OwnerZeke Yewdall
Owner's Other EV1974 Ford Courier Pickup
LocationWard, Colorado United States map
Email email image
Vehicle1973 Volkswagen VW superbeetle
MotorD&D Motor Systems, Inc. 6.7 Series Wound DC
Direct coupled to original transmission, no clutch.
No trouble shifting the VW transmission from gear
to gear while moving.
DrivetrainOriginal 4 speed transmission, 6.7" DC series
motor, 72 volt lithium battery bank.
ControllerAlltrax 450 Amp
with blower fan and heat sink. It is not the weak
link in going faster... the batteries and motor
are.
Batteries24 CALB/Skyenergy 100AH, gray cells, 3.20 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate
Upgrade from 12 Marine deep cycle batteries.
It's sooooo much peppier and more fun to drive
with the lithium batteries, but still suffers
from low peak current (the batteries can handle
more, but shouldn't for best life, so I've got
the Lithiumate BMS turned down to 350A peak and
150A continuous)
System Voltage72 Volts
ChargerElcon 1500 watt
controlled by Lithiumate lite BMS, set to charge
from 120vac through an inlet plug in the old gas
filler port right now, but could also be set up for
240vac charging.
Heaternone
DC/DC ConverterElcon 30 amp
InstrumentationXantrex Pro battery AH meter
Top Speed50 MPH (80 KPH)
AccelerationAcceleration with the BMS controlling max amps
is a little dissapointing -- 350A max, with 150A
continuous. If you disable the BMS, it'll pull
400 amps+ and is quite fun... but not good for
the batteries. I'm sure the motor wouldn't be
up for sustained higher power levels either.
Range20 Miles (32 Kilometers)
Probably a little more than this on the flat with
low speeds, but realistically, probably about 20
miles. It was only doing about 8 miles with the
old lead acid batteries.
Watt Hours/Mile200 Wh/Mile
Seating Capacity4 adults
This bug was originally a conversion kit with the alltrax controller,
6.7" DC motor, and used 12 volt lead acid batteries. no DC-DC, or
much of any metering, and it was really not that useful. 8 mile
range at best, and not great performance due to sag from batteries at
required amperages. I added:
DC-DC converter
Elcon charger
heatsink and fan to Alltrax
AH meter for batteries
Circuit breakers for controller and charger and DC-DC converter
100Ah 72 volt lithium (CALB gray cells) battery bank and Lithiumate
lite BMS that controls the alltrax and the Elcon charger.
It does quite well around town on flat land now, but still really
can't handle hills -- 150A current limit to keep the batteries happy
is what does it. Motor couldn't handle much more than that without
overheating either (no forced cooling on motor). So... it's a good
around town car, with 20 mile range or so, but not good for roads
with hills.

code by jerry