| Owner | Paul Pancella | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Kalamazoo, Michigan US map | ||||||
| Web/Email | WebPage | ||||||
| Vehicle | 1992 Honda Civic CX Hatchback Base model Civic hatchback, which I bought slightly used in 1993 and drove on gasoline for 15 years. No power steering, no AC, driver has an airbag. Characteristic rust around the rear wheel wells. | ||||||
| Motor | Lynch LMC-2X2-D127 Permanent Magnet DC Two 200-D127 motors mounted in tandem by the British electric motor company. Rated 33/68 hp continuous/peak at 144V. Pricey, but only weighs about 50 pounds! | ||||||
| Drivetrain | Standard 5 speed manual transmission (S20) to FWD, now clutchless. | ||||||
| Controller | Kelly KDH14651B Rated for 650A (very briefly) at 144V, 260A continuous. Regenerative braking controlled via a third pedal interface. | ||||||
| Batteries | 48 Skyenergy SE-130AHA, 3.20 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate First 4500 miles were on second-hand Saft NiMH, which were less than satisfactory. Replaced with a new set of CALB 130 Ah cells at 197500 miles. | ||||||
| System Voltage | 154 Volts | ||||||
| Charger | Zivan NG3 Level 1 only, some temperature compensation. Max. power on the DC side ~1500 Watts. | ||||||
| Heater | Nominal 1500 W ceramic electric heating element in place of the old heater core. High/low switch to use all or half of the resistive elements. Works pretty well. | ||||||
| DC/DC Converter | Iota DLS-30 (Series M) 30 Amps, adequate for my needs. Optima yellow-top AGM backs it up. | ||||||
| Instrumentation | Mini-BMS + EV Display. Supplemented by bipolar digital current meter (shunt driven) and digital panel meters for pack and 12V system. Cheap digital remote thermometers to display motor and controller temperatures on the dashboard. | ||||||
| Top Speed | 80 MPH (128 KPH) This is as fast as I have gone so far, but there is a bit more power available. | ||||||
| Acceleration | About as good as original ICE | ||||||
| Range | 100 Miles (160 Kilometers) This is at ~40 mph, warm temperatures, no payload or accessories, with a generous reserve. Looks like 80+ miles of range at highway speed in the summer. | ||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 205 Wh/Mile This is the best summertime figure, measured at AC supply. Stop and go city driving, not much terrain, no accessories, using regenerative braking. Reproducible. | ||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | As factory original, 5, although if 3 sat in back they would have to be small people. | ||||||
| Curb Weight | 2,340 Pounds (1,063 Kilograms) Actually measured, +/- 30 pounds 60% on front axle | ||||||
| Tires | Sumitomo all-season HTR-T4 on lightweight VX alloy rims. Size: P165/70 R13 51 psi on the sidewall! I run them about 60 psi. | ||||||
| Conversion Time | Elapsed time: 4 months to first road test. Estimate about 300 man-hours for original NiMH conversion, including myself and everyone else who labored on hardware. Doesn't count design and research/shopping time. Another month and a half to do the lithium upgrade. | ||||||
| Conversion Cost | Right around $15,000 for the original conversion. Got 10% of that back on my 2009 federal taxes! Just added $9000 for LiFePO4 battery upgrade. | ||||||
| Additional Features | Regenerative Braking up to over 100 Amps. Since I have no clutch, I use a third pedal (left foot) to control regen completely independent of the factory brakes. Regen pedal lights up the brake lights. I retained all of the passenger volume and almost all of the original cargo volume. Rear cargo area floor is raised about 2 inches. Mild battery heating in insulated boxes, thermostat control, shore power only. Backup beeper alarm. The finished car is relatively lightweight, due to the choices on motor and batteries, but expensive for the same reasons. ~250 pounds heavier than original, still 700 lbs. below the GVWR. Carbon fiber hood. Replaced right outside mirror with CMOS camera/LCD screen. Solar panels on dashboard help out the 12V battery during daytime driving (and parking). Coroplast covers most of the underside. Dome light and all exterior lights (except headlights) now LEDs. | ||||||
| Became operational Thanksgiving 2008 with 132V of NiMH. Upgraded to 144V early Spring, 2009. Got lots of help from folks online, local buds, and the new Michigan chapter of the EAA ( WebPage ). February 2009 notes: It's still cold out, but I've decided I need to upgrade to 144 V, so I'll be modifying a battery rack and sending the Zivan back for adjustment. There's plenty of physical room, and the suspension is sitting right where I left it, so 40 more pounds shouldn't hurt. Replacing the pedal unit that controls regen at the same time because the built-in microswitch failed. mid-March 2009: She's back on the road at 144V. Got a generous trade-up deal from Kelly, who basically refunded my full original purchase price to go to the new isolated controller. Still have some instrumentation issues, but torque is noticeably improved, and regen is working for the first time. July 2009: Good thing you can't get these NiMH batteries. They have not performed as expected. I tried to break them in gradually, but almost from the start, it appears they were not well matched or balanced. When I went out to test my range in March, I must have damaged them, even though I only went 30 miles. I've replaced four of the modules, but I don't know if I've shortened the life of some of the others as well, and they haven't come close to the expected capacity. Oh well, live and learn. September 2009: Getting the car back into regular operation. Can go 20 miles if I'm careful. Only got that after lots of work balancing cell by cell. Still have some weak modules, but I refuse to buy any more of these. Saving up for a lithium pack now. Late October, 2009: Lots of work nursing the battery pack back to health, and I can go 30 miles again, but now without killing any modules. Now frustrated that the Zivan refuses to shut itself off. November, 2009: I've added some PowerCheq modules to keep the traction modules balanced, now that my pack is in pretty good shape. Finished the fiberglass fairing for the rearview camera on the right side. I added another relay to shut down the DC-DC converter when the car is off. The limiting factor on the power seems to be the traction batteries themselves. Now that I have decent balance, I've pushed the power up to about 20 kW (one test). This is well below the max. current of the controller and the peak power rating of the motor, but the voltage sag was serious. Anyway, at low current draw, these batteries might have their advertised capacity, but not at the currents I'd normally use for accelerating up a hill with a passenger or two. Good thing I kept the weight down, and don't live in West Virginia. December 2009: Offline due to a serious failure of the Kelly controller, cause unknown. January 2010: Up and running again. Kelly replaced controller under warranty. Added a circuit to light the brake lights when regen is engaged. Now testing to see how she performs in the cold Michigan winter. Not bad down to 12 degrees F. Feburary 2010: She got me home in a big snowstorm yesterday, no problems. Range is a bit shorter, but no real problems in the cold. Finally found the pot that adjusts Vmax in the Zivan charger, so I can plug it in and leave it. Close to finally being finished. March 2010: Got one bad PowerCheq unit and some minor irritating quirks in the controller. Negotiating with suppliers, but still driving. May 2010: Back on the road and running well after long shutdown. Replaced some more battery modules as well as getting the controller fixed. Warmer weather making me think about adding the coolant to the batteries. June 2010: I have implemented battery cooling. Two loops of dilute antifreeze with separate pumps and small radiators (Re-used the old heater core up front). Manual control as of now, 12 VDC powered. August 2010: Running great this summer. Down to 200 Wh/mile city driving. Proved regen extends range significantly in normal driving around town. Got rid of the lead-acid accessory battery in favor of a 4-cell Thundersky LiFePO pack at 20 Ah, taking out another 20 pounds. Finished the smooth covering for most of the underside, for better airflow and less drag at speed. December 2010: Miserable cold and rough icy streets here. I'm still using my car, but useful range is approximately cut in half from summertime peak. Handling is excellent, though. February 2011: First hard failure while driving. Last week she suddenly quit about 3 blocks from home, while trying to accelerate away from a stop sign. I found a lug had melted on a high current cable in the motor, must have shaken loose after 2.5 years on the road. It was a pain to get to it, but I was able to re-lug and re-connect the cable after pulling the car back to my garage. First time I had to rig it for towing with our other car. April 2011 Still nursing the NiMH pack along, but I think it is deteriorating. Now buddying up the worst 10-cell modules with lead-acid AGMs. Seriously considering a lithium upgrade before next winter. June 2011 Decent performance with NiMH pack in the warmer weather, with the three AGM buddies anchored in. Standard range test route gives 25 miles on a charge, if I top balance and really push it to full when charging. July 2011 Lithium upgrade is underway! 48 CALB 130 Ah cells have arrived. Still have to flesh out the design of the new battery boxes. This time I will thermally insulate the cells and provide heating elements, no active battery cooling. Plan to use the mini-BMS distributed system. Looking forward to having a real SoC meter. 10 PowerCheq modules and a PakTrakr system will soon be available for purchase. August 2011 Back on the road with lithium power! Everything seems to work great in early testing. Now top-balancing the cells. Still have to finish battery box insulation and heater control, but there are a few months before that is needed. September 2011 Performance is really outstanding, compared with the first pack. Power is comparable to original ICE car, now that the pack voltage barely sags at higher current. In the summer, if I'm conservative at around town speeds, I could drive 100 miles on a charge and still have a healthy reserve. Level 1 charging now seems slow, and I need to get the curve reprogrammed for lithium. Mini-BMS and EV Display work as advertised. It's nice to have an accurate "fuel" gauge. Have taken a few highway trips to nearby towns, no problems. November 2011 Just confirmed over 100 miles of in-town range in mild weather. In fact, I went 119 miles and could still accelerate up hill! But this is when I heard the first peep from the LVC alarm of the mini-BMS, indicating that with 150 A drawn, at least one cell went down to 2.5 V. I was the only person aboard for all of these miles, which took place over a week, with temperatures between 50 and 60 F. Top speed was 60 mph, but most of the driving was stop-and-go at 40 mph and less. I used regenerative braking normally and almost no accessories for this test. January 2012 Latest tweaks: Added an audible back-up alarm, automatically sounds when transmission goes in reverse. Cobbled up a small muffler for the output side of the vacuum pump, largely ineffective. Replaced broken radio antenna with one that mounts inside the windshield, capped the exterior hole. Replaced AGM 12V accessory battery with 40Ah LiFePO4 pack, including smart charger which gets power at the same time as the main charger. Installed 300W inverter where ash tray used to be. Can now use it to power battery heaters independently if desired from the 12V battery. Rear brakes completely overhauled. Now getting data on lithium performance in colder weather. | |||||||
1992 Honda Civic
“Hondatron”
Last Updated 01-09-2012
Copyright © 1997-2012 by Mike Chancey