| Owner | Adam E. Hampton | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Houston, Texas United States map | ||||||
| Web/Email | WebPage | ||||||
| Vehicle | 1990 Volkswagen Cabriolet 2 Door, 5 seater. Convertible. | ||||||
| Motor | Netgain Impulse9 Series Wound DC NetGain Impulse9 motor, 129lbs. Adapted to the VW transmission using Steve Clunn's (GrassRoots EV) adapter plate kit. Adapted to original engine mount with a plate and spacers made by Bill Swann (heaa.org). | ||||||
| Drivetrain | 5 speed manual transmission, clutch-less coupling to the DC motor. I only use gears 2, 3, and Reverse. | ||||||
| Controller | Curtis 1231C Curtis 1231C Controller with Curtis PB-5 potbox. 500A peak. Originally was going to current limit in the controller; never did that, now I let the controller take all it can. | ||||||
| Batteries | 120 Headway 38120S LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phsophate), 3.20 Volt, Lithium-Ion This is a custom-built battery pack that I built. The first version is 72v, 50amp-hour. It consists of 120 LiFePO4 cells manufactured by the Chinese vendor Headway. 3.2v, 10-amp- hour, 38mm x 120mm cylindrical cells with screw tabbed end caps, arranged in a ((5p)x24s) configuration. Managed by the Goodrum/Fechter BMS kit available at tppacks.com and documented at endless- sphere.com in the forums. This pack can handle some serious load! 350 amps and the voltage drop is impressively small. 20100616 Update: Adding 72 more cells in the next two weeks to get the pack up to 8p x 24s. Makes it an 80AHr pack instead of a 50AHr pack. | ||||||
| System Voltage | 77 Volts | ||||||
| Charger | Zivan NG-3 The Zivan re-programmed it for me to 88.8 CC/CV LiFePO4 profile. I had to adapt the output slightly for it to work with my BMS. | ||||||
| Heater | Ambient Houston, TX air! | ||||||
| DC/DC Converter | eCityPower provided DC/DC converter. It requires at least 108V to turn on, right now I am charging the 12V system separately from the traction pack. As of 08/2010 this is still not installed yet. | ||||||
| Instrumentation | Cycle Analyst from eBikes.ca - Provides digital MPH, Amps, Pack Volts, and Amp- Hours consumed (fuel gauge). Also data logs via USB to a computer. The mechanical speedometer and odometer also still function. | ||||||
| Top Speed | 53 MPH (85 KPH) Around 53mph seems to be the top - for what is equivalent to a 72V PbA pack I am fairly happy with that performance. | ||||||
| Acceleration | Keeps up with traffic fine in 3rd gear, zippy in 2nd, slow in 4th. | ||||||
| Range | 15 Miles (24 Kilometers) 15.2 miles is on the 50AHr pack. This will go up with the second pack of batteries. | ||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 255 Wh/Mile The car burns approximately 255 watt- hours per mile with 1 passenger on the level streets of Houston, TX. Once the DC/DC converter is in and the vacuum assist on the brakes is added I expect that to get a bit worse. | ||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | 5 adults. Batteries are mounted in the trunk and eventually will be moved to be under the hood. | ||||||
| Curb Weight | 0 Currently lighter that the original vehicle. Not much in it right now - you can stand in the engine compartment between the front bumper and the DC motor. | ||||||
| Tires | Whatever it came with. Goodyear something or other. | ||||||
| Conversion Time | Started July, 2008. Very much a "spare time" hobby. Had the first "around the block" drive on 2009-12-06, or about 18 months into the project. Lots of hours spent one the project - the journey is as much a joy as the destination. Became driveable in December 2009, as of June 2010 is driven several times a week. | ||||||
| Conversion Cost | Donor Car: $550.00 Controller/Charger/Wires/Shunt/Contactor /Old motor: $2500 NetGain Impulse9 Motor: $1575.00 Battery Management Systems: $200.00 Battery Cells (72Vx50AHr): $2062.50 2/0 Gauge Orange Wire: $130.00 Cycle Analyst: $180.00 Battery Cells (72Vx30AHr): $1175.00 ... more to come. | ||||||
| Additional Features | Lithium battery pack :-) Beyond the battery chemistry this is a fairly vanilla Electric Vehicle conversion. Typical conservative parts: Curtis, Zivan, Allbright contactor. | ||||||
| May 4, 2009: Initial post to evalbum.com. The car is in progress, lots of information to post. Status at this point: - Pressure washed engine compartment, still oily as all get out because the ICE leaked oil badly. - ICE motor removed. Vacuum lines and power steering assemblies left in tact as much as possible. - Exhaust system removed. - Fuel pumps and fuel lines removed. - Gas Tank siphoned and water-rinsed for removal. - Gas Plug/Cap replaced with 120VAC male plug end. - Sheilded GFCI outlet and 120VAC wiring installed in trunk. - Installed new shift-linkage connections and bearings to replace worn components. May 9, 2009: A couple of updates. - Goodrum/Fechter BMS Boards are fully assembled and tested. - Batteries ordered from overseas with a group buy! - Gas tank removed (had to drop the rear suspension). June 4, 2009: - Corrected the model of my charger. - Contacted ZivanUsa.com to see about supporting an LiFePO4 profile on my charger. June 8 2009: - Shipped the charger off to Zivan for a new firmware load. - Machined aluminum mounting plate for passenger side of the Netgain Impulse 9 Motor. (Thanks, Bill!) - Attached motor and adapter plate to transmission. - Leveled motor and drilled level-holes for mounting plate. - Purchased new bolts for mounting plate side, will install later this week. June 9, 2009: - Finished installing and leveling passenger side motor mounting plate. - DROVE UNDER BATTERY POWER FOR FIRST TIME! Only about 10 feet in the driveway, but it worked! June 16, 2009: - Installed the last engine mount adapters up against the front bumper. This required grinding about an inch off the front of the adapter plate so the slanted mounting brace would fit in. - Zivan USA is shipping my reprogrammed NG3 charger back from servicing. It is now configured to match the charging curve on my Headway cells and it will interact with the cutoff logic of my battery management system boards. June 23, 2009: - Zivan charger is back from reprogramming. - Battery cells were confirmed on the boat from China on 6/20. - Started dissecting the steering column and dashboard. Got to remove the heater coils and cleanup some shoddy wiring the previous owner put into the car. Managed to remove the airbag without exploding myself. August 30, 2009: - Steering column repaired and replaced. - Built replacement power window controller (original was shot). - Battery cells have arrived (see pictures). - Starting to lay out battery cells and design first revision pack. November 15, 2009: - First version of the battery pack is completed. December 3, 2009: - Able to scoot across the driveway on battery and controller power. December 6, 2009: - Maiden Voyage! Took it around the block for a few miles to break in the pack. WaHoooo! - Lots to do: Power Brakes, Power Steering, DC/DC, Insurance, Registration... ugh. YouTube videos of the maiden voyage / test run: WebPage - 1 of 5 WebPage - 2 of 5 WebPage - 3 of 5 WebPage - 4 of 5 WebPage - 5 of 5 December 16, 2009: - Took the car on it's first "Beer Run" last night. ~ 3.5 miles. - Insured the car! Yay! Still much to do: power brakes, control deck completion, steering power replacement, fix some final stuff on the wipers. Then on to registration and inspection to be all "Legal" and what not. June 16, 2010: - Installed Vanity Lights to show off pack and motor (useful for a roadside fix, too!) - Range tested to 15.2 miles of range. - Cycle Analyst installed and data logging. - An additional 72 cells are coming via UPS. Aug 14, 2010: - Additional cells arrive, tested, and inspected. The are now waiting on the bench for the next plan for the battery pack. - Windshield was replaced last month, now we have a shiny crack free windshield. - Completed the vacuum-assist brakes. This is a huge step as the parts have been on the shelf for about a year to get this completed. I finally found the time to get it done. - Re-wired the KSI lead on the Curtis to not always be patched in with the pre-charge resistor. This prevents a few watts of draw from the controller that were always placing a load on the traction pack. That's where those pesky volts were going! ToDo: Get the car inspected :-). Merge in the new battery cells into the pack, install the DC-DC converter. Make some minor tweaks to the charging and BMS systems in the car. | |||||||
1990 Volkswagen Cabriolet
“Yellow Electric Cabriolet”
(under construction)
Last Updated 06-13-2011
Copyright © 1997-2024 by Mike Chancey