1956 evw
OwnerBill Warner
Owner's Other EVBradley GTE
LocationCeres, California United States map
Vehicle1956 Volkswagen Bug
1956 VW with 60's paint job. Vehicle was bought from Zap in October 2005. Car was not running when purchased, but had been converted in 1999 by Lawrence Rhodes. When I got it the batteries were bad and the controller and charger were missing.
MotorAdvanced DC 203-06-4001 Series Wound DC
Drivetrain1970 VW type1
ControllerAlltrax 7245
72 volt 450 amp
Batteries12 US Battery US 145, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
245 AH, 10 in the back and 2 up front as well as the aux. battery. New battery pack in October 2008.
System Voltage72 Volts
ChargerZivan ng-1
Fully automatic 3 stage charger with no user settings.It's located up front, behind the batteries
Heatercoat
DC/DC ConverterAstrodyne SD-350C
Inexpensive fan cooled 27 amp dc/dc that replaced the Sevcon when it quit. I had to put a .1 ohm 25 watt resistor between the aux battery and the dc/dc output to keep it from kicking out the overload, it works great.
InstrumentationAux battery voltage, pack voltage and 400 amp ammeter.
Top Speed55 MPH (88 KPH)
It will do 55mph, but pulls way too many amps at this speed. We just leave it in 2nd gear all the time. It does about 43mph in this gear and has plenty of power to accelerate from a stop.
AccelerationIt can out run a stock vw up to about 30mph and then it eventually gets up to 43 mph.
Range30 Miles (48 Kilometers)
Great for driving around town
EV Miles
Start:82,486 Miles (132,719 Kilometers)
Current:85,224 Miles (137,125 Kilometers)
Total:2,738 Miles (4,405 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity2 adults, with lots of room for groceries and other things in back. I will eventually get some cushions back there for more seating.
Conversion TimeAlready converted when I got it in October 05, but inoperable. I had it on the road in mid December.
Conversion CostApproximately $5000 including purchase of car, new batteries, controller and charger.
Additional FeaturesFiberglass hood and fenders.

It really IS solar powered. We have a grid-tied solar system sufficient for all our electrical needs and it's charged from that.
It gets a lot of attention, mostly positive. People often inquire about converting their own vehicles and where to get parts. We carry information sheets in the car to give them. In March 2007 we attended the local Earthday observance and had a big crowd all day. They were attracted by the 60's paint job but stayed to hear about electric vehicles. Most people were very interested. We had posters and information about vehicles from NEDRA as well as factory production vehicles such as the EV1, Tesla and the Rav4-EV.
I belong to the vw-ev list and can be contacted there.

code by jerry