THinking about an ev conversion of a c3 vett

8248 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by usedtolovegasnowev, May 15, 2012

usedtolovegasnowev

Discussion Starter · Apr 21, 2012

I have a 74 corvette that I love more than my dog(if i had a dog). Although i really hate thats its not a ev because that is really the future. I am graduating as a chemical engineer in a year and right afterI get a job that what I wanna spend my money on. I know its a bit early to start planning but thats how I l ike to do things. I do want to make a good ev conversion though. I have done soem research and this is what I think I want. Please do chime in and let me know what you think btw....

Im thinking a budget of about 15k (I should be able to come up with that after I get a job).
I want a okay range but mainly the power that I have come to love form my ICE engine. I knwo hp ratings are a little different from ICE ratings but I dont go that fast after my last speeding ticket($1300 freaking dollars) but I do love to accelerate to the speed limit as fast as possible. With that being said I think i want a series wound DC motor like the warp 9 or 11. which will be 3k of my budget. Then the controller I was thinking the war drive 1000A one. I was also wandering that a lot of the batteries I see only have above a 1000A discharge rate if I go above 180 Ah's (excepty the CALB's have a 130Ah that can handle 1000A burst discharge rate)... is that true? If so why would someone buy a 1400A controller unless the ran to battery packs in parallel, and who has that kinda space? or money?
because I am still on a budget and space is not in abundance i was thinking of 45 of the CALB's 130 Ah bateries which is a 7.5k.... oouch there goes my budget. And I was wondering on a 3300 pound car what kinda range I would have with a 144 volt, 130 Ah pack running to a warp 9 or 11? And do I need a BMS (I think there are really cool but for another $1500.... idk)
And I know the other 4 k will go to other little things like adapters and electric power steering pump....
I do have the advantage of being really good with tools and I absolutly want to do everything my self(becasue if i dont where is the fun in that).
Also I am actually a welder (I maily work with alum. welding with a tig), so I was thinking I wan just build my motor mount and my batery boxes out of alum. to save weight....
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Welll i just wrote an essay..... please any input would be ahsome!

Jesse

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usedtolovegasnowev

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 21, 2012

OH, I thought for some reason that the controller regulated the amperage with constant voltage but your saying it just regulates the voltage? and the amperage is just related to the voltage needed divided by the motors resistance?

and im looking like im going to have to drive up to 45 miles to work when I graduate but Im sure i can plug in at work so I really wanted 50 miles per charge but that's with half being freeway speeds.
And do BMS only keep you from over charging or over depleting your batteries or do they do other fancy stuff like regulate temperature, measure individual battery resistances or make the car fly?

One more question Duncan, what battery pack are you running to get a range of 30 km?

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usedtolovegasnowev

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 15, 2012

I know its not the best donor car choice but I do really like the car and working on it and this just seems like the next project (especially since i think ev is the future). I was defiantly going to go lithium ion (hoping the price goes down with them in a few years when i can do the conversion). I was thinking this more or a toy/commuter car. I was thinking about 45 of the gwl/power se100aha lithium lifepo4 cells. The current price would be 6.5K which i s a big part of my budget(but everyone keeps saying a electric conversion is a s good as its batteries are). I know this wont be cheap but the cost spread over the assume year and a half project will be do able. I hear soem people saying that lithium polymer is the future but I can not see why. From what I have seen it has a lower charge density (please correct me if I'm wrong) and the cost is higher, also the cells are more exposed so a container would have to be build for them adding to the custom fab work. And yet white zombie has it in him drag ev?

I was also playing with the idea that I should go crazy and so a double warp 9 with a 288 volt pack running the motors in series with a high voltage/current switch to make the pack a 144 volt going to one motor with double the amp hours.... why? because why not.... it sounds cool (that way I could defiantly have the power i wanted when i want it with the switch of a switch... my original plan for the vette was a 650 hp procharged engine). It would double the cost of the batteries if I went for 90 of the 100 ah batteries but I would probably go for the 60 ah ones.

what are your guys thoughts?

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usedtolovegasnowev

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 15, 2012

and the link with the other vette is what i used for inspiration. I would spend some time to do a frame up restore on mime too... might as well.. that will probably be like 6 months of the project

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