| Owner | Kyle Bonds | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Camp Hill, Pennsylvania United States map | ||||||||
| Vehicle | 1995 Geo Prizm I wanted as much weight as possible up front, so I shoe-horned in 6 batteries, the charger, controller, 12V converter under the hood. | ||||||||
| Motor | Advanced DC FB1-4001A Series Wound DC Dual shaft | ||||||||
| Drivetrain | 5-speed manual, no clutch. Front wheel drive. And the Prizm (corolla) does not have the right side half-shaft attached to the motor, that saves a lot of fabricating a mount. | ||||||||
| Controller | Curtis 1231C-8601 Should have the current limit turned down for anything other than 6 volt floodies. Mine is down to about 1/3. I also turned down the acceleration ramp to about 2/3 so it is not as jerky in reverse. | ||||||||
| Batteries | 12 Deka 8A31DT, 12.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, AGM 100ah, group 31 deep cycle marine. I wanted dry batteries because it is a car, and the trunk has 6 batteries in it. 75 pounds each. AGMs have low internal resistance, and so feel very strong, but should be babied. I had UB121100, but they only lasted about 50 cycles of heavy use. | ||||||||
| System Voltage | 144 Volts | ||||||||
| Charger | Quick Charge SCO14410 This is a 10-amp charger with equalization mode. | ||||||||
| Heater | The Prizm/Corolla heater core is very tough to get to, but the A/C evaporator only took 30 minutes to remove, and its' box is roomier to work in and to isolate the ceramic heater. I use the A/C button to trigger the 144V relay for heat, on-or-off to adjust, but mainly for defrosting anyways. | ||||||||
| DC/DC Converter | Astrodyne | ||||||||
| Instrumentation | analog 180V voltmeter and 400A ammeter. | ||||||||
| Top Speed | 55 MPH (88 KPH) 144V gets a good top speed, but not for long with only 12 batteries. | ||||||||
| Acceleration | Keeps up with traffic in "battery destruct mode", once I turned down the controller's current limiter to protect the batteries it is slow. | ||||||||
| Range | 15 Miles (24 Kilometers) 25 miles when the batteries were new, but it is very, very tough on the batteries to "find out what it can do". As soon as you do, you have reduced their capacity, and will do some real damage the next time you try to match the first attempt. | ||||||||
| EV Miles |
| ||||||||
| Seating Capacity | 5 adults | ||||||||
| Curb Weight | 3,000 Pounds (1,363 Kilograms) 2500 pre conversion weight. The batteries total around 800 pounds, minus the I.C.E., radiator, gas tank, exhaust and stuff. | ||||||||
| Tires | 185-R14 that were on the car, pumped up to 44 PSI. | ||||||||
| Conversion Time | 4 months. | ||||||||
| Conversion Cost | car plus repairs $900, batteries $2400, pile-o-stuff from EVA $5000. | ||||||||
| Additional Features | I used a QD style bushing to make the tranny adapter. They clamp on VERY securely. If you turn off the key without setting the parking brake a buzzer will go off. Ignition interlock relay to prevent driving off if the charger is plugged in. | ||||||||
| I don't think AGMs should be used for highway or hilly country. 1st gear used up to 30 MPH, 2nd up to 60 MPH. Clutchless means fishing for 2nd takes about 4 seconds. These speeds are based off what the manual says is a good limit for 144 volts - 6000 RPM. | |||||||||
1995 Geo Prizm
“Prizamp, or Carmen Electric”
Last Updated 09-12-2010
Copyright © 1997-2024 by Mike Chancey