed of 70Mph, any more is a bonus (and illegal over here)
• Range initially 40 Miles, I find it hard to look at purchasing an Expensive LiFePo4 pack when DBM etc may be around the corner!
• Hold 4-5 Passengers (batteries can go under the bonet, spare wheel well and under the rear passenger seats)

I could probably stretch to £5,000 total budget.


A few other points. I regularly commute 130 Miles on the motorway to see customers. i'm not expecting this kind of range but it would be nice to upgrade the pack to be capable of this in the future.

I like a good stereo! my current setup draws 1200watts at 12v when on full power. Has anybody got any experience / ideas with audio and EVs? I suppose the ultimate outcome of this is decreased range!

I am assuming that using the existing transmission is the way to go with such a small car. my only concern is if it can take the torqe! I believe it has a Vauxhall/Opel F10 gearbox but cant find any specs for it.

My main question is, would the above motor be suitable?



Cheers

Mike

[ken will]

I have built several electric assist bicycles and trikes and a lawn mower, but the largest motor I have used so far is only 1000watts, so I don't have experience with a car yet, but I have been doing a lot of research, mostly in the 10Kwatt range. So hopefully some of the experts will chime in!

There are several different types of DC motors, some are easier to get a matching controller for.
If it is a series wound motor and those spec's are accurate and your car is aerodynamic ,In my opinion you should be able to do at least 60.
Depending on the batteries and your driving, and the hills, you should be able to go 40 miles.

At 60 volts, cruising speed the motor should take about 200+ amps, and your stereo will take about 100 amps, so it will definitely ruin you mileage.
( 1200 watts? .. Really? .. Have you shattered you eardrums yet? )

Also fewer lighter batteries will = more acceleration, but less distance.

Also I hate to judge people, but I have found that that young guys that listen to loud music tend to stomp on the accelerator from a stop... Don't.. it is the worst thing you can do to your batteries and mileage.

Also some controllers allow you to program the maxim torque, so you transmission should be okay, but of course this will lower your acceleration, but save the transmission.

So, if you trust the seller, and get a good controller, I think you should be okay. Good Luck!

[skooler]

Originally Posted by ken will

I have built several electric assist bicycles and trikes and a lawn mower, but the largest motor I have used so far is only 1000watts, so I don't have experience with a car yet, but I have been doing a lot of research, mostly in the 10Kwatt range. So hopefully some of the experts will chime in!

There are several different types of DC motors, some are easier to get a matching controller for.
If it is a series wound motor and those spec's are accurate and your car is aerodynamic ,In my opinion you should be able to do at least 60.
Depending on the batteries and your driving, and the hills, you should be able to go 40 miles.

At 60 volts, cruising speed the motor should take about 200+ amps, and your stereo will take about 100 amps, so it will definitely ruin you mileage.
( 1200 watts? .. Really? .. Have you shattered you eardrums yet? )

Also fewer lighter batteries will = more acceleration, but less distance.

Also I hate to judge people, but I have found that that young guys that listen to loud music tend to stomp on the accelerator from a stop... Don't.. it is the worst thing you can do to your batteries and mileage.

Also some controllers allow you to program the maxim torque, so you transmission should be okay, but of course this will lower your acceleration, but save the transmission.

So, if you trust the seller, and get a good controller, I think you should be okay. Good Luck!

Hi Ken, thanks for the reply.

Do you have a thread or anything on evalbum for your conversions?

I have emailed/messaged the seller to get the information of the motor. (there seems to be a 'plate' in the picture)

You say 60 volts, I have seen some threads that have used forklift motors and doubled the motors voltage, could this be possible?

A bit of a stereotype there Ken! I just like a good quality stereo! 1200 watts is what I have in my main car that i use for motorways etc, its just my way of staying awake and not getting bored when i'm in the car for 3 hours! I never really go over a third volume wise. I dont think I would put anything near this into an EV but wanted to see if anyone has any experience with anything similar. I cant believe for one second that all EV drivers sit in silence!

Brilliant to know some controllers can limit the torque, i'm worried that the gearbox might not be up to it as its only designed for the 1.0 litre engine, I think it produces about 80Nm (60ft/lb) torque.

Does anyone have a suggestion of a suitable motor controller to match this motor? I'm assuming it is series wound until I get a response from the seller.

Thanks again for your help.

Mike

[OMT]

look for a forklift junk yard, or metal scrap yard and see if you can find a forklift motor about 8-10inches dia. and atleast 15inches long. look for a motor with twin brushes, and one that has many bars on the commutator( copper bars). i picked up a few really nice motors for 50-100$ each and all you have to do is clean and advance them.

[OMT]

if you can learn how to solder i would suggest a paul and sabrina controller kit they sell for around 600$, and produce 500 amps peak, which in a 9inch diam. motor is roughly 80-100flbs

[ken will]

Originally Posted by skooler

Hi Ken, thanks for the reply.

Do you have a thread or anything on evalbum for your conversions?

A bit of a stereotype there Ken! I just like a good quality stereo! 1200 watts is what I have in my main car that i use for motorways etc, its just my way of staying awake and not getting bored when i'm in the car for 3 hours! I never really go over a third volume wise. I dont think I would put anything near this into an EV but wanted to see if anyone has any experience with anything similar. I cant believe for one second that all EV drivers sit in silence!
Mike

I was kidding abut the stereo, when I was young, I would put in an 8-Track and crank up the volume!
( Beach Boys - Little Deuce Coupe or 409 --- Jan & Dean - Dead Man's Curve --- Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack --- Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida)

You can see my bicycles at:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...kes-59929.html

[skooler]

Thanks for all the replies,

I am still waiting for a resonse from the seller of more details on the milk float motor. I will post once a get a reply.

OMT,
I should have mentioned that have already investigated the forklift motor route. I have a friend that works in a forklift servicing / restoration workshop. He says that for a 7" pump motor that doesn't run they can get ~£150 just in scrap value! if thats the case then picking up a decent motor could be quite expensive due to its value as scrap!

Do you not think that the milkfloat motor (below) would be suitable? 11KW should be enough for a car of this size?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISA...tchlink:top:en

I can solder in small amounts (I regularly solder onto laptop motherboards etc) but have never taken on anything like a controller! I will definately investigate the DIY / kit controller route but I dont think I could trust myself that much!

Ken,
Those bikes are fantastic! I bet they are great fun! I knew you were kidding, a great music collection there none the less!

Batteries
I have been thinking a bit more about batteries. My budget wont stretch to lithium, I'd rather wait a year or two for a breakthrough and prices to drop. So lead acid it is for now (unless anyone can convince me otherwise)

I was thinking of deep cycle leisure batteries. I have found a UK company offering 'alphaline' DC31 batteries, 12V, 125AH and 550 cycles. Has anybody heard of 'alphaline'? with 550 cycles (at 70% dod) I would expect at least 2 years service.

I was thinking either 6 or 8 of these for 72V or 96V at 125AH

It would cost £85.46 per battery (delivered) with the below offer (will try to get them down a bit further!) that seems quite reasonable?

battery specs below
http://performanceleisure.co.uk/product/DC31/

deal below
http://performanceleisure.co.uk/packages/50/

Thoughts?

Thanks again,

Mike

[Woodsmith]

Hi Mike,
Welcome to the forum.
There is a Fork lift breaker near Chesterfield that has racks of motors but last tiem I was there it was £300 a motor.

I've been watching the same milkfloat motor on Ebay. Have you seen this one?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...RK:MESINDXX:IT
It is a bit big but cheaper. I am tempted by it myself but already have too many projects on the go.

For your little car a 9" diameter motor will be fine and the Open Revolt Controller kit should be within your soldering ability.

For good sound quality in a car a powerful quality amp is needed but with electric drive you may find that the reduction in noise means that you will be able to hear more of the music and have less of the background noise.

[skooler]

Hi Woodsmith,

Chesterfield is probably a little bit far for me to go (400 mile round trip) but £300 a motor is still far cheaper than a warp/kostov 9!

No I havent seen that motor, its a good price but probably a little overkill for my car, I think it would destroy the transmission! Its still quite far away (300 mile round trip) so I think i'll have to rule it out (thanks for the reccomendation though!)

With the motor controller, I think I would feel far more comfortable with an off the shelf controller, not ruling it else just yet though. Could anyone recommend a suitable controller?

Thanks for the heads up, it hadent even crossed my mind that there would be less road noise! I will forget the audio untill the car is driving on electric and I am happy with everything.

Cheers,

Mike

[skooler]

Just had a reply from the seller of the ebay milk float motor

(http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISA...tchlink:top:en)

"Hi
The motor has 2 pairs of wire coming off it, one pair for the cage and one pair for the stator. There is a plate on it but due to it being aluminium and being on the under side of the milk float it is hard to read due to corrosion. I intended to mate this to a ford type 9 gearbox keeping the clutch and running it on or off on the accelerator.
Hope this helps"

Does this make sense to everyone?

He says there are two pairs of wires, one for the cage and one for the stator. Could anybody explain this? Apologies but I would assume there would just be 2 wires?

Is it right to assume this is a series wound motor?

Thanks again for all your help.

All being well i'd like to pick it up on saturday (providing its suitable!)