San Diego Auto Show

6 cars from the San Diego Electric Vehicle Association were in the show.
Mine was one of them. I never planned on driving this car in the rain however I had to drive the car on Wednesday Dec. 29th, 2010 to get the car in the show and it was pouring rain. I had to take the car home on Sunday Jan. 2nd, 2011 again in the rain. My hand crank windshield wipers worked OK but I may rethink the whole idea and add some pounds for normal wipers on the car. It doesn't rain much in San Diego except for this year. It's been one of the most rainy winters we have had in years.

I am hearing a little too much road and engine/transmission noise. So I decided to install some sound insulation. I have a support beam on my battery box system that is bolted to the engine motor support bracket and also bolted to the frame. The bracket is supported with rubber mounts to dampen vibration. However I may be transfering noise and vibrations from the motor to my bracket to the frame.

(Added 01/03/2011) Turns out this was the case. I modified the battery mount support bar so it did not rest on the motor bracket and that helped. I also put the firewall pad and insulation back in the car. Makes it look more like a car and less like a go-cart.

The car is running great. My commute to work is 22.5 miles and 22.5 back.

I used 40.8Ah to get there averaging 1.81 Ah/mile (freeway speeds 60-70 mph). I used 61Ah to get home including a 4.1 mile lunchtime trip to staples for supplies. This works out to be an average of 2.25 Ah/mile. This is interesting. My trip home was in the dark so I needed the headlights. Also my headlights are pop up creating more drag? Not sure why the increased Ah difference. Possible elevation changes (ie downhill to work uphill home).

11/13/2010

Drove down to Grangetto's Farm and Garden Supply store today in Escondido.

They have a truck scale. My car weighs 2225 lbs.

The scale reads 2200lbs but the car is missing its 25lb charger right now as it was sent back to Elcon for reprogramming. There lies another story.

Weight distribution is 1120 in the front and 1080 +25 in the rear.

This is close to the 50/50 weight distribution I was shooting for.

Front Shot

Here's a shot of the front of the car showing fiberglass front bumper, fiberglass front trunk lid and some batteries







Here's the car with the top on sitting in my driveway. If you look really close, you can see the dent I still have on the left sail panel. :-(

Butt Shots

Here's some rear shots showing a raised 3rd brake light, the back-up lights working and the fiberglass rear bumper and fiber glass rear trunk lid with the Elcon 3000 charger in the rear trunk.

INSTRUMENTS

Right to Left. The original Speedometer/Odometer, the Xantrax Link Pro gauge to calculate amp-Hours (it also gives you pack voltage, amps, and a % remaining in the pack based on preprogrammed minimum SOC.

The Curtis 840 gauge to calculate RPM, volts, amps, motor and controller temperature. An ampmeter for my 12V system.

The green light bottom right lights up when the ignition key is on to let you know there's power to the car.

More pics. Here's a shot of the car in Hilltop community park close to my house. It was a very steep hill to get there and the car had no problems.

The removable top is in the trunk.

Front Trunk with batteries installed

Here's the Mid engine compartment with battery boxes and batteries, motor, controller and heatsink installed.

Wow! Long time no postings. Well... The car is up and running. THe road involved more than one battery box design in the mid engine compartment. But needless to say my welding skills are improving.

There are still a few details to complete. (Is it ever finished?)

Motor is in!

Motor, Transmission, CV joints are in!