OwnerScott Samuel
LocationCorvallis, Oregon US map
Vehicle1986 Toyota MR2
MotorAdvanced DC FB1-4001-A Series Wound DC
9-inch with auxiliary shaft
DrivetrainOriginal 5-speed manual transmission, clutchless design (through EV America).
ControllerCurtis 1221C
max 400 Amp
Batteries18 Trojan T-125, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
deep-cycle, total weight about 1200 pounds.
System Voltage108 Volts
ChargerRussco SC 30-120 SO
I added a voltmeter to allow more accurate charging. It took many months (over seven!) to get a manufactured charger. In the interim I used a homemade "Bad Boy" variac charger based on Ben Fratto's design. 60% power factor. Provides 15 Amps DC at 25 Amp AC draw from 110 VAC outlet.
HeaterAs of 12/27/2008-- Two 1KW electric elements in parallel placed in original heater core and A/C enclosures-- I now get a temperature of 200 deg.F (with 1 element it was only 90 deg.F).
DC/DC ConverterAstrodyne SD-350D
Provides up to 30 Amp @14VDC under load; used in combination with auxiliary 12V lawn-tractor battery. I "top-off" charge the tractor battery every day with external 12V charger.
InstrumentationVoltmeters (0-150 VDC; 0-20 VDC), Motor Ammeter (0-400 Amp), Battery Ammeter (0-500 Amp), Speedometer, Tachometer
Top Speed73 MPH (117 KPH)
9/16/2008-- New top speed in warm weather, no wind, on flat road with front air dam installed (and using a newer, more accurate speedometer). More typical top speeds in cold, rain, wind, hills, night driving, etc. are 52-60 mph.
AccelerationRather poor beyond 25 mph. I can out-accelerate a semi truck on the highway, but not a regular car.
Range45 Miles (72 Kilometers)
A conservative guess. The farthest I've gone so far is 30 miles. Sometimes this produces 50% DOD, sometimes only 30% DOD, depending on temperature, speed, etc. However at a steady 55mph I suspect my maximum safe range (to 80% DOD) would be only about 25-30 miles under optimum conditions.
Watt Hours/Mile370 Whr/Mile @ 55mph; 305 Whr/Mile @ 45mph; 235 Whr/Mile @ 35mph; 110 Whr/Mile @ 25mph.
EV Miles
Start:159,547 Miles (256,711 Kilometers)
Current:170,559 Miles (274,429 Kilometers)
Total:11,012 Miles (17,718 Kilometers)
 
    As of 4/5/2010
Seating Capacity2 adults
Curb Weight3,300 Pounds (1,499 Kilograms)
Minus driver. Original ICE curb weight was 2250.
Tires185/60 R14 LRR
Conversion TimeAbout 2.5 months of actual work. Wasted 1.5 months at the beginning waiting for the first 2 parts dealers I tried to answer my enquiries--they never did. EV America (the 3rd dealer I tried) came through for me. Once the car was completed, I wasted an additional 4 months waiting for Zivan Company to send me a charger--never did send one. Finally canceled my order and built the homemade charger. Eventually got the RussCo charger (3 month wait) from EV Parts.
Conversion CostLet's just say almost 3 times what I thought it would be.
Additional FeaturesI made a tach sensor out of Hall-Effect sensor and 2 south pole magnets from mouser.com (plus a bit of PVC pipe adapter). Cost less than $35.

All lights interior and exterior are LED, other than headlights. Converted the fog lights to high-intensity LEDs for use as low-current "running lights".

I upgraded the suspension with "Ground-Control" Eibach adjustable spring kit. Vehicle clearance dropped by 1.25-1.5 inches, but car handles well in spite of weight-gain, no rocking or leaning in corners.

I built/shaped my own splash pans out of plastic signboard sheets to protect engine compartment and original radiator area.

At Brian Hughes' suggestion I drilled small mounting holes in the rear brake pads' metal brackets and installed spreader springs to push pads away from rotor when not being applied, hence reducing friction. It seems to have reduced brake drag, giving me more speed for the same voltage applied.

I installed the Russco charger between the seats on rubber shock mounts, using original mounting holes for storage box (see pix).

8/7/2008 I added a front air dam (made from 1992 Honda Civic replacement dam)--gained up to 5 mph at higher speeds, about 2-3mph at lower speeds.

12/27/2008 added thermostat to controller heat-sink fan so it only switches on when needed.

1/3/2009 added 2" spring spacers to all suspension springs so ride height is now factory standard.

2/21/2009 mounted DC-DC converter's 0.1 ohm output resistor on a heat-sink-- it was getting so hot it had charred the wooden mounting board!

5/1/2009 increased pack voltage to 108V. (Put a battery box in passenger compartment. No more passenger seat--passenger must sit on floor on a lawn-chair cushion!)

7/1/2009 replaced kludged Honda air dam with MR2 GT-style air dam used in later models. Upgraded brake rotors and calipers to larger '89 version. Better braking now, although still not as good as one could want with all the extra battery weight.
I bought most of my parts from EV America--a dependable dealer.

2/2/2009 I've driven the car for a year now. Only put 94 miles on my ICE car during that period.

3/2/2009 Since November my range has been dropping drastically, down to only about 15-18 miles, with lots of voltage sag. I blamed cold weather, but it continued to be bad even on warmer days. Voltmeter said the batteries were okay, but a specific gravity check via hydrometer finally revealed that one cell of one battery had gone bad and was pulling the whole pack down. I've just replaced that battery and the car "seems" to be back to normal--time will tell.

5/1/2009 to 5/22/2009 Once I worked out how to test the batteries UNDER LOAD (used a 2x4 to hold the accelerator pedal down with car in neutral), I discovered that 5 of the batteries were putting out below-normal volts (4-5 volts). I replaced them and added 2 more to the pack, as well as a battery ammeter. I now try to keep battery current below 200 Amps at all times in hopes of longer battery life--I suspect I fried the 5 batteries by drawing way too much battery amperage too frequently (the new battery ammeter showed that with my old driving style I had been regularly drawing 300 Amps out of the batteries when accelerating and going up hills). Failing to test the batteries under load (they all always read fine under no-load conditions) over the course of the year allowed them to get worse and worse.

1/1/2010 Had to replace 3 more of the original batteries. Their capacity had dropped greatly. Only 7 of original batteries remain after 1 year 10 months. My policy of keeping battery current below 200 amps seems to be protecting the newer batteries installed last spring.

code by jerry