| Owner | Jon Rue | ||||||
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| Location | Seattle, Washington US map | ||||||
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| Vehicle | 1994 Honda Del Sol Si The Honda Civic Del Sol is a 2-seater front-engined, front wheel drive, targa top convertible manufactured by Honda in the 1990s. Production and sales ran from 1994 through 1997 in the U.S. with a total of slightly fewer than 75,000 models sold in America. | ||||||
| Motor | HPGC AC-50 3-Phase AC | ||||||
| Drivetrain | 1.6 liter SOHC 16-valve four cylinder D16Z6 1.6L 125 hp (93 kW) I4 engine with Honda's VTEC. 5 speed manual transmission. | ||||||
| Controller | Curtis 1238R-7601 96V nominal 130V max input 650A max current output Regenerative braking | ||||||
| Batteries | 36 CALB/Skyenergy SE130AHA, 3.20 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate CALB Cells | ||||||
| System Voltage | 115 Volts | ||||||
| Charger | Elcon PFC 2500 120/230 VAC Charger Charge Profile 611 charging to constant voltage of 3.45 V per cell. | ||||||
| Heater | DBK 1500W PTC heater Replaced old heater core (what a pain tearing out the entire interior and dash!) with ceramic heater core. Using existing AC button circuit to turn on heater. Heater element is on only when AC button is depressed and the fan is on. | ||||||
| DC/DC Converter | IpDCIS-9612 CleanPower (looks the same as Chennic) 400W DC-DC converter 96V nominal. 2 DC-DC converters. One always on and the other on with key switch in on position. | ||||||
| Instrumentation | ZEVA II Fuel Gauge Driver Plus Existing tachometer displays 100s of amps and existing fuel gauge displays SOC | ||||||
| Top Speed | 100 MPH (160 KPH) Calculated. Fastest I've been on the highway is 80 MPH. It felt good at that speed and I think there is enough power left to get over 100. Not very far over but I think a little over. | ||||||
| Acceleration | not yet tested | ||||||
| Range | 65 Miles (104 Kilometers) Real world urban driving with hills, traffic, stop & go, the whole enchilada. Farthest drive to date was just over 65 miles and that brought by average cell voltage to 3.17 V. Still have some juice left. Looking at some voltage measurements from the 65 mi trip and recent full charge data it looks like I can rebalance a few cells to help optimize range. | ||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 250 Wh/Mile Based on my typical Seattle winter driving. In city with some freeway and plenty of hills. Also full-time headlights, some wipers, and some heat. This should be my worst case scenario. | ||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | 2 adults | ||||||
| Curb Weight | 2,512 Pounds (1,141 Kilograms) Original Del Sol Si curb weight: 2414 lbs +98 lbs for conversion! GVWR 2975 lbs: still have a 463 lb payload capacity! | ||||||
| Conversion Time | 6 months | ||||||
| Conversion Cost | $20,000 $17,000 + $3000 for donor vehicle | ||||||
| Additional Features | Three of the original motor mounts attached to the transmission and were reused. I designed a custom 2 piece aluminum motor mount for the free end of the motor that attached to an existing engine mount. CNC milling of this mount was done by Star Prototyping of China. I am very pleased with the quality and precision of their machining. The cost of this mount was about $460 delivered. As best I could estimate, at retail the metal alone to cut my pieces would have cost about $250. I could have written the G-code to cut the parts easily enough but estimate it would have taken me around 80 hours of labor to program and coordinate fabrication (staging, clamping, tool packs, clear planes, verification, etc.). In the end it seemed like a bargain to have someone else do that work. Replaced stock power steering rack with Honda Civic manual rack and pinion. It’s hard to turn the wheel at a dead stop but very manageable while rolling. Replaced stock flywheel with a Fidanza Aluminum flywheel purchased from Amazon. This flywheel is 10 lbs lighter than the original. Adding a brake pressure transducer to the brake lines in order to have a smooth gradient on brake regen. Still a work in progress. Netgain Controls WarP-Drive Cable-Drive Throttle Assembly. A very smart looking Hall effect cable pull throttle unit that I attached to the heavily modified original cruise control actuator mounting plate. Custom controller heat sink shaped from a section of IGBT aluminum heat sink stock purchased on eBay. The controller is mounted where the original A/C condenser was located. This should provide plenty of cooling air to the heat sink fins. Custom battery boxes built with welded aluminum frames and riveted aluminum skins: 13 cell trunk box 17 cell rear engine compartment box 6 cell front engine compartment box | ||||||
| Special thanks to: Jack Rickard (www.evtv.me) for design inspiration and technical assistance; Jeff D. for help with metal fabrication, shaping, and design; and Tom C. for some great aluminum weldings. Components purchased primarily from EVolve Electrics and Manzanita Micro. Both were outstanding to work with and provided great service and patience to a question asking first timer. | |||||||
1994 Honda Del Sol
(under construction)
Last Updated 05-21-2012
Copyright © 1997-2012 by Mike Chancey