[daneetaloretta]

Y'all,

I live down here in New Orleans. My Daisy is a 2004 New Beatle. I am her second owner, and her first owner is Chaya owner of Bywater Bakery. Sometimes parts fall off of Daisy, LOL, but she drives soooooo good. Never gives me trouble starting. No trouble with this girl. I want to ride her into the apocalypse.

You see: my homeland is rapidly disappearing and turning to wetland. Soon, me and Daisy and my husband and the dogs are going to have to get out of here. The land is literally turning to water.

I need a solar car. And, I need that car to be Daisy.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated by my entire family.

Your skill level with auto mechanics and fabrication

None, but I have a good mechanic who is skilled with Beatles. I have a lead on a good fabrication guy in "da Parish." And I am very good at learning things off of YouTube.

The range you are hoping to get (how many miles/charge)

100 miles???

What level of performance you are hoping to get

top speed of 70 mph, seats four, and runs off of a 5 watt solar panel mounted in the back window. I got this from this website:

https://mad-science.wonderhowto.com...now-eco-friendly-electric-voltswagon-0138388/

How much money you are willing to put into your project

$6,000

What parts you've already considered, if any.

I just read about the solar air conditioner, so it might be better if I start with something small. I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. If it gets too complicated, I have support.

Thank you!

 

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

The formatting of this post is a little.. botty.

and runs off of a 5 watt solar panel mounted in the back window.

Umm, I assure you it does not.

The battery pack is 10,000 Watt-hours. Even at 100% efficiency, that 5 watt solar panel would need to be in full sun for 2000 hours to recharge.

You get somewhere around 5 hours of peak sun per day in the US.

So, it would take 400 days to charge those batteries once.

So, less than once a year you could take it out for maybe 25 miles.

Except that 5 watts for 5 hours a day isn't even enough to hold those batteries at their current state of charge.

That is not in any way a solar car.

There is no such thing as a solar car, except for science experiments and extreme events with closed off roads.

 

[brian_]

...
top speed of 70 mph, seats four, and runs off of a 5 watt solar panel mounted in the back window. I got this from this website:

https://mad-science.wonderhowto.com...now-eco-friendly-electric-voltswagon-0138388/

The idea of running a car on a 5-watt solar panel is completely ridiculous, as already explained. The problem is that the complete lack of any control over what can be posted on many websites leads to ignorant idiots (Gabrielle Taylor in this case) writing crap (just the parts about the performance of the car and running from a 5W panel in this case) which misleads people. They just generate text to fill these websites, and get paid for the advertising clicks, without adding any value and while actually destroying the information that they start from.

The genuine EV Album entry does not claim that the tiny solar panel runs the car. It lists the charger which is used (to charge the antiquated lead-acid batteries from utility power), and says that the panel is just used to keep the 12V battery (like the battery in your gas-engine car, not the battery that drives this electric car) charged.

It's always a good idea to check reference material before believing anything from a random untrustworthy source. In this case they even provided links, including to the EV Album page which says that the car only seats two, not four, and describes the use of the little solar panel. Even if there are no links, some quick web searching is often very informative.

 

[brian_]

My Daisy is a 2004 New Beatle. I am her second owner, and her first owner is Chaya owner of Bywater Bakery. Sometimes parts fall off of Daisy, LOL, but she drives soooooo good. Never gives me trouble starting. No trouble with this girl. I want to ride her into the apocalypse.

...

I need a solar car. And, I need that car to be Daisy.

This combination doesn't make any logical sense to me. You have a car which works well, and you are proposing to take out all of the most complicated and valuable parts, throw them away, and put in a different system. It would make more sense to sell this functional car, buy a car that doesn't have a good engine or transmission in it, and have a bit of money left over to start to pay for some of the electric conversion equipment.

I do understand sentimental attachment to a vehicle, but that also means that there is a serious risk that a failed conversion would leave you with your prized vehicle disabled. It would be safer to try a conversion (if you decide on a more realistic basis that you want to do this) of a vehicle which is not so important to you.

 

[daneetaloretta]

I really appreciate all of y'all's feedback. I DID mention that I was a complete neophyte, but I didn't expect to get named called and shamed here. Wow.

One useful piece of advice, though, is to not start working on Daisy until she is dead. She cost me less than $2000, and has been an awesome car for two years.

My plan was to research and budget the conversion to plan for the day when Daisy is no longer a viable transportation option. I thought this was a good place to start my research. Was I wrong?

 

[brian_]

I DID mention that I was a complete neophyte, but I didn't expect to get named called and shamed here. Wow.

No one called you names or shamed you. I did describe the author of the article which you linked (Gabrielle Taylor) as an "ignorant idiot" because she has no idea what she is "writing" about and she has misled you.

The responses have explained why the expectations that you were given by that article are unreasonable.

My plan was to research and budget the conversion to plan for the day when Daisy is no longer a viable transportation option. I thought this was a good place to start my research. Was I wrong?

Not wrong - I think that the research and budgeting is a good idea, and this forum is a good place to start.

 

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I did describe the author of the article which you linked (Gabrielle Taylor) as an "ignorant idiot"

daneetaloretta

daneetaloretta

Talor = Gabrielle Taylor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGC6VOP7ZAo

 

[brian_]

daneetaloretta

daneetaloretta

Talor = Gabrielle Taylor

I did consider the possibility that the WonderHowTo author and the DIYElectricCar poster were the same person, even without breaking down the usernames; however, I didn't assume that, since the poster claimed to have used the WonderHowTo post as a source (rather than writing it).

While daneetaloretta apparently took my criticism of "Gabrielle Taylor" personally, it is not uncommon for forum participants to misread posts and get defensive about statements which are not directed to them.

I note that in the extensive terms of use of the WonderHowTo site, there is a long list of restrictions on posts, which doesn't include any requirement that the content be factual:

You agree not to, and hereby represent and warrant that you shall not, post, email, or otherwise make available User Submissions that: (i) may create a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to you, to any other person, or to any animal; (ii) may create a risk of any other loss or damage to any person or property; (iii) contains any information or content that is antisocial or depicts violent crime; (iv) contains any information or content that is unlawful, harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, defamatory, pornographic, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, harassing, humiliating to other people (publicly or otherwise), libelous, threatening, or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable; (v) contains any information or content that is illegal or may constitute or contribute to a crime or tort; (vi) contains any information or content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships, l or that violates third-party rights of any kind, including without limitation any Intellectual Property Rights and rights of publicity and privacy; or (vii) proposes a commercial transaction or is otherwise commercial in nature. WonderHowTo reserves the right, but is not obligated, to reject and/or remove any User Submissions that WonderHowTo believes, in its sole discretion, violate these provisions or for any other reason or no reason.

That's not surprising to me - few online services (including the operator of this forum) are willing to take responsibility for their content, or make any effort to ensure that it is factual. These restrictions exist to protect the site operators, not the consumers of the content.

 

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I did consider the possibility that the WonderHowTo author and the DIYElectricCar poster were the same person

I'm just teasing you with paranoia, hence the dramatic gopher.

I note that in the extensive terms of use of the WonderHowTo site, there is a long list of restrictions on posts, which doesn't include any requirement that the content be factual:

It's just a content mill. The author was probably paid $1-3 for the "article". It's not journalism and there's no readership. They don't care about the content, just that they have content. They build a mass of content that no one reads to increase their search rankings.

 

[brian_]

I'm just teasing you with paranoia, hence the dramatic gopher.

You're not paranoid if they're really after you...

It's just a content mill. The author was probably paid $1-3 for the "article". It's not journalism and there's no readership. They don't care about the content, just that they have content. They build a mass of content that no one reads to increase their search rankings.

I completely agree. The result, especially for non-critical searchers who do read the content, is misinformation.

 

[FoxLies]

Daneetaloretta,
Can you tell me if you (or shout out here to any other readers) end up converting your New Beetle ("Daisy") into an EV? If so, could you share what parts or kits or company you used, and how it worked out in terms of cost and range etc?
I ask because we have in the family a 2013 New Beetle, a convertible, that I think would make a good and really fun EV conversion, especially as a convertible.

But converting New Beetles doesn't seem very popular. And that seems to be true even though, at least I've read, that the Beetle's mechanicals are like a VW Golf's, so it I'm wondering if we had an e-Golf we could transfer many of the part, and maybe some of the electronics & CANbus etc.

We'd be grateful to you or any readers if you have info or experience you can share, on New Beetle conversions..

P.S. Regarding solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on vehicles:
1. Re small panels, I read that the Zelectric/EV_West conversion of a '68 Porsche 912 EV, that Jay Leno test-drove, includes a small solar PV panel, that does the very useful job of trickle-charging the 12-volt battery which most EVs still need. A great use for a small panel.. I'd like it for my current ICE/hybrid vehicles.

2. Also, re range you could get I read that the Aptera EV, that is still in development I think, is so efficient and has enough PV panels, that it can run a long distance (up to 40mi/day claimed) just on the solar energy it absorbs. )f course the Aptera is light and has really low drag and high efficiency: Vehicle | Aptera
BR