OwnerChuck Duncan
LocationNorth Little Rock, Arkansas United States map
Vehicle1993 Mazda RX-7
This car was stripped clean and ready to be converted to a track day thrill ride. Plans changed and now it'll be a fully appointed street car. We have two other 93 RX-7's that get about 10 mpg, so this one should make up for that :) Right now the car is still just a shell with a huge pile of parts sitting next to it. I was able to make one trip to the local salvage yard and pick up nearly every part that I needed to make this car complete again. As of right now, the only EV components that I do have is the Warp 11HV and a bluetooth gauge device that will communicate it's
information to an Android tablet. Next purchase will be the Soliton 1, then the batteries and misc.. I plan on this project taking about a year to complete. The project will be carbon fiber, titanium, and aluminum intensive to save as much weight as possible. The 93 RX-7 is already a very aerodynamic car and I will be doing everything I can to make it even more so. I plan on making full flat underbody panels. I will do every bit of fabrication myself, that I can, including painting the car. For the transmission adapter and the coupler I hope to enlist the help of a friend with a machine shop to help design and create them.

Right now, I am in the parts accumulation stage of the project. I will start on the car after I have finished putting my other RX-7 back together. My 12 year old stepson will be helping in the project as much as he is able to. So, there it is in a nutshell, I can't wait to be driving the end result!
MotorNetgain Warp 11 HV Series Wound DC
Drivetrainfor the controller, I am going with the Soliton 1. I had bought a Zilla 1KEHV but decided I wanted built in idling function to run air conditioning, power steering, etc..

For the motor, I have a Netgain Warp 11HV that will be hit with the full 1000 amps from the Soliton at 288V. Power will flow through a stock 93 RX-7 transmission to a stock diff and independent rear suspension. Rear gearing is out of an automatic RX-7 at 3.90.

To power the thing with electricity, I will be building my
own A123 20amp/hour pouch cell pack. What I don't know
yet is how much total capacity that I will be going with.
Likely I'll start out with 90S-3P to see what kind of range I
get and go from there.
ControllerEvnetics Soliton 1
Batteries270 A123 Systems 20ah pouch, 3.30 Volt, Lithium-Ion
right now planning 90s 3p
System Voltage300 Volts
Charger EMW SmartCharge-10000 PFC Charger
as of right now, I am planning on buying the DIY kit from EMW and building it with my boy.
HeaterKats circulating tank heaters. One 1500 watt and the second is 1000 watt. These are heating elements in an aluminum housing that run off of 120vac. I have a shurflo 1.5gpm 12dc
pump which will circulate the antifreeze through the stock heater element.
DC/DC Converter
haven't decided yet
InstrumentationAndroid tablet running EMW EV Android Dashboard. It's going to display: Instant Motor Power, Battery Voltage,
Battery Current, Battery Remaining Charge Percentage, Miles Per Gallon Equivalent, Watt Hours Per Mile
Top Speed100 MPH (160 KPH)
I'm not going to spend any time trying to figure this out, I'll just find out after the car is running on the road for a while.
AccelerationI'm hoping for sub 5 seconds. Like I mentioned above, I'm not going to try to calculate it, I'll find out after it's together.
Range50 Miles (80 Kilometers)
I'll start with a 60ah pack and will increase if I find that I need more range.
Watt Hours/Mile250 Wh/Mile
The car should weigh 2800lbs or less and it's already aero friendly, so I'm hoping for 250Whr/Mile or less.
Seating CapacityThis is a true sports car so the answer is 2
Curb Weight2,800 Pounds (1,272 Kilograms)
2800lbs is the goal, that is how much it weighed with its Wankel and turbos in place, so that's what I'm shooting for.
TiresHere's where I plan on caving in to form over function. I'll be running a beautiful set of Work VSXX wheels, 18x9 front and 18x10 rear
Conversion TimeI'm hoping to have this car complete by fall of 2013.
Conversion Costnot bad

code by jerry