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Hello all! I am getting started on the planning of an EV conversion, which is something I have thought about for quite a while. I live off grid, so I have a fair bit of experience with electricity and batteries, and I am looking forward to the challenge of converting a vehicle.
I have been skimming this forum, and I feel like an idea is starting to form in my head of what I want to build.
I am kind of leaning towards AC because most of my driving will be out in the country with fairly decent hills (there is a 1200' 9% hill I climb just about every time I leave home), and mostly short trips of ~10 miles round trip. I would like to plan on having regen be an option.
Top speed is not really a huge concern, 55mph is the speed limit around here, so I suppose it would be good to be able to go 60-65 if I had to. Most of my driving is going to be at 45.
I would like to have a range of about 50 miles, because I will probably not be able to charge at home initially. The family farm is 4 miles up the road, and has a big solar array, so that will serve as my gas station. Town is 5 miles away in the other direction, so it would be nice to be able to run into town a couple times before needing to charge.
I think I want to get a little 2 door compact car for the donor - maybe a metro, or some sort of little honda or something. My aim is "value" rather than "cheap," and I figure that smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic is going to be the most efficient way to get from point A to B.
I am thinking to reach those goals, I will need Li-Ion batteries, which it seems would give a better value in the long haul anyway. Are there any issues with Lithium and regen?
I am figuring all this is going to cost at least 15k, but I might tell my wife 20 to be on the safe side?
I suppose my biggest question right now is how much battery will I really need to get the range I want? It seems like looking at the EV album and some of the range calculators gives me conflicting idea about how far I would go. Also, how much does motor selection influence range? Would a less powerful motor with less acceleration end up really saving you anything? I guessI am thinking in terms of the difference in MPG of a large ICE engine vs a smaller one - but am I right in thinking there is less difference on electric where the larger motor is not incurring the same kind of losses as the gas engine because it doesnt idle?
Clearly, I still have lots of reading to do, but I look forward to hearing from everyone who has gone down this path already (and hopefully can steer me away from the bigger missteps along the way!)
I have been skimming this forum, and I feel like an idea is starting to form in my head of what I want to build.
I am kind of leaning towards AC because most of my driving will be out in the country with fairly decent hills (there is a 1200' 9% hill I climb just about every time I leave home), and mostly short trips of ~10 miles round trip. I would like to plan on having regen be an option.
Top speed is not really a huge concern, 55mph is the speed limit around here, so I suppose it would be good to be able to go 60-65 if I had to. Most of my driving is going to be at 45.
I would like to have a range of about 50 miles, because I will probably not be able to charge at home initially. The family farm is 4 miles up the road, and has a big solar array, so that will serve as my gas station. Town is 5 miles away in the other direction, so it would be nice to be able to run into town a couple times before needing to charge.
I think I want to get a little 2 door compact car for the donor - maybe a metro, or some sort of little honda or something. My aim is "value" rather than "cheap," and I figure that smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic is going to be the most efficient way to get from point A to B.
I am thinking to reach those goals, I will need Li-Ion batteries, which it seems would give a better value in the long haul anyway. Are there any issues with Lithium and regen?
I am figuring all this is going to cost at least 15k, but I might tell my wife 20 to be on the safe side?
I suppose my biggest question right now is how much battery will I really need to get the range I want? It seems like looking at the EV album and some of the range calculators gives me conflicting idea about how far I would go. Also, how much does motor selection influence range? Would a less powerful motor with less acceleration end up really saving you anything? I guessI am thinking in terms of the difference in MPG of a large ICE engine vs a smaller one - but am I right in thinking there is less difference on electric where the larger motor is not incurring the same kind of losses as the gas engine because it doesnt idle?
Clearly, I still have lots of reading to do, but I look forward to hearing from everyone who has gone down this path already (and hopefully can steer me away from the bigger missteps along the way!)
