Re: [EVDL] Winter & EVs
Hi, Tim Medeck here.
I did a Corvair conversion for my sister. She lives in northern Minnesota (about 100 miles north of Lee Hart) and drives the car every day, winter included. She has a blog named Carbon Neutral In Minnesota (Just Google that name and you'll find the site) that describes her everyday experiences with an electric car. Feel free to ask her questions about her car.
We used two "ceramic" heater elements and a three speed blower for cabin heat and defrost. The elements are placed in series and use pack voltage (120 volts)
When its cold out, she just turns on the heater, goes back in the house and by the time the coffee is done, the interior of the car toasty.
The battery boxes have 1 inch of extruded polystyrene insulation on the sides and top, 2 inches on the bottom. They have a 240 watt strip heater (From Mcmaster-Carr) under the batteries, controlled by an adjustable thermostat so you can keep the batteries at a "happy" temp no matter what the outside ambient temperature is.
Here comes the "but". Even with these measures, she still has to live with decreased performance in very cold weather. The car is not as "perky" in the cold temps as it is in the warmer time of the year. Smokey burnouts are doable in the summer, not so much when its 30 below!
Check out her blog and again, feel free to ask her questions through her site or me at [email protected]
_______________________________________________
For subscription options, see
http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
Hi, Tim Medeck here.
I did a Corvair conversion for my sister. She lives in northern Minnesota (about 100 miles north of Lee Hart) and drives the car every day, winter included. She has a blog named Carbon Neutral In Minnesota (Just Google that name and you'll find the site) that describes her everyday experiences with an electric car. Feel free to ask her questions about her car.
We used two "ceramic" heater elements and a three speed blower for cabin heat and defrost. The elements are placed in series and use pack voltage (120 volts)
When its cold out, she just turns on the heater, goes back in the house and by the time the coffee is done, the interior of the car toasty.
The battery boxes have 1 inch of extruded polystyrene insulation on the sides and top, 2 inches on the bottom. They have a 240 watt strip heater (From Mcmaster-Carr) under the batteries, controlled by an adjustable thermostat so you can keep the batteries at a "happy" temp no matter what the outside ambient temperature is.
Here comes the "but". Even with these measures, she still has to live with decreased performance in very cold weather. The car is not as "perky" in the cold temps as it is in the warmer time of the year. Smokey burnouts are doable in the summer, not so much when its 30 below!
Check out her blog and again, feel free to ask her questions through her site or me at [email protected]
_______________________________________________
For subscription options, see
http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
