Full Electric

hfidel · 11-18-2004, 09:05 PM

I have been thinking about getting a fully electric car for my 25 mile commute to work. After looking into what is available, I found very little appealing, except for the EV-1, which is not available. I looked into conversion kits, and found that you can get a 70 HP DC electric motor kit for around $4000. An AC motor, which is needed for regenerative breaking requires double the cost. Another issue is the weight of the vehicle, lighter is better. It occured to me that the Insight might be the perfect vehicle for conversion. The IMA could be used for the regenerative breaking, and the DC motor, with a seperate set of batteries would be used for primary power. Some reprogramming of the system would be required to make it all work, of course. Has anybody attmepted such a conversion, and is anyone possibly interested in exploring this?

b1shmu63 · 11-18-2004, 10:22 PM

Hi there and welcome to the site.

Yes the Insight is the perfect car for an EV conversion, but then again it is also perfect as is for some of us.

There is already at least one electric conversion in the works. My understanding is that it is being converted to Lithium batteries and will have a range of over 200 miles. The ICE was removed. There is no way to separate the IMA motor from the ICE as they use the same bearings.

hfidel · 11-18-2004, 10:37 PM

Very interesting. Do you have anymore information about who is doing this conversion?

hfidel · 11-18-2004, 10:44 PM

OK, I did locate it on the web. Thanks for the tip.

clett · 11-19-2004, 07:13 AM

If you don't mind hanging on for a bit, and have a fair bit of cash to spend, you could have a chat with these guys: http://www.calcars.org/priusplus.html. For your money they claim they'll soon be able to provide you with a brand new Prius, modified by the group to include a 10-25 mile EV mode range. Will be pricey in the near-term though, and the prototypes still have some bugs to iron out.

Next step down budget-wise would be to find a used Solectria Force EV, all the hard work's already been done, though the batteries may need replacing soon. Lastly, a DIY job on the Insight wouldn't be so difficult if you powered the rear wheels (like this) from an installed, completely separate battery pack in the back somewhere. Keeping the EV mode nits completely isolated from the IMA system would mean a much less complicated install than trying to mate it to all the hardware and software of the IMA, and you could choose which one to run on at the switch of a button. You can get 100hp in wheel motors now that would just mount onto the rear axle for a 200hp RWD electric Insight!

Aaron Cake · 11-19-2004, 09:54 AM

You're going to want to check out the EVDL (Electric Vehicle Discussion List) for this. This list has been around forever, and the amount of information and intelligence available is monumental.

http://www.evdl.org/

Be warned though, this list can generate several hundred messages a day, and will result in major passion towards all things EV.

ElectricTroy · 11-19-2004, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hfidel

70 HP DC electric motor kit for around $4000. An AC motor, which is needed for regenerative breaking, requires double the cost.

Why won't a DC motor work as a generator?

hfidel · 11-19-2004, 06:36 PM

Guys:
Thanks for all the great tips. The Prius conversion is not for me. I think the Prius is a great car, and I think that the idea is nice, but I mostly drive on the highway. Of my 20 mile commute each way, 15 is at 70 MPH, the other 5 at 30.
The idea of making the Insight conversion with rear wheel drive is intriguing, but then, it I don't remove the ICE, I will have a lot of extra weight. I might also need some of that room for batteries. Anyway, it certainly needs further study.
I thought the Insight is the best candidate, it is lighter weight, and has been around almost long enough, that I might get lucky and find one for$5000 or so. Finding one with a blown engine would be ideal.

I don't see why DC motors can't be used as generators. Electro Automotive only sells AC motors with regenerative controllers, so unless you know of another source, (besides designing one myself, which is not impossible, but probably not worth the effort), the motor I add will probably be DC. I would like to do the whole thing for about $10,000 plus lots of my scarce time.

Rick · 11-19-2004, 07:10 PM

A DC drive train can deffinitely have regenerative braking, it's just an issue of finding a DC motor controller that has the feature. Of course you have to ask yourself if you really need regen. Granted it does give about a 10% increase in range, for mainly highway driving it it less significant than that.

If your target for everything running you $10,000 your honestly probably going to have to look in to some used parts and probably cheap flooded lead acid batteries.

Join the EVDL, they'll have better conversion information than here, and check Wilde EVolutions for parts to get some ideas going.

Motty82 · 08-28-2007, 08:50 PM

Kip Wrote:
"There is already at least one electric conversion in the works. My understanding is that it is being converted to Lithium batteries and will have a range of over 200 miles."

I too am VERY interested in this idea but probably with a smaller range. If anyone has any "blueprints" for this type of conversion, would you be of assistance?
~Marty
2000 Manual 5 spd "Sora" - (Japanese for sky)