| Owner | Paul Kirchman | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner's Other EV | 2000 Mazda Miata | ||||
| Location | Sarasota, Florida United States map | ||||
| Web/Email | WebPage | ||||
| Vehicle | 1990 Volkswagen Cabriolet The EV parts have been removed for transfer to E-ATA WebPage and the car was sold to an artist who is going turn it into works of art. WebPage | ||||
| Motor | Netgain Impulse 9 Series Wound DC | ||||
| Drivetrain | clutchless coupling to 5 speed transaxle. Shifting without the clutch has been no problem. | ||||
| Controller | Logisystems 550 amp Original needed to be sent back for repair. It returned better than before - smoother start. We'll see if it holds up. | ||||
| Batteries | 16 Trojan T-875, 8.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded with automotive posts | ||||
| System Voltage | 128 Volts | ||||
| Charger | Manzanita Micro PFC-20 Great charger. | ||||
| Heater | no | ||||
| DC/DC Converter | Iota 45 $100 on Ebay | ||||
| Instrumentation | GPS speedometer, tachometer from bicycle speedometer, pack volt meter, battery current & motor current ammeter on toggle switch, 12 volt meter | ||||
| Top Speed | 68 MPH (109 KPH) In 4th gear, drew about 200 battery amps, but only about 150 when I drafted off a big truck. I am now routinely going 58 mph on the highway in 3rd gear at 4800 RPM and drawing about 100- 110 amps from the batteries. | ||||
| Acceleration | Good from first, but because it is clutchless the shift delay to second is too long so I usually use 2nd, which is OK with close to a full charge. | ||||
| Range | 50 Miles (80 Kilometers) Went 45 miles of stop and go with speeds up to 45 mph. By the end the voltage sag on acceleration was dropping below 112 volts, which is the lowest I want to go. The specific gravity showed only 50 DOD after this, so theoretical range is higher, but 50 is realistic. | ||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 180 Wh/Mile @ 35 mph in 2nd gear, no passengers, top up, windows closed, level road, no wind, 40 lbs of air in the tires. | ||||
| EV Miles |
| ||||
| Seating Capacity | 4 and a dog | ||||
| Curb Weight | 2,980 Pounds (1,354 Kilograms) | ||||
| Tires | P18560R14 stock tires | ||||
| Conversion Time | 10 months | ||||
| Conversion Cost | About $11,000 including everything. | ||||
| Additional Features | satellite radio | ||||
| The engine is out. Replaced power steering with manual. Constructing the rear battery box from 2 1/4 X 1 1/2 slotted steel. Made adapter plate and motor to tranaxle coupler with Steve Clunn of Grassroots EVs. He had a front battery rack and motor mount from the voltsrabbit kit that I was happy to take off his hands. 4/20/08 - Got the motor mounted and the axles back on. Took a test drive by rigging up a 12 battery controlled by the passenger. Everything seems to work for the 50 feet we were able to go. 4/22/08 - Did a test drive on 24 volts with Marc Hill, who has been a big help. Everything working so far. Had a small fire when the insulation on a wire that was too small burned up, but fine otherwise. Kind of exciting manually connecting the batteries on the passenger floorboard, lots of sparks. Here are some videos:WebPage 5/30/09 - Installed Logisystems controller, Curtis PB5 potbox, and EV200 contactor. Started high voltage wiring. 6/20/08 - Installed Iota charger and small 12 volt battery. Removed a lot of wires formerly used for the ICE. Removed seats dashboard and carpet. Threw out firewall insulation, which weighted a lot. 6/27/08 - Waiting on battery charger so started de-wiring and rewiring the dash. Cleaned and replaced carpet. Installed the radio and wired the speakers. 7/26/08 - Dash back together with volt and ammeters in the former radio slot. Radio now in former AC vent slot. Satellite radio mounted under dash. GPS speedometer/odometer (Garmin street pilot) in place of former speedometer. 8/7/08 - Charger shipped today. Trojan T-875 batteries ordered today, $135 each! Tachometer installed and working. Mounted the magnet in a rubber backing plate for a rotary sanding disk, fits right over the tail shaft. Here is a link on how the tachometer can be made: WebPage /> a-bicycle-speedometer-cycloc 8/17/08 - Charger installed. Inertia switch installed. Just need the batteries now... 8/28/08 - Batteries arrived! Now for some wiring and to figure out how to secure them all. 9/7/08 - All of the batteries are in. It sits low overall, especially in the back. Put some rubber coil spring spacers in the rear, which raised it almost an inch on each side. Pretty good for $20. 9/12/08 - Finished making all of the connecting wires and mounted the fuses. Just need the front to rear wires and some way to encase them. Also need to get the new master cylinder and brake vacuum pump installed. May have it running by Sunday! 9/20/08 - Done! Well at least to the point of drivability. Went for a test drive today. Still need an alignment, the vacuum pump connected for the brakes, a license plate, and insurance so we just stayed in the neighborhood, but everything seems to be working! Here are some videos from today:WebPage 10/1/08 - Got vacuum system for brakes working. Stopping is much easier now. Got up to 36 mph in 3rd gear. Ordered another shunt to hook up to measure battery amps in addition to the one I have for motor amps. Some kind of short seems to be happening between the controller and the body of the car, it keeps tripping the GFI on the charger...may need to get a new controller...(nope, just need to isolate the controller and motor from charger.) 10/11/08 - Got an alignment today. The car was very popular at tire kingdom! I thought I needed a new wheel bearing, but I gust didn't tighten the lug nuts on one of the wheels...Doh! Handles much better with aligned tires and tight lug nuts! Got up to 45 on the main road. Wiring the battery ammeter today. Need to set up another contactor to isolate the controller from the charger, and also the precharge system. 10/18/08 - A second contactor on the negative side to isolate the charger from the controller solved the GFI problem. Got a heavier extension cord, but can't get charger to put out more than 6 amps. 12/17/08 - So still in test mode, controller went. Fortunately it is under warranty. It seems that Logisystems controllers are having this happen a lot. Hopefully it will be back soon. 1/24/09 - Controller is back. They sent it with 2 cooling fans for installation on top. So far, so good. Start up is smoother than before so they must have made other adjustments besides repairing it. Just need to reinstall and test in time for debut at Battery Beach Burnout on FAU Jupiter campus on the 21st and 22nd of February. 2/14/09 - Staying in the neighborhood so far to test out controller. Got a direct connect for the satellite radio. The new version of the Logisystem puts out a lot more radio frequency interference than the old one. Fortunately it does not interfere with the satellite signal and the direct connect fixes the transmission from the satellite unit to the radio. I never use terrestrial radio since I got satellite (can't stand all the commercials any more) so that is not a problem. 2/22/09 - Got everything installed an participated in the Florida Electric Auto Association's Battery Beach Burnout on the Jupiter Campus of Florida Atlantic University. Saw lots of great conversions and did the autocross. Logisystems working fine. 3/1/09 - Finally installed the plug into the former fuel filler hole. Cut a doughnut piece of plexiglass and put a marine outlet into it. 3/10/09 - Went 45 miles today. Home - work - pick up kid 1 - home - work - pick up kid 2 - home. That is about the limit to the cars range, even though the battery's specific gravity showed only 50% discharge the voltage sag on acceleration was dipping too low (1.75 volts/cell). If I was willing to accelerate at a snail pace, kill the batteries, or didn't need stops and starts it might be a higher range. Fortunately that is about the most driving I ever need to do in one day. 7/2/09 - Sending the Russco charger back to repair a problem with the automatic shut off, but just passed 3000 miles and still working great otherwise. Looking into replacing the heavy "clipper kit" bumpers with what are called euro bumpers. Should cut about 80 lbs I think. Also thinking about some lighter wheels (and a paint job, and a new top, etc.....) 8/20/09 - Well my charger got lost in the mail so I ordered a new PFC-20. In the mean time I have been using a homemade charger that I borrowed from Steve Clunn. It works great, thanks Steve! Much faster charging and more complete. I think I was under charging previously. 8/21/09 - Went 54 miles today, mostly on the highway averaging 50 mph. The loss of efficiency of the higher speeds are made up for by no need to stop and start. 9/12/09 - Routinely commuting 20 miles round trip with an 8 or so mile highway portion. Typically I go about 56-58 on the highway. Get passed some, but not terribly slower than everyone else at rush hour due to the heavy traffic. Easier than surface roads because no stopping. 9/15/09 - Took out the rubber spring spreaders and added 750 lb helper springs to the rear along with some new struts. The rear end now is at the original height, so it looks and is a bit low in the front now. 9/19/09 - Put the rubber spring spreaders on the front struts. The lower control arms are now straight across, ride height is back to original and the handling seems better. The rear springs are a bit noisy, but only over speed bumps. Not bad for a $30 fix. 4/3/11 - Showed the car at an event for girl scouts on FAU campus. I think it went well, they all liked the ride in the convertible. Range is not what it use to be anymore and the top voltage is not what it once was. Looking into lithium batteries. 6/21/11 - Made a seat cooler that really works to keep me cool. It's just a bilge pump in a cooler circulating water that I cool by putting a frozen bottle of ice water in the cooler. It stays cold all day while I am at work (8-10 hours). Here are a links to the instructables that I used: WebPage /> body-with-the-Back-/ and this one too: WebPage /> babies/#step1 I just connected 6 1/4 tubes to a drip irrigation system head and sewed the tubes to an old shirt that fits right over the seat. It looks kinda crappy, but it works almost too good. I could try putting the seat cover back on, but that might cut down on the cooling. The EV parts have been removed and the car was sold to an artist who is going turn it into works of art WebPage Motor and charger transferred to my new conversion E-ATA WebPage | |||||
1990 VW Cabriolet
“Electron Transport”
Last Updated 05-14-2019
Copyright © 1997-2024 by Mike Chancey