| Owner | DompaEV | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Zagreb, Zagreb Croatia map | ||||||||
| Web/Email | WebPage | ||||||||
| Vehicle | 1974 Volkswagen Beetle | ||||||||
| Motor | Elektrokovina, 7.5 kW, TE 132 SB 2 TROP 3-Phase AC 2010-March Used 3 phase AC, 2 pole, 220/380V, 26/15A, 7.5 kW motor with new set of bearings. 2010-10-17 Motor has been rewinded to 44V-130A in delta connection | ||||||||
| Drivetrain | Original 4 gear with clutch | ||||||||
| Controller | Zapi AC-3 80V 600A flash inverter 2010-March 10 years old industrial 380-500 VAC sensorless vector drive (Midimaster 6SE3223-0DH40) with new role which it does not fit according to my wishes. Might go for lower voltage and another controller. 2010-10-17 Friend borrowed me his Zapi AC-3 80V 600A flash inverter 2011-May Reprogrammed Zapi to torque mode SW, runs much better now while consupmtion went down as well | ||||||||
| Batteries | 50 Thunder Sky TS-LFP100AHA , 3.30 Volt, Lithium-Polymer 2010-March Not decided yet, looking for Headway 38120S if I stay with current controller. However, if I go for lower voltage, 100 Ah Thundersky should come into picture. 2010-10-17 Currently tests are done with 72V 60Ah pack made of borrowed old Sonnenschein A512/30 G6 batteries 2010-10-18 Behind rear seat you can find now 25 TS-LFP100AHA batteries connected in series (82.5V 100Ah packet) 2010-11-10 After few performance trips, I noticed that some batteries are heated up more than others (temp varies between 20 and 36C). Connections between batteries are suspected so far. 2011-06-05 Added 25 more batteries, pack now has 82.5V 200Ah 2011-Oct After connections between batteries has been re-done back in June, no issues with heating batteries has been noticed again. Also battery pack is drained with max 1C current (200A), so that also helps in keeping it cool. | ||||||||
| System Voltage | 80 Volts | ||||||||
| Charger | TCCH-H90-20 2010-March Not decided yet 2010-10-17 Telecom grade 72V charger (borrowed), draws max 1050W from wall socket 2010-10-18 Hm, hm... I'll probably go for existing charger + PC power supply in series connection, with "manual" BMS for a start 2010-10-23 Telecom grade 72V charger + 5V from PC power supply in series gives 88V. BMS is "manual" - regular checking of each battery with digital voltmeter during charging. Batteries were initially balanced, so voltage at the end of charge is so far almost idealy leveled 2010-10-24 Friend borrowed me 90V (end of charge voltage) 17A charger, draws max 1800W from wall socket 2011-05-14 90V 20A charger bought from TC chargers 2012-03-31 Spare quick charger made from two identical surplus telecom grade 230VAC to 48VDC power suplies. Their output voltage is decreased, so they provide 90VDC 38A when conected in series. Theoreticaly speaking I now have chargers capable of delivering 56-58 Amps in total, which means less than 4h for full charge of depleted battery pack - not bad at all :-) Only problem in that case is - where to find 230VAC 23A (5kW) wall socket? Or I should start to look for 3-phase 16A wall sockets when and if I go for a trip longer than 60 km in one direction... | ||||||||
| Heater | 2010-March None yet, spring is (finally) coming... 2010-10-18 Since cold weather is at doorstep I should come up with some solution, till then I'll have warm clothes 2010-10-23 Temperature fall down to 0 to 10C (32-50F) range, so cheap removable seat heaters (max 48W each) are used as fist aid 2011-January Made experiments/tests with 2 cheap hair dryers, heat coils rewired for 80V, while motor rewired for 12V. I get ~1500W in total, seems to be enough 2011-March Pair of new hair dryers directly connected to 80V delivering about 400W of heat directly to windshield 2011-May Two 12V ceramic heater installed on request from inspection committiee 2011-Oct Went back to hair dryer heater, this time I bought 1600V 110VAC version which produce ~600W @ 80VDC, quite suitable for windshield defog/defrost | ||||||||
| DC/DC Converter | Linde DC/DC converter 2010-10-04 None yet, I'm using original automotive 12V battery which is recharged with external cheap automotive charger after each ride 2010-11-28 I got Tiecheng DC-DC converter TDC-72-12-EGA from friend for testing and possible purchase. So far I'm satisfied with its performace and most probabaly I'll buy it. 2010-12-04 I bought it! 2011-05-17 It was discovered to be bad, opening up showed it actually burned at some point. Looking for replacement. 2012-Apr For last couple of months ebeetle has Linde DC/DC converter, 57-150 VDC input, 13.8 VDC 18A output, quite satisfied with it | ||||||||
| Instrumentation | 2010-10-24 Original beetle instrumentation + digital voltmeter 2011-March Fuel gauge converted to SOC gauge, while "OIL" lamp became "battery low" indicator 2012-April Home made digital Wh meter which displays (on 2x16 characters display) batery pack voltage, Amps and kW drawn from it, and aproximately remaining Ah or Wh (depends what is selected with button); also drives fuel gauge; precision is not very high, but it provides quite usefull info, defeinitely better than what I had so far | ||||||||
| Top Speed | 60 MPH (96 KPH) 2010-10-17 40mph (65 kmh) in 3rd gear 2010-10-23 43mph (70 kmh) in 3rd gear 2010-11-09 45mph (73 kmh) in 4th gear 2010-11-13 50mph (80 kmh) in 4th gear 2011-05-14 60mph (96 kmh) in 4th gear (tested during EV rally 2011; better than expected) 2012-May reached 70 mph (112kmh) in 4th gear on downhill road ;-) | ||||||||
| Acceleration | 2010-March Suprisingly well considering limited power available trough relatively thin extension cord 2010-10-17 Somewhat worse than it was before rewinding of motor 2010-10-23 Almost no noticable change compared to time before TS batteries. Due to 2-pole motor I need to use 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear to keep up with city traffic. Acceleration from 0 km/h in 3rd gear is pathetic and creates pile of frustrated drivers behind me 2010-11-08 0-50kmh just under 20sec, but it could be faster it seems 2011-06-12 Street race was part of vintage VW cars meeting - 24sec for 1/4 mile in the first and only try | ||||||||
| Range | 75 Miles (120 Kilometers) Verified 120km range on 2012-05-20, still some ~20km remained in batteries till 20% SOC. 2010-March Currently it has 50 meters - that is length of my extension cord 2010-10-17 So far I tested it up to 6 miles (10km), but it seems that 10 miles (16km) should be possible with current battery pack (72V60Ah) 2010-10-23 Current tests rides were done with TS battery pack (80V 100Ah) up to 25 km on single charge with unknown remaining charge 2010-11-08 So far I tested it up to 31km (20miles) on single charge. Still no BMS in place. 2010-11-11 Due to unplanned set of events, 40 km trip was made on single charge, with some juice left 2010-11-21 Mathematical model based on charging data shows that practical range (down to 80%DoD (or 20%SoC)) with half packet of batteries should be between 32 (20) and 47 (29) kms (miles), depending on driving style and terrain (avarage consumption gives range of 41 kms (26 miles)) 2011-May Most recent tests showed that range is around 50 km/charge with current battery setup 2011-June After adding more batteries and additional tests, calculated range was increased to 120km. So far I made test with 60km trip w/o charging and afterwards charger pulled 7.7kWh from wall socket to fully recharge batteries 2011-06-12 Another vintage VW cars meeting, this time I went there without stops for recharging - so far I tested 50 miles on single charge with plenty remaining - starting to ask myself do I really need 120 km/charge in a city rides 2012-Jan During winter I noticed drop in range, so more realistic figure would be 80-100 km/charge, depending on electric heater usage 2012-Apr Currently tested range on single charge is 100km, with charge left for at least some 25km | ||||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 210 Wh/Mile 2010-10-24 250 Whr/mile (155 Whr/km) from wall socket to wheels/road, while driving around city. Expect to go a bit lower than that once I fix Zapi controler SW/configuration, wheel drag, tyre type, etc. 2010-11-21 After several charges average is currently 200 Wh/km (320 Wh/mile) from wall socket to wheels (from charger to wheels is 159 Wh/km (255 Wh/mile)) due to varios tests ongoing. Depending on driving style and terrain it can be between 175 (280) and 237 (380) Wh/km (Wh/mile) from wall to wheels, while from charger to wheels it can be between 137 (220) and 200 (320) Wh/km (Wh/mile) 2011-May After changing program on Zapi I noticed better performance of car and lower consumption of electricity, average consumption (from wall to wheels) is 150 Wh/km (240 Wh/mile), in money it means around $1.5 per 100km if I charge it over night. 2011-June Latest tests showed that average consumption is about 130 Wh/km (210 Wh/mile) from wall socket to odometer | ||||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | 4 adults (hoped for, but authorities limited it to just 3) 2010-10-17 2 adults with current (temporary) setup 2010-10-19 4 adults 2010-10-23 I made succesfful test with 4 adults onboard 2010-11-08 Made few more successful tests with 4 adults onboard 2011-May Authorities limited number of persons onboard to just 3 | ||||||||
| Curb Weight | 1,875 Pounds (852 Kilograms) This was weight of ICE version with almost empty tank. 2011-March e-beetle gained some 20kg (guesstimate) 2011-May Car inspection stated that car gained 100kg after conversion | ||||||||
| Tires | Toyo 155 R15 TO S310 82S (all 4) 2012-04-10 After unpleasant braking experience on a wet crossroad last week, I finally decided to buy new Toyo tyres instead of previous ones (165 80 R15 in front, 185 65 R15 back) which were already old and worn out when I bought car. It would be interesting to see Wh/km data after this change | ||||||||
| Conversion Time | Years spent in dreaming and reading countless EV related sites and articles. Donor was bought at late October 2009 and since then my EV dream is (finally) on the way to become real thing... 2011-Oct It is difficult to say when this conversion will be completely finished. Even tough e-beetle is street legal for 5+ months now, there are always some details left to be improved ;-) | ||||||||
| Conversion Cost | ICE donor car 800 EUR Repairs 250 EUR (so far) Spare clutch 50 EUR Controller (Midimaster) 300 EUR Controler (Zapi) 1000 EUR Motor 100 EUR Motor repairs 50 EUR Motor preparation and balancing 150 EUR Adapter plate 50 EUR Motor rewinding 150 EUR TS-LFP100AHA (50pcs) 4200 EUR Seat heaters 9 EUR each DC/DC converter 55 EUR Battery boxes 100 EUR Cabels (35mm2) 50 EUR Certification fee 110 EUR Various "details" 200 EUR | ||||||||
| 2010-March E-buba currently runs on extension cord in my backyard. I would like to make as much testing as I can before I make final decision regarding system voltage, batteries and control 2010-10-17 High DC voltage (560 VDC) requires 155-170 LiFePO batteries in series connection which also makes BMS a bit complicated. Therefore I decided to (currently) go for lower voltage, 80V. Current tests are done with 72V60Ah battery pack. My main concern now is Zapi AC-3 inverter. It seems to be more adequate controler for forklift traction than for the car. I spent a lot of time in tuning various parameters, but I'm still not satisfied with its behavior. If there is anyone who is familiar with Zapi AC inverters and willing to help please contact me. Thanks! 2010-10-18 Last night I installed TS-LFP100AHA instead of Sonnenschein Pb batteries. Waiting for dry weather to make test ride (since ikebana stlye temporary setup under rear hood is not protected from water) 2010-10-19 Made short test ride with new batteries. Acceleration is a bit better now, but I'm still not satisfied. 2010-10-23 More test rides are done, about 58 km with TS battery packet. Top speed rised to 70 km/h in 3rd gear (4th gear unfortunately slows down car). Need to reconsider 4-pole motor as I was suggested in the very beggining 2010-10-24 Another 51 km were done in two rides with TS packet, with partial recharge after 25kms. I'm trying to play safe with TS batteries since I do not have BMS and/or Wh meter installed in car - currently there is no way for me to find out if some battery goes low in voltage during ride. Minor fix was needed for temporary adapter between encoder and motor shaft. 2010-11-08 Learned about secret menu on Zapi AC-3 inverter which is accessible via manual console. After tuning of few parameters, performance (acceleration) got better 2010-11-10 Performance is improved now, so I made several km trip only in 3rd gear. Since cooling is still not in place, and since it was city drive, motor was heated up to 99C, while Zapi to 101C. Need to retain from such a test drives until I implement proper cooling. 2010-11-15 Gas tank finally removed from the car since there was no need for extra space until now. First half of TS pack is curently located behind back seat. 2010-11-21 Made first 50 km (in two runs) during rain, while ikebana under rear hood was temporary protected by misused plastic bag (big enough to "cover" bottom of engine bay) without noticing any problem (so far). Btw, still not happy with Zapi's behaviour, but working on tuning its configuration (including some special parameters not available through basic menu) 2010-11-28 Winter and snow are here - good time for testing on slippery roads. Well... I'm not so happy with current Zapi behaviour - it has so strong regen in lower gears that might block back wheels if you just slightly ease foot from accelerator pedal, which can create quite unpleasant feeling sometimes. And I still haven't found the way of dissabling this option from Zapi (or enabling coast mode) 2011-01-25 Initial testing phase is finished and e-beetle is in my garage (it's quite cold there, so I first spent some time on "installing" isolation) again - I have to prepare it (put batteries in boxes, rewire 80V installation, install heaters, etc) for car inspection that should be around mid of March. I hope I'll pass it and have street legal EV afterwards. 2011-March February and March were spent in preparing e-beetle for car inspection as well as writing document on conversion progress (which is needed for inspection) 2011-04-04 E-beetle delivered to car inspection facility 2011-04-06 E-beetle came back from inspection. They had list of complains, some of which are "funny". Will have to see how to please them. 2011-05-05 Conversion documentation and various details on e-beetle changed according to written complains from inspection committee. Documentation sent for review. Waiting for their reply and new appointment. 2011-05-10 E-beetle delivered early this morning to inspection facility for another round of examination. Let's see what they'll complain about this time... 2011-05-12 E-beetle is street legal!!! 2011-05-13/14 Participated in EV rally (www.alternativenergiesternfahrt.at) and enjoyed every moment of it :-) 2011-05-19 I finally loaded Zapi with "torque mode" software. Car runs much better now. Need to fix regen since it needs separate potenciometer now. 2011-05-27/29 Since e-beetle is air cooled, I was able to participate in annual "Air cooled VW vehicles meeting" Rovwinj 2011 (actual name of city is Rovinj, Croatia), where e-beetle gained a lot of interest and was awarded as unique conversion in this part of the Globe. I also got number of invitations to participate in other VW vintage cars meetings. Distance of 300km (to participate meeting) e-beetle traveled partially on its own power and partialy on the truck. Of course, recharging is challenging mission, especially when you go out of town - I visited some petrol stations and got electricity free of charge. And lot of questions, of course :-) 2011-06-05 Added 25 more TS batteries over weekend, pack now has 82.5V 200Ah. Let's see how far it can go with it... 2011-06-12 E-beetle participated in yet another vintage VW cars meeting - check WebPage Over weekend I made in total 248 kms with 30kWh drained from socket which makes average of 121 Wh/km (194 Wh/mile) which makes me quite satisfied :-) 2011-10-22 E-beetle is in daily use without any issues so far. Croatian press and TV showed interest in EVs recently, so e-beetle has been presented on national level. As result, people aproach me with questions like "is that beetle I saw..." 2012-Jan E-beetle is going fine, only issue I had over previous months was accelerator cable which decided to broke in the middle of evening rush hour in quite busy street just at the moment when traffic light turned to green. Had to push car aside and problem was fixed within 5 minutes (still running car with temporary fix made that evening) 2012-Apr As petrol reached ~2 USD/lit (~7.5 USD/gal) level in recent months, I started to get calls/mails/visits from number of citizens with main question how to perform conversion of their cars. Conversion price tag cuts back some of them, but some are getting very excited with idea 2012-May Participated in 2012 EV rally (www.alternativenergiesternfahrt.at) and oldtimer rally (due to 100 anniversary of first car rally in Croatia) on 20th of May where I finally confirmed 120 km range 2012-May Participated in annual VW beetle meeting "Rovwinj 2012" held during last weekend of May. This year I went there and back (~600km in total) on batteries only. Even though I borrowed additional 25 TS (25 * 100Ah) to temporary increase range to ~180km, I decided to recharge for 2 times on the way, since highway driving increased Wh/km consumption as well as road which goes up and down all the time (from about 120m above sea level up to 860m and then to 0). Driving uphill for several kms in row really kills the range and tends to overheat the motor, so I had to lower down speed to as low as 30km/h in order to not put more than 8kW into motor for extended periods of time. Overall trip consumption was 127 Wh/km. It took me almost 10 hours (driving+charging) for each direction. I'm really thinking to go for some more powerfull (at least 10kW) 4-pole motor. 2013-Jan So far e-beetle clocked up 14k electric kms, still running fine | |||||||||
1974 Volkswagen Beetle
“e-buba (e-beetle)”
Last Updated 01-03-2013
Copyright © 1997-2013 by Mike Chancey