[EV480lution]

Dear all,

Well, here I am with an ev conversion project in France, where it is known to be a very cumbersome and uncertain process when it comes to making one road legal as we require green light from the maker of the donor car!

Nonetheless, thanks to Gavin Shoebridge and many of you successful converters out there, it's been for almost a year a real obsession that is damn persistent. There seems to be no other way out than getting my hands and knees dirty

My donor car is a Volvo 480, nice little hatchback from the mid-80's to mid-90's that's quite lightweight (1T) and aerodynamic so some extent (Cd 0.34). It was mainly sold in Europe although a very few may have made it to the US. So it's out there waiting to be dismantled and electrified.

I've also engaged with local potential partners to assist with specific design and manufacture of required components (adapter plate, mounts, battery racks, safety studies etc.)

Although I'm currently in the homework phase, I think I'm already clear about the technology I deem to be the best way forward : AC motor and LifePo4, to optimize return on (heavy) investment and get best value for money (did consider DC and Lead Acid but that's not effective by all means).

As for requirements, my commute is 80kms return trip so don't want to compromise on range and aim at 100kms between charges (ideally @ 80% DOD). The trip is a good mix of Highway (130km/h for 5 kms, 110 to 90 km/h for 6kms and the rest is within Paris so a lot of boring traffic jam stop and start, traffic lights and low speed). There's a good business case for driving an EV. The landscape is rather flat around here so components shouldn't suffer from anything else than high speed, freezing cold in the winter and randomly hot summers. I need to work out a system around:

- decent range as stated above (100kms)
- sufficent torque to take over comfortably
- top speed of 130 km/h (sorry about metric guys )
Hopefully regen braking will somewhat help me meet those range objectives.

I'm hoping not to go too much above original curb weight to keep a good balance between weight and overall power.

I'm already considering the HPG AC50 + Curtis Controller Combo and source some CALB or Thundersky batts further down the road when they'll be ready to get installed. Still need to work out the overall capacity that'll dictate type of battery to choose so I can size the racks accordingly.

I'm currently in my learning curve, hence my registration on the forum to wipe away some doubts, clear out grey areas and validate some essential choices. So please be lenient.

All the best

 

[rillip3]

Sounds like you've got a good grip on the project. It's not too heavy, I'd expect ~ 300 wh/mi. With 63 mi (100k), that's 18,900 wh. Multiple by 20% for Depth of Discharge and Puekert, and you get 27,216 wh. Assuming 144v, that's 189 Ah batteries you'll need. I just picked 144 arbitrarily; it's a common higher end voltage for DC. The acceleration shouldn't be an issue with what you're looking as long as you have a big enough motor (probably an 8" or 9" or equivalent).

Hope this has answered some of your concerns and welcome to the board!

 

[EV480lution]

Hi Rillip3
Thanks for your post. I'm working quite a lot on this project so I want to get it right in the theoretical part as much as I can although I know the reality of it will probably come with some (good and bad) surprises.
Your first reading of what should be needed corresponds quite nicely with my projections. I was originally going down the DC route with what you rightly described but I've recently shifted to AC.

I'm currently considering an air-cooled 30Kw AC motor running at 96V from a company based in Italy. The curbs look like it could be a sweet deal and limit investment in batteries (30 to 35 batts). I've asked them for more technical specs of the motor but the controller they match it with is pretty nice, with all included in one box (even the charger)

I'll post the specs once I get them for you to get a feel of what we're talking about but I'm hoping to reach (and why not exceed ) the original 160nm torque @ 82hp - 3000rpm with more efficiency. Original peak power is 110hp. The post-conversion curb weight should be higher though.

 

[rillip3]

Hi Rillip3
Thanks for your post. I'm working quite a lot on this project so I want to get it right in the theoretical part as much as I can although I know the reality of it will probably come with some (good and bad) surprises.
Your first reading of what should be needed corresponds quite nicely with my projections. I was originally going down the DC route with what you rightly described but I've recently shifted to AC.

I'm currently considering an air-cooled 30Kw AC motor running at 96V from a company based in Italy. The curbs look like it could be a sweet deal and limit investment in batteries (30 to 35 batts). I've asked them for more technical specs of the motor but the controller they match it with is pretty nice, with all included in one box (even the charger)

I'll post the specs once I get them for you to get a feel of what we're talking about but I'm hoping to reach (and why not exceed ) the original 160nm torque @ 82hp - 3000rpm with more efficiency. Original peak power is 110hp. The post-conversion curb weight should be higher though.

A 96v AC motor? I have never seen such a creature. AC is almost always 300v + for an appreciable sized motor. There have been some new golf-cart motors that have come out at lower voltage AC, so it's not impossible, but it would be a rather rare motor.

 

[DawidvC]

It looks like a nice motor - can't wait to see the specs.

 

[EV480lution]

All right, just received the specs from EVE and here they are above. You can go check their website to get a feel of what the motor looks like (nothing neck-snapping, just an aluminium cylinder )
It seems that Jack Rickard from EVTV just got the same pack to convert a Smart.
Still a little concerned about the torque figures though... What do you think for a car weighing maybe 1200kgs?

 

[EV480lution]

Hi all, question of the day is:
Is it "better" to have 160nm of torque at 3000-3500 rpm (ICE) or 120nm from 0 to 3000 rpm (motor)? Still hard for me at this stage to figure out if such a theoretical loss of torque on paper will have a significant impact in reality (will I be turning my donor into a slug?)

 

[rillip3]

The stock figures appear to be 140 nm for that vehicle, so with the AC 30 you'd be losing about 10% of your stock acceleration.

 

[EV480lution]

Hey Rillip, that's the case with another version but mine is rated @ 164nm max so I'll be loosing more than 10% but since I don't usually drive it hard, it shouldn't be too much of a noticeable pain... unless I choose a larger voltage pack but... dammit this is adding another option to consider and I'm not sure I'll be able to squeeze in 90 batts. I think I'll go with the 96v option, favouring overall capacity.