Rover Metro before conversionRear view after paint jobunder bonnet (hood)under bonnet (hood) - closerrearmost battery box in boot (trunk)plenty of welding doneMotor and adapter plate.
OwnerJames May
Owner's Other EV1991 Rover Metro
LocationCoventry, England United Kingdom map
Email email image
Vehicle1994 Rover Metro
Small British car with 1.1 or 1.4 Rover K-series engine. This one is a special edition called "Nightfire Special"
MotorAdvanced DC L91-4003 Series Wound DC
The motor and adapter plate are from my other Rover Metro which has been retired. This motor is possibly a little undersized, an 8 inch might provide better economy and performance.
DrivetrainFWD manual, flywheel and clutch
ControllerCafe Electric Zilla 1KLV
Sadly, these great controllers are currently out of production.
Batteries12 Odyssey PC2150, 12.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, AGM
System Voltage144 Volts
ChargerZivan NG3
NG3 - 144V
I am thinking about adding shunt-type battery balancers just to prevent the batteries going too far out of equalization.
HeaterCurrently the Zilla controller coolant is pumped through the heater matrix. Long term an electric water heater connected to the original heater matrix powered by the traction pack.
DC/DC Converter
144-13.8V DC-DC converter
InstrumentationPaktrakr (not fitted yet), analogue ammeter and voltmeter, LCD meter very similar to the e-meter called e-xpert pro
Top Speed75 MPH (120 KPH)
At least
AccelerationVery good acceleration, like a kicked mule!
Range25 Miles (40 Kilometers)
25 real life miles at around 50mph with hills. This is with a Depth of Discharge of 60% registered conservatively by my meter. The car could go quite a lot further if you were willing to push it.
Watt Hours/Mile346 Wh/Mile
This is as driven normally and calculated from the capacity of the pack multiplied by the DoD and then divided by the journey miles. It's relatively low, I think this is because of the low internal resistance of those Odyssey PC2150 VRLA AGM batteries.
EV Miles
Start:62,474 Miles (100,520 Kilometers)
Current:64,074 Miles (103,095 Kilometers)
Total:1,600 Miles (2,574 Kilometers)
 
    As of 5/30/2009
Seating Capacity4 adults
Curb Weight2,550 Pounds (1,159 Kilograms)
ish
Tiresstandard, Low Rolling resistance to come
Conversion Timeexpecting around 3 months. All told around 8 months.
Conversion Costexpecting around 5000 GBP when it's all added up.
The donor car was bought on e-bay for 100 GBP. It wasn't in great condition and I had to do lots of welding while I was waiting for the Zilla controller.

Update 27 Aug 08: Nearly finished. The motor is in place and all the electrics are hooked up. Woohoo It runs! Still have to add the charger, DC-DC and instruments. Then comes the MOT safety test.

Update 16 Mar 09: Its finished now and I have parked up my petrol vehicle. I really like this EV, it's small but feisty!

It's a little more finished now than the pictures show, there are battery hold downs and covers in place and the charging socket is in place of the false fog light in the left hand side of the rear bumper.

code by jerry