[Tm PV1]

150 Wh/mile would be great. That would reduce wall charges to 1 every 2 weeks. With usage and solar generation, I would net use 900 Wh a day, down from 1,350 Wh. Since only 4 kwh would be pulled from the wall every two weeks, the solar panels I have on the house (270 watt capacity) would have no problem making up the difference.

[Tm PV1]

This is just me brainstorming, but I was looking into training and a career after high school and found a place. They do apprenticeships and on-the-job training. On the form, it says that some sites may be up to 75 miles away, making for a 150 mile round trip from the main building. The building is 30 miles away. This would make a 210 mile round trip. If I would add 5 more packs of batteries, this would give me a total storage of 43.2 kwh. At 200 wh/mile, this would be a 216 mile range. This may seem like a stretch, but I have a couple of extra kilowatts coming in from the solar, which would amount to about 45 kwh, making range 225 miles. Weight would come in at just about 2,000 lbs and increase price to $30,000. Should I beef up battery capacity or just buy a Volt?

As a side note, finding a 110 outlet on a job site wouldn't be impossible, for a 10 amp charger.

At home, I found a charger that would plug into a level 2 EVSE and charge the car in 10 hours.

[Jason Lattimer]

You may want to do some research on Dave Cloud's Dolphine. I think it is on ecomodder.com. He has a 30kwh pack or so and has gone 200 miles or so.

[DIYguy]

Originally Posted by Tm PV1

This is just me brainstorming, but I was looking into training and a career after high school and found a place. They do apprenticeships and on-the-job training. On the form, it says that some sites may be up to 75 miles away, making for a 150 mile round trip from the main building. The building is 30 miles away. This would make a 210 mile round trip. If I would add 5 more packs of batteries, this would give me a total storage of 43.2 kwh. At 200 wh/mile, this would be a 216 mile range. This may seem like a stretch, but I have a couple of extra kilowatts coming in from the solar, which would amount to about 45 kwh, making range 225 miles. Weight would come in at just about 2,000 lbs and increase price to $30,000. Should I beef up battery capacity or just buy a Volt?

As a side note, finding a 110 outlet on a job site wouldn't be impossible, for a 10 amp charger.

At home, I found a charger that would plug into a level 2 EVSE and charge the car in 10 hours.

Just my humble opinion,. . . but, never make changes like you are suggesting based on getting a job and what that job may entail. You really have no idea where u will end up or the requirements after u get there. If u want to make the changes, just because u want to. . . fine, but don't disguise the reason. I like to say to my kids, make the right choices for the right reasons.

[Tm PV1]

I might as well build an electric car with amazing range since I'm building my area's first solar car.

Anyway, I'm going to start the car out with its original 7.2 kwh pack, and then go from there. If the car has enough range like that, great. If not, I'll just add the battery strings as needed until I have enough range. I have the room in the car already, the only extra that is needed is a beefed up charger, cable, and the BMS cell boards. The strings will wire in parallel with each other, so they are modular. That much battery is quite an investment, but the batteries will last much longer that way due to reduced current and less cycling, granted I'm not traveling more than 180 miles. But I know sooner or later I'll need that 200 mile range.

[Tm PV1]

Okay, now that I've discussed adding 700-800 lbs of batteries to get a 225 mile range, the thought of weight and the power of the motor to be able to propel the car came up. Right now, with the standard 7.7 kwh (made an error, my 7.2 was actually a 7.7 kwh), the car weighs 1,200 lbs. After adding the big battery bank, the car will weigh almost a ton if not more. The motor I have is a SepEx 300 amp. It has 135 ft/lbs. of torque at the wheel with a power output of 10.8 kwh. There is a 3:1 reduction and the motor maxes at 75 mph. Would I need to bump this up to a more powerful setup?

[Tm PV1]

Here's the details on the big battery:

Thundersky 400 Ah

36 cells are wired 3 parallel, 12 series. 3 cells are wired in parallel to make 12 bricks, and the 12 bricks are wired in series for a pack of 1,200 Ah at 38.4 volts.

I have the miniBMS on one cell of the 3 in parallel, one for each brick.

200 Wh/mile gives a 230 mile range.

Haven't calculated how long the solar takes to charge the battery, but I do have a 6 KW charger that works with a Level 2 EVSE for a 10 hour full recharge.

The pack costs $8,949.60 and weighs 1,087 lbs. This brings the car to $23,221.25 and 2,070 lbs.

[Ziggythewiz]

I'd say go solar and short range (if I had 40% panels on my bug I'd never have to plug in!) or go long range and forget the solar. All that extra weight will make the solar negligible.

[Tm PV1]

Maybe. I used the range calculator on EV Source's website, and it says the weight savings will give me an extra 22 miles (230 pound difference). The solar should generate about 10 miles of range (3 hours of 50% output, 1,650 wh). So, I'm basically saving 12 miles by leaving off the panels. The figure is a little different if I stretch one charge over two days.

The panels would take 28 days to fully recharge the batteries.

[Tm PV1]

I did some work and got a more powerful motor. It is a 72 volt PMAC motor with 40 hp. peak. It has 66 ft/lbs. of torque, 264 ft./lbs. at the wheel with 4:1 reduction. The battery pack has been reorganized into a 24 series, 76.8 volt 400 Ah pack which stores 30.7 kWh, equating to a 153 mile range (162 mile range with a day's worth of solar input). The car weighs 1,700 lbs.

For comparison, the Tesla Roadster has 295 ft/lbs. of torque and weighs 2,700 lbs. and accelerates to 60 in 4 seconds. Of course, this acceleration is due to 200 kW going into the motor, where my motor has 30 kW going into it, I DON'T expect this kind of acceleration. I'm just wondering what kind of acceleration I would get. The motor should be able to get me to 80 mph.

Also, an energy economy of 200 wh/mile sounds reasonable, especially compared to a RAV4-EV. This data pulled from a RAV4-EV owner (http://evnut.com):

Average Consumption from pack: 250 Wh/mile
Most drivers report that on a flat, windless stretch of road, an indicated 60mph (about 56mph actual) equates to 100 miles of range. (26 kWh battery, equals 260 wh/mile)
At 45mph (indicated), I have calculated almost 150 miles range. (173 wh/mile)