In the age of Tesla - Retro Electro holds its own!

I am happy to see more EVs on the road - Leafs, Teslas, BMW i3s, etc.

Every day there seem to be more on the road - and that is great to see larger scale adoption of electric on the roads.  Even though Electro may not have the range of these modern EVs, I still am super-proud of my ride, and to this day still drive it with gusto!

Wow - 10,000 electric miles

I have been driving Electro for around five years now, and while running some Saturday errands, I saw the odometer turn over to 139,400 miles.  Electro's maiden voyage way back waswith an odometer reading at 129,400 miles.  Wow!  By driving 10,000 miles, I have had fun while NOT burning over 300 gallons of gasoline.  Pretty cool.

Looking forward to showing Electro off at the Greenwood Car show next week!

New shoes!

I finally got Electro some new wheels today.  Check em out!

Electro new look!

Only things missing are the emblems and side trim, which should go on this next week.  Looking really good.

Electro's new look - body work complete

Electro just finished up at our local Maaco body shop.  A variety of dent/ding removals, rust removal, hole welding/filling, new windshield, and of course a brand new paint job.  I still have to put the bumpers and other assorted hardware back on, but I am ecstatic about the new look.  Check it out.

Greenwood Car Show June 2012

Electro was part of Seattle EV Association (SEVA)'s "Gasless on Greenwood" contingent this weekend, showing off EVs of all types at the Greenwood Car Show in Seattle.  Here are some pictures:

The club first met at a staging area for donuts and coffee.  Here is a new CODA, commercial EV out of California:

A restored and converted Fiat 600.  This car was the coolest clown car I have ever seen.  It has suicide doors too!

 Lining up and getting ready to go.

 My inspiration - the White Zombie!  John Wayland drove up from Portland for the show.  For those of you who don't know, the White Zombie is the fastest street-legal EV out there.

 A converted Honda!

 At the show on Greenwood.

 We ended up having two Cabby-EVs!  The black one is an earlier conversion that has lead acid batts.  Runs a little slower and not as far as Electro, but it was still cool to see it!

 Older conversion meets the upgrade!

 General shot of the show.  Despite intermittent showers, the show got really crowded in the afternoon.  Big success.

 "Gasless on Greenwood" general shot.  We had a parking lot as well a street-side spots.

 A nice Karmann Ghia conversion.  Also has a Zilla Z1K like Electro.

 Several Tesla roadsters in attendance, as usual.

 Here's an old 60's dune buggy conversion.  Almost all fiberglass, no seatbelts (grandfathered in to current laws).  I asked the guy what his view on safety was.  His answer: "DON'T GET HIT."

 The Karmann Ghia conversion again, this time from the front.  He was using the same lithium batts as me as well - CALBs.

Come see me at the Greenwood Car Show!

This Saturday (6/30/2012) is the annual Greenwood Car Show!
I am showing Electro as part of Seattle EV Association's "Gasless on Greenwood".

Come on by - let's talk shop!

http://greenwoodcarshow.com/

Post-balancing Distance Calibration

I have been (properly) balancing my lithium cells for a number of months now. I hate to say it, but the time before that I wasn't pushing the upper envelope of charge high enough for all the cells to get fully recharged. That meant that if I went for a significantly longer distance than I normally do, I would risk an over-discharge alarm on some of my cells (< 2.5 V).

Luckily, I never went that far.

Now I believe my pack is happily balanced, being pushed to ~183V (~3.52VPC) on every charge for the last few months (full charge voltage is 3.3V). This weekend I started to take another look at my range, and start *really* using my amp-hour meter to see how far I can really go. With lead acid batts, you're supposed to only use up to 50% of the charge if you want them to last. With lithium batts, it's up to 80% (80 of the 100 Amp-hours in my case).

Some data points from this weekend:

1) 28.2 miles, half freeway driving, half not. 51.5 Amp-Hours expended. No BMS alarms, no performance differences at all at "halfway". Great! On to data point #2...

2) 32.5 miles, ALL freeway driving, quite fast in windy conditions. 65 Amp-Hours expended. Again, no BMS alarms and no noticeable performance difference at the end of the drive!

Inching toward the mythical limit of 80 Amp-hours! I want to be careful when establishing these 'confidence' points, because I don't want to get stranded or cause harm to the batts. Good news is, because of data point #2 I now know that I can confidently expend 65 AH without getting stranded - that's about three times my daily commute!

Has it been THREE years?

I just realized that I have been driving Electro for three years! The maiden voyage (first with lead acid batteries) was back in August 2008. 6,200 gas-free miles since then and going strong.

5,000 miles!

As of this morning's drive up to Mill Creek, Electro has passed 5,000 'electrified' miles. Woo-hoo!

This is more of a symbolic milestone than anything else. Pretty nifty, and I am looking forward to many more.

On the road again...

I'm not sure if Puxatawny Phil saw his shadow or not, but it has been pretty cold during the last few months here in the PNW. Cold enough that I just didn't want to drive Electro around (remember, no heater). Well, Spring is starting to rear its head, and today I felt it was warm enough to hit the road in Electro again.

I have also been tuning the charger to be *slightly* more aggressive on the charge voltage, running the pack up to 176V (with 52 cells in the pack that works out to just under 3.4V per cell), in an attempt to better balance the pack. I'll let you know how that works out!

Cell failure and replacement

It's been awhile since my last post - nothing of importance to note. Electro has been working great, although in the last couple of months I have driven the car pretty much zero time because of the really cold weather (no heater in the EV). So, Electro has been quietly hibernating in the garage, waiting for Spring. While working in the garage one day, I heard the BMS audible alarm go off. Thinking it was an open in one of the signal wires (remember, the cells are all wired in series back to the BMS, and an open in that chain signifies a problem from one of the cell modules.

So, this Saturday I went into debug mode, tracing down the cause of the open. I found it in one of the rear cells. Remember, the cell monitors show green when all is well with the cell voltage, red when the cell voltage is out of range, and nothing if the cell voltage is drastically low. Look at the middle cell in this image:

Something is up with that cell. So I measure the voltage across it:

1.3V? Nominal is 3.1-3.4V. The cell is clearly in trouble. When I picked up this collection of cells back in February, I happened to pick up an extra cell that has just been sitting in my garage cabinet collecting dust. I went to measure the voltage across it, and was pleasantly surprised that the cell is still at 3.1V! So I went about extracting and replacing the problem cell. Disconnecting the signal wiring and straps was a snap, and by partially inserting the lock down bolts, I could pull the offending cell out vertically, and drop in the replacement without too much fuss.

After putting in the replacement, the cell monitors installed all worked fine. I did a cursory check of the remaining bolt down connections, and buttoned the whole pack up. After resetting the BMS, the audible alarm stopped, which means all is well with all cell monitors.

It was handy having a replacement cell on hand for this exercise. I will be contacting the folks at EV Components (now at Current EV Tech) about sending this problem cell back (they probably would like it back) and about purchasing another spare or two.

Strut mounts in, and a new CV axle!

I replaced the strut mounts, and discovered that during the replacement had inadvertently separated one of the CV joints in the drivetrain. That made my test drive extremely short. Good news was, I knew how to replace a CV axle, had the tools, and only needed to order a new one online. Cost me $50, and I put it in this last weekend.

Electro is driving extremely nice, bumps are no longer a series of car rattles!

Need new strut mounts - work for this weekend

I've noticed for months (maybe years) that my front suspension has kind of a rattle to it over bumps. I have tolerated it long enough, and in my quest for the quieter and quieter ride, will be replacing the mounts this weekend. For those who don't know what I am talking about, here is a link from the152.com:

Strut mount replacement on VW Cabriolets

The mounts cost about $20 each, so parts aren't the big deal. I will have to compress the springs however, and that takes some work with the spring compressor I have. Fun!

You knew it was a matter of time...

I'll let these images speak for themselves...

Longest distance on record!

Since I installed my lithiums, I knew my range was theoretically longer (~50 miles estimated with my style of driving), but the longest I had traveled was 26 miles. I pushed it a little farther today, driving from Edmonds to Bothell (morning commute), not charging at work, then driving home via a longer route, through Mukilteo (almost into Everett), then back to Edmonds.

The drive data:
33.7 miles
64 Ah used

Longest distance driven by me on a single charge!

No particular negative issues, and the cells performed very well during this hilly, speedy drive, even at the end of the run - no compromised performance that I could tell. Not surprising for lithiums, but I had to test it to be sure.

This data point (33.7 mi/64Ah = ~0.53 mi/Ah) seems to corroborate earlier data points that my range with the new cells is ~50 miles with aggressive driving!

Fuse replaced, old wheels back on!

After replacing the HV fuse with a beefier variety, I decided to go back to my ol' reliable 14" LRR Sumitomos, which not only are more efficient than my heavier 'pimp-ride' tires but also handle much nicer - must be the fact that they are narrower (185s, not 205s).

And so I go, unfazed in the face of my temporary fuse setback, and proceed to get back on my Electric Horse. After all, that's what this is about right? Learning from my design flaws.

Onward! I start driving Electro again tomorrow.

'Pop' goes the HV fuse!

I knew I was asking for it.

I have a rather 'close shave' HV fuse - a 200A semiconductor Bussman - in the lithium battery pack. It's rated for 200A continuous, but can tolerate more for finite periods of time, depending on the time duration. This is what is referred to as the I-T curve. For example, the fuse will open at 400A for 10 sec, 600A for 6 sec... you get the picture.

I have been driving Electro with my battery pack for a month. 'Why did the fuse blow today?' you might ask. Well, follow along on the path with me! Each step added more instantaneous torque, which added instantaneous current draw.

1) Install the battery pack, with a nomimal HV fuse, and drive rather conservatively in city driving.
2) Install the new transmission - all of a sudden, starting in 1st gear is really fun!
3) I drive less conservatively on hills after installing my e-meter and seeing that hills don't take that much energy to drive up.
4) Sound-proof for freeway driving. Freeway driving is a lot of fun now! Especially at higher speeds.
5) Install cool-looking (but less efficient and heavier) wheels on Electro. Suddenly first gear starting from a stop requires more torque/current than before.

All these factors combined to hit my fuse today. Starting my drive home from work, I entered the *freeway* on-ramp from a metering light, *rapidly accelerating to freeway speed*, *on an on-ramp that is up a hill*, and *with heavier wheels*. POP! I got a tow truck ride home.

I will be searching for a more lenient fuse (300A perhaps) that can tolerate my driving style. In the meantime, I have reinstalled a safety fuse (500A semiconductor) in the slot, so that in the event of a calamity/short circuit it will still protect me but may not protect the pack.

Live and learn!

Doin' a lot of freeway driving!

Ever since I installed some (badly needed) soundproofing around the rear battery box, I have found that freeway driving is a lot less like driving in a wind tunnel. Go figure. So today I not only drove to work using the 'modern way' (I-5 to I-405), I found Electro handled great at speeds exceeding 70 MPH.

I was so gutsy with this new confidence that I decided to push range as well. So I drove down to the Seattle EV Association meeting near the U District and back to Edmonds, on the freeway (60-70 MPH both ways) without recharging, for a total distance of around 26 miles.

Electro's e-meter reported using 47 Ah for the trip, which is pretty close to half the capacity of my 100Ah pack.

So empirical data supports my initial theoretical estimate of 50 mile range, driving aggressively (as I usually do). Driving a little less aggressively, I could push this new range to 60 or 70 miles, but then I'd have no fun. If anyone knows me, they know I like to spin the tires :)

Silent running!

I installed the TBS e-meter this last week, and it works well! Gives me Amp-hours used, % traction pack depleted, instantaneous amp draw, pack voltage, the works. Even historical data.

Just for grins, I pulled the fuses for the brake booster and DC/DC cooling fans, which are both optional devices at this point. A little-known fact - these are the noisiest things in the car. When I disabled them, I essentially run silently, minus the subtle motor noise. What fun! My brakes are a little stiff because of the lack of a booster, but I think I like driving like this (think old manual VW brakes).

Next up... soundproofing the back cargo area around the rear battery box.