Why only 500-600 miles?
I could only use the e-wheel around town or on deserted back roads because of the 30 mph speed limit due to the gear ratio and battery voltage chosen. I needed enough torque for electric acceleration and climbing hills, so had to sacrifice top speed since I only had one ratio, and did not want to burn out the motor, since it was easy to pump 150-200A into the thing during acceleration of hill climbing.
If I were to do it again, I would eliminate the air down force and air bag suspension helper system, and instead would drive one of the existing rear wheels.
What seems like the most elegant system would be to use a second Insight IMA motor as the drive motor, and to be able to switch the stock power electronics to drive either on the fly.
A large gates aluminum timing belt ring directly welded to one of the rear wheels,(custom CNC component), with the drive motor output shaft mounted so it is on the same plane as the rear suspension pivot so belt tension will not change when the suspension moves.
I need to mount one of my IMA motors on bearings and get it running at full power before I can go to the next step.
A much larger motor/e-wheel assembly will be required for pushing a van or pickup around.
On the exhaust, I removed the large final resonator buy cutting it right out, and I welded a specially shaped exhaust pipe to bypass the removed resonator.
http://www.99mpg.com/Projectcars/The...austpipe.jpg,0
and :
http://www.99mpg.com/Projectcars/The...mponents.jpg,0
and:
http://www.99mpg.com/Projectcars/The...omposite.jpg,0
At full power, all the way up to about 70 MPG, the exhaust is noticeable while driving, but fades to near silence as the MPG gets up in the 90+ range. Think of it like an audio feedback device, the better your MPG, the quieter the exhaust.
The loudest exhaust is when driving real hard at highway speeds, at less than 50 MPG.
I like the exhaust sound, it reminds me of my MPG, and of course made room for that tight fitting e-wheel.
I have used the boost system more than the e-wheel, so the batteries have had probably 100 full cycles. The boost system puts out about 2900 watts, and draws about 65A from the 48V batteries.
I was very careful to always keep the 48V AGMS well charged between uses, so my feeling is that they are still in great shape.
I again thank John Snook MIMA #019 for donating the $800 for them.
We just got blasted with over 15" of snow, I always thought that the e-wheel with chains for the winter, would have been a great way to not get stuck, but I did not have room for the chains with the very tight assembly.
Well I guess I wont get a chance to try that out.
Now I have to decide what to do with the e-wheel, and boost converter, they were so much work to build, that I hate to just sit them on the old project shelf?
Back to almost stock.
