John Neilson's 1991 Mazda B2200

Owner

John Neilsen

Location

El Cajon, California US ^map

Vehicle

1991 Mazda B2200
The head gasket blew out one day as I was driving, so I used that as an excuse to convert my truck.

Motor

Advanced DC FB1-4001A Series Wound DC

Drivetrain

I am using the original 5 speed transmission without a clutch. I start off in 3rd, and shift to 4th around 25-30mph. I was surprised at how easy it is to shift without the clutch. I made my own adapter plate, coupler, and motor mount.

Controller

Curtis 1231C-7701
Motor Controller...72-120 VDC, 550 Amps max

Batteries

14 US Battery US8VGC, 8.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
They are rated at 170ah.

System Voltage

112 Volts

Charger

My own
I made the charger from things I had sitting around. It has a voltage and current meter. I also added a digital timer to stop the charging automatically. It has a knob to adjust the current limit 0-40 amps.

Heater

Not needed. I never used it when the truck ran on gasoline. Another good thing about living in Southern California.

DC/DC Converter

Vicor
I used a Vicor DC-DC converter. It has an input of 100-200vdc and an adjustable output that I set to 14.7vdc. This is used to charge the 12 volt accessory battery. I put a 1 ohm current limiting resistor and blocking diode in series with the output. I bought 3 of these converters off ebay for $12 each.

Instrumentation

Original "gas gage" and 400 amp current meter.
I made a circuit that reads the battery voltage and outputs the appropriate resistance to the existing gas gage. This way the dash still looks and operates the same as it did with the ICE. While under load the gage reads low but rises any time I let up on the throttle.
I also have a 400 amp current meter. For now, it is just sitting on top of the dash. I might modify the old engine temperature gage to display current but I have not decided yet.

Top Speed

60 MPH (96 KPH)
I calculated a top end of 65mph in 3rd gear. My original plan was to only use 3rd. I found that shifting to 4th works very well. I have not driven faster than 60 yet but it still had more. I have no doubt that it can exceed 65. I will update this as soon as I test it.

Acceleration

The acceleration is fine unless going up a steep hill.

Range

According to information on this website and others, The truck should get between 35 and 54 miles between charges. I drove 15 miles to the DMV to get it inspected. From the voltage levels of the batteries before and after the trip, the truck should easily get 30 miles plus. This is without the batteries being "broke-in".

EV Miles

Start:	210,738 Miles (339,077 Kilometers)
Current:	210,987 Miles (339,478 Kilometers)
Total:	249 Miles (400 Kilometers)

Seating Capacity

2 adults

Curb Weight

3,300 Pounds (1,499 Kilograms)
I am guessing at the weight. I weighed everything I took off and put on the truck. So the weight estimate should be close.

Tires

Whatever were the cheapest the last time I bought tires.

Conversion Time

5 months to get it to the test drive level. A third of that time was probably spent on the truck bed. I could have been much faster but I only worked on it a couple hours a day and maybe 4 days a week. There are still a lot of little things I am going to add.

Conversion Cost

I am at about $4800. I already owned the truck so I did not need to spend money for it. The motor, controller and batteries were purchased new for about $4400. I sold some of the gasoline engine parts on Ebay. With those factored in, The total cost comes down to about $4500.

My plan was to keep the truck as light as possible. I did not want to have 1500 pounds or more in batteries. My battery weight is about 900 pounds. This way, I did not need to beef up the suspension. Usually I only drive about 12 miles a day so the batteries are fine. I have a generator that I can put in the back of the truck. It will plug into the trucks charging port to extend the range, if necessary.

I put all the batteries in the back of the truck. I calculated that the 12 batteries in front of the rear axle add 21% of their weight to the front tires. By removing the gas tank, exhaust, most of the bed, and some other things, there is about 375 pounds added to the rear tires. I don't notice any change in the trucks handling. I figured that by being light, it would be easier for the truck to climb hills, accelerate, or even decelerate.

I modified the truck bed for two reasons. The first is that a drunk driver caved in one side of the bed. The other is that it reduced a lot of weight from the back of the truck.

Instead of adding a vacuum pump for the brakes, I raised the master cylinder and linkage up a 1/2". This gave me more leverage on the brake pedal by putting the linkage closer to the pivot point of the pedal. I also removed the vacuum assist for the brakes. The spring inside the vacuum module took 30 pounds of force to compress. So, by removing it, the brake pedal was that much easier to push. I did some test driving and it is not hard to lock-up the brakes. They do feel like manual brakes but do not need much force to operate. It only took me 2 hours to modify the brakes. This worked great because I did not have to add anything to the truck and got rid of one more thing from under the hood.

I did not electrically isolate the current shunt resistor. Instead, I positioned it in the center of the battery pack. This way, in the unlikely chance that the pack does get shorted to the truck chassis, there is a potential of only 56 volts from the current meter wires to ground.

I removed the anti-lock brake valve from the rear brakes. I figured that it was no longer needed with the battery weight over the rear tires.

I have other things that I am going to add to the truck. I bought a 100 amp alternator for $10 at a swap meet. I will use it for regenerative braking. It does not have a built in regulator so it is easy to get it to output a clean 130+ dc voltage.

For anyone that is planning on converting a vehicle and is on a tight budget, I suggest checking alternative places to buy parts. I bought the major components new but the rest was from surplus shops, swap meets and Ebay. The main contactor cost me $20. It was unused and is rated at 130vdc 1050 amps. The 00 gage wire and lugs were $35. The current meter and shunt was $15. The foot pedal throttle was $2 at a swap meet(this was an exceptional find). The 400 amp breaker was $40. I bought two 400 amp fuses for $5. I would have spent a lot more if I just bought everything from an EV supplier.

code by jerry