Re: [EVDL] Building EV's from scratch, Frames and Chassis
Re: [EVDL] Building EV's from scratch, Frames and Chassis
Hi Fred, Kevin, Lee and All,
Kitcars are good especailly olders ones
that are dead or not completed go cheap. Many good ones go
for under $1k on Ebay or the Kitcar lists, sites.
Riley's SAE papers under Downloads on his
wibsite are excellent, just his method of one off Fiberglas
bodies is so hard to do that probably only 20 have been
finished out of 40,ooo sets of plans!! Have you ever seen
one?
On the XR3 though he's threatening to
sell bodies so many more might get sold, finished!! I
personally think it's too low to be practical in the SUV,
semi truck canyons we drive in.
That said many other materials, even FG
methods that take much less time to build and many times
stronger than Riley's bodies that would break if a large
person fell hard against it as spec'ed!!!
The best of my, others thoughts are on
the <[email protected]> ? which takes a while to join, not
active but has a great archive of posts that are not too
long describing how by several different methods to build EV
vehicle bodies, ect that are light, strong and fairly easy
to very easy to build.
I built my Ewoody 2 seat 3wh sportwagon
from wood/plywood,epoxy with a little FG where nessasary,
built like planes, racing boats are, for $500 and drove it
10 yrs so it possible to have a very good and low price EV
of you have an open mind!!
Other than that there are 3wh,
homebuiltcar, MPG, and other yahoogroups that will help you
with chassis, bodies.
And there are plans like the Lowcost7
that with a more aero body could make a great EV
for little money.
There are several keys to a low cost
great EV.
First is lightweight as EV's batteries need to equal the
rest of the body's weight for good performance on lead
batts. The Ewoody weighed just 500 lbs before batts. The
Freedom EV will weigh about 600 lbs before batts. With
about 50% battery weight one can get 80-100 mile range if
the design is good.
Now that you've reduced weight you can
use a much smaller battery pack like thje Freedom EV uses
just a 720 lb pack to get 100 mile range, about 1/2 the
normal conversion's pack's weight, thus cost and the
conversion will be lucky to get 50 mile range!! Then because
you weigh so much less, you can use much smaller, cheaper EV
drive systems, the Freedom EV's can be bought for under $2k
while keeping good performance.
Next is drag reduction, your best bet for
long range, high speed. Starting with Aero drag designing to
keep it low, wheel/tire drag/rolling resistance can alone
give you 10-25% more range.
I like 2 front, 1 rear wheel 3wh designs
as it's like they were made for EV's the way they compliment
each other and because it's legally a MC, regs are much
less. And built right, only 4wh race cars can beat a well
designed one I think with a CG 3-4" lower than a Corvette
from the low battery weight ;^D
Have fun and build a great EV!!
Jerry Dycus
----- Original Message Follows -----
From: "FRED JEANETTE MERTENS" <[email protected]>
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [EVDL] Frames and Chassis
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:40:41 -0500
>I read on ac propulsions web site that they started with a
>kit car and then modified it into the t-zero this gave me
>a good deal of comfort as I chose a Bradley gte and am
>doing a lot of changes and the end result will look kinda
>like a Bradley but it will be my build . I suggest you
>learn from ac propulsion and look around for kit cars that
>the major components are there you build to suit .
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Lee Hart<mailto:[email protected]>
> To: Electric Vehicle Discussion
>List<mailto:[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [EVDL] Frames and Chassis
>
>
Hi Fred, Kevin, Lee and All,
Kitcars are good especailly olders ones
that are dead or not completed go cheap. Many good ones go
for under $1k on Ebay or the Kitcar lists, sites.
Riley's SAE papers under Downloads on his
wibsite are excellent, just his method of one off Fiberglas
bodies is so hard to do that probably only 20 have been
finished out of 40,ooo sets of plans!! Have you ever seen
one?
On the XR3 though he's threatening to
sell bodies so many more might get sold, finished!! I
personally think it's too low to be practical in the SUV,
semi truck canyons we drive in.
That said many other materials, even FG
methods that take much less time to build and many times
stronger than Riley's bodies that would break if a large
person fell hard against it as spec'ed!!!
The best of my, others thoughts are on
the <[email protected]> ? which takes a while to join, not
active but has a great archive of posts that are not too
long describing how by several different methods to build EV
vehicle bodies, ect that are light, strong and fairly easy
to very easy to build.
I built my Ewoody 2 seat 3wh sportwagon
from wood/plywood,epoxy with a little FG where nessasary,
built like planes, racing boats are, for $500 and drove it
10 yrs so it possible to have a very good and low price EV
of you have an open mind!!
Other than that there are 3wh,
homebuiltcar, MPG, and other yahoogroups that will help you
with chassis, bodies.
And there are plans like the Lowcost7
that with a more aero body could make a great EV
for little money.
There are several keys to a low cost
great EV.
First is lightweight as EV's batteries need to equal the
rest of the body's weight for good performance on lead
batts. The Ewoody weighed just 500 lbs before batts. The
Freedom EV will weigh about 600 lbs before batts. With
about 50% battery weight one can get 80-100 mile range if
the design is good.
Now that you've reduced weight you can
use a much smaller battery pack like thje Freedom EV uses
just a 720 lb pack to get 100 mile range, about 1/2 the
normal conversion's pack's weight, thus cost and the
conversion will be lucky to get 50 mile range!! Then because
you weigh so much less, you can use much smaller, cheaper EV
drive systems, the Freedom EV's can be bought for under $2k
while keeping good performance.
Next is drag reduction, your best bet for
long range, high speed. Starting with Aero drag designing to
keep it low, wheel/tire drag/rolling resistance can alone
give you 10-25% more range.
I like 2 front, 1 rear wheel 3wh designs
as it's like they were made for EV's the way they compliment
each other and because it's legally a MC, regs are much
less. And built right, only 4wh race cars can beat a well
designed one I think with a CG 3-4" lower than a Corvette
from the low battery weight ;^D
Have fun and build a great EV!!
Jerry Dycus
----- Original Message Follows -----
From: "FRED JEANETTE MERTENS" <[email protected]>
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [EVDL] Frames and Chassis
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:40:41 -0500
>I read on ac propulsions web site that they started with a
>kit car and then modified it into the t-zero this gave me
>a good deal of comfort as I chose a Bradley gte and am
>doing a lot of changes and the end result will look kinda
>like a Bradley but it will be my build . I suggest you
>learn from ac propulsion and look around for kit cars that
>the major components are there you build to suit .
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Lee Hart<mailto:[email protected]>
> To: Electric Vehicle Discussion
>List<mailto:[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 8:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [EVDL] Frames and Chassis
>
>
> Timothy Balcer wrote:
> > Building a car from scratch is a lot of effort. That
>being said, I'm
> > sure it can be rewarding!Look around online for
>plans to build
> > light EVs. I like R.Q. Riley's XR3 meself,
> >
> > http://www.rqriley.com/<http://www.rqriley.com/>
> >
> > It has an EV option in the plans, FYI.
>
> While the R.Q. Riley vehicles are simple, they are also
>very tedious to
> build. Out of perhaps 40,000 sets of plans sold, very few
>cars have ever
> been finished. You may want to talk to Jerry Dycus
><[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> for
> ideas on techniques that are far less labor-intensive.
>
> --
> Ring the bells that still can ring
> Forget the perfect offering
> There is a crack in everything
> That's how the light gets in -- Leonard Cohen
> --
> Lee A. Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377,
>leeahart_at_earthlink.net
>
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