Thinking about building a car and need suggestions

A

An old guy with too much time

1 µW
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Apr 27, 2011
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Current specs appear to be along the lines of:

48 200AH LiFeP04 cells (Thundersky more or less 144V 200AH)
Elithion BMS
Manzanita Micro charger
Netgain Impulse 9" motor

to power a Factory 5 Type 65 Coupe (a kit car): http://www.factoryfive.com/coupehome.html

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Total cost looks like under $40K. I think the car can be adjusted to handle the weight. Quick math comes up with about 100 mile range and adequate acceleration.

My questions are: Are the electrical components suitable? Are there more suitable components?

Thanks
 
What an appropriate screen name, welcome to the forums ;)

BTW you may want to check out diyelectriccar.com, they are are more oriented with electric cars, this forum is mostly about 2 wheels.
 
I haven't looked into larger EVs a whole lot, but from what I have, it looks like your numbers should be about right. The only large EV I know numbers for off the top of my head is White Zombie, which gets ~200Wh/mi in normal usage (ie, city/highway) using, iirc, siamese 9" Netgain's, even with the crazy rear end he has on it. So, just guestimating, I'm thinking you would probably hit somewhere around that, taking the higher weight of the Type 65 into consideration. So yeah, at least 100 mi range looks reasonable, probably a bit higher. Have you given any thought to the controller yet?

Either way, I'll definitely be interested in seeing this come together. That's a sweet base to build it on. :D
 
An old guy with too much time said:
48 200AH LiFeP04 cells (Thundersky more or less 144V 200AH)
Elithion BMS
Manzanita Micro charger
Netgain Impulse 9" motor
Click to expand...
You don't mention which controller you're planning on using--there are quite a few aroudn, but the top "performance" ones with a good reputation and support are probably the Zilla and the Soliton, from what I have read.

You may also want to flip thru the http://evalbum.net website, as there might be a conversion of similar size/properties/desires already done, to give you some good starting points.
 
ev_nred said:
just a question how much does one of those 65 cobra kits Wight?
Click to expand...
If you mean the Factory Five kit, the one the OP linked is the Type 65, not the Roadster (which is a AC Cobra clone). According to Factory Five's specs, the Type 65 weighs 2,572lb and the Roadster weighs 2,460lb.
 
x88x said:
ev_nred said:
just a question how much does one of those 65 cobra kits Wight?
Click to expand...
If you mean the Factory Five kit, the one the OP linked is the Type 65, not the Roadster (which is a AC Cobra clone). According to Factory Five's specs, the Type 65 weighs 2,572lb and the Roadster weighs 2,460lb.
Click to expand...
I meant the type 65 kits, thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! one more stupid question,wouldn't 30kw make this a very slow car?
thanks,
Jacob R
 
ev_nred said:
I meant the type 65 kits, thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! one more stupid question,wouldn't 30kw make this a very slow car?
thanks,
Jacob R
Click to expand...
I don't have any personal experience with any of this, but according to their website, White Zombie was getting 13-second 1/4 mile runs and 0-60 in 4 seconds with a 9" ADC back in 1996. According to Netgain, their 9" WarP is slightly better than the 9" ADC and the 9" ImPulse is quite a bit better than the 9" WarP. So...yeah, 30kW (40HP) sounds low in theory for a car to me as well, but application seems to speak differently? I'm guessing the difference is in the torque created? ..although, the White Zombie website talks about getting "only" 70HP out of the 9" ADC and I seem to remember them having at least one of their motors custom wound....so I could just be talking out my ass, idk. :p I have also read of the 9" WarP being used in car conversions before, though, and they didn't come out slow.

....though, now that I think about it, that chart that shows a 9" ImPulse topping out at 40HP is at 72V...so if it could take that same current (~450A) at 144V, that would make it top out at almost 65kW (~87HP) continuous. That also assumes that it can't burst higher than that...which it likely can...idk, I just don't have enough data to make an educated guess.
 
well, the zombie typically runs about 700hp, and some quick math with a 370 volt battery gives : 700*746/370= about 1400 amps. so at half less than half that voltage, and less amperage (thunderskys have a pretty horrible C-rate) somewhere around 200hp burst, which should push that little car around pretty good. :D
 
Hi,
An old guy with too much time said:
Current specs appear to be along the lines of:

48 200AH LiFeP04 cells (Thundersky more or less 144V 200AH)
Elithion BMS
Manzanita Micro charger
Netgain Impulse 9" motor

to power a Factory 5 Type 65 Coupe (a kit car): http://www.factoryfive.com/coupehome.html

---

Total cost looks like under $40K. I think the car can be adjusted to handle the weight. Quick math comes up with about 100 mile range and adequate acceleration.
Click to expand...

Seems like a really bad idea to me. $40k for an EV with ThunderCrap cells, a 144v DC system with no/poor regen.

Compared with a new Leaf, ~$33k - $7.5k tax rebate (roughly $25k total). Very high quality cells (10 year warranty), state of the art High Voltage AC system. ~$15k more for an EV with EV component quality thats much worse :shock: .

A better solution (IMO) if you really have your heart set on the Factory 5 Coupe (a very nice choice) would be to build the Coupe and wait for a Leaf or Volt or Ford Focus EV etc. from a wrecking yard and use that for the EV Components.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I am often torn between it looks like a good idea and as MithcJi suggests there are better options.

It is really hard to beat government rebates and mass production. Not to consider that they know what they are doing.
 
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