Martin Winlow's 2001 Daihatsu HiJet

Owner

Martin Winlow

Owner's Other EVs

2008 Vectrix VX-1
Sebring SX Kit Car

Location

Much Hadham, England United Kingdom ^map

Web/Email

WebPage

Vehicle

2001 Daihatsu HiJet (aka Piaggio Porter)
Japanese Micro-van, built in Italy

Motor

Netgain Impulse 9 Series Wound DC
(www.go-ev.com - NetGain Motors Inc)

Continuous 30HP, peak 100HP
Max RPM 5500'ish.

Drivetrain

Stock 5-speed manual transmission to rear
differential. Ratios (inc 4.44 diff) 1st=16.7,
2nd=9.1,
3rd=6.1, 4th=4.44, 5h=3.7.

Tyres: - 155/68 R 12 C

UPDATE - 17/7/09 - Despite my reservations,
going clutch-less is ok'ish. Just a few seconds
delay whilst the gearbox cogs sort themselves
out when shifting but I am planning to put the
clutch back in soon, simply because it makes
the system more flexible when negotiating
junctions etc. It will aslo give the van much
better acceleration as I'll be able to change
gear much more quickly.

UPDATE - 04Jul10. Clutch now re-instated
with a home made flywheel. It is SO much
easier to drive!!!
0-60 acceleration HALVED!

Controller

Belktronix 800A
(www.belktronix.com)
Complete system including battery monitors (over & under
voltage only - no voltage display or logging - see later for
that - one per cell - 38 in my case) and charge balancers,
2.4kW charger/DC-DC converter (50A @ 13.5V), 800A max
controller, opto 'pot-box' (throttle control) and associated
gubbins including main contactor.

Batteries

38 Thunder Sky LFP160, 3.20 Volt, Lithium-Ion
(www.thunder-sky.com)

Nominal Capacity - 160AH
Operating Voltage - 2.5V to 4.25V
Weight - 5.6kg
Dimensions - 182W x 279H x 71D (mm)
Pack Weight - 215kg

System Voltage

120 Volts

Charger

Belktronix (See above)
Is in same box as DC/DC converter. 2.4kw
output. (www.belktronix.com) Full range charge
in 8 hours.

Heater

Diesel Webasto water heater through stock
blower unit.
(Not yet fitted - still! 27Oct10).

DC/DC Converter

Belktronix (See above)
50A @13.5V

Instrumentation

CarPuter running Windows Xp with
CentraFuse-V2 incorporating SatNav, USB FM
radio tuner, MP3 player, free mobile, home
brew VisualBasic based BMS monitoring,
warning and data logging
program. System status texting and polling
to/from mobile phone. Plus stock speedo etc.

Top Speed

70 MPH (112 KPH)
On the flat with no wind.

Acceleration

Quite peppy starting from 0 in 2nd gear and
frankly rather scary in first! Drops off after
about 30mph as the wind resistance builds up.
Overall, better than stock at low speeds but
similar at higher speeds.

Range

70 Miles (112 Kilometers)
Not tested for real yet but should be around 60
miles at 50mph, half that at 70mph - if it goes
that fast and about 150 miles at 10mph.

Watt Hours/Mile

350 Wh/Mile
Definitely something best suited to the
empirical method of divining but due to the
vans poor Cd (little better than a house brick),
not good. In winter, using the mains-powered
battery warmer muddles things
greatly but it is part of the function of the EV
so I guess it should be included.

Update - 280709 - It draws about 140
(battery) amps at 50MPH (120V pack). The
Whr/mile figure (above) is based on the
calculation of volts x amps at the relevant
speed (in mph) divided by that speed (see
tabled power consumption lower down).

EV Miles

Start:	51,948 Miles (83,584 Kilometers)
Current:	65,681 Miles (105,680 Kilometers)
Total:	13,733 Miles (22,096 Kilometers)

Seating Capacity

2 adults

Curb Weight

2,300 Pounds (1,045 Kilograms)
...before conversion.

- ICE 1300cc alloy engine 107Kg
- fuel tank 11kg
- full tank of petrol 23kg
- cooling system - 11kg
- Bits and Bobs - 7kg
- exhaust/cat 18kg
Total = 177kg

+ motor 57kg
+ batteries and box 240kg
+ electronics 20kg
Total = 317kg

Result = 140kg increase
Post conversion (calculated) = 2640lbs
(1200kg).
Update 01Oct10 - Pu the van on a weigh
bridge at it came in at 1008kg with no load.

Tires

155R12/88

Conversion Time

To plan, research and acquire all the bits...
about 18
months.

To instal everything bar heater, about 10 x 8
hour days. However, I don't know how long
it's going to take to iron out the bugs or
'finish' it. Will it ever be 'finished'?

Conversion Cost

Don't ask...
Motor - £1200 (imported direct from US)
Combined and matched control electronics,
charger-cum-DC/DC converter, system
integrator and battery balancing system -
£1440 Carputer & battery monitoring
hardware - £400 ... but the good news is
that the electronics should last for 1000k (yes,
1 with 6 zeros after it) miles so they can be
moved from one donor to another... that's the
theory at least!

At 50MPH it costs around 1p per mile in
electric which means each time I use the van
to do my usual commute, I save around £5 -
no servicing costs and no tax and no MOT
(something to do with milk floats).

Additional Features

Brakes:- No ICE = no vacuum source for the brake booster.
Ergo, the vacuum must be obtained elsewhere. I started
with a cobbled together used vacuum pump from a Volvo
S40 but it never worked well and the switch kept failing so I
bought a Cibi (MES DEA) 70/6E purpose-designed pump
which works beautifully, practically silent and is simplicity
itself to fit. The downside is the price. I was quoted £320
from CIBI (UK) and £450 from another UK source but
in the end bought it from the US, delivered and VAT/duty
paid for £240.

From Switzerland to the US and back again and at half the
price I can buy it for here in the EU - Bonkers!

27Apr11 - Planning a photovoltaic array installation for the
garage roof to offset the electricity the van uses. If it were
big enough, it could power the van completely. As it is, I can
only get a 1kW (peak) array up there comfortably. It would
be nice to have a big array but it is still to exy and I have
limited room. One day it will be possible perhaps even
compulsory - every new build must have a PV array capable
of generating x% of its anticipated energy use? - then it
would be easy-peasy, or 'EV-PV' as you might say.

June 2015 - PV array completed in June 2014 and despite
being only a little over 1kWp and being quite badly shaded
morning an evening, it has generated enough energy to
offset about 2/3 of my daily commute.

Road Tax - Getting the converted van taxed (for non-UK
readers this is the vehicle excise licence - levied by the
G'ment and helps pay to maintain roads etc - well, given
that 1 in every 3 pounds spent by the UK G'ment goes on
the welfare state, it actually helps pay for that). This is free
in the UK for electric vehicles but first, you have to battle
G'ment bureaucracy to get it signed off as 'tax class =
electric'.

I had to take the van to my 'Local Office' of the DVLA at
Borehamwood for an inspection. Took 10 mins (30 mins
waiting - of course, despite pre-booked appointment. There
is very little helpful info on the DVLA's web site about this.

An electric blanket installed with the batteries keeps the
battery pack at a warm and toasty 22 deg C whatever the
temperature outside.

In a bid to minimize pack imbalance I have wired the
controller power to come from the whole pack via a mains
PSU which appears to work happily at 120V DC. Ditto the
heater.

Electric 'Fuel' Economy (Wh/mile which includes all standby
electric costs - warming batteries, carputer - charger
inefficiencies and excludes savings from charging at work)...

Date ........ kWh ...... miles .... wH/ ........ Fuel .... £
................................ done ..... mile ......... p/l ... saved
22Aug09 .. 44620 ... 52352
31Aug09 .. 44808 ... 52520 ..... 303 ....... 106 ...... 68
18Oct09 .. 45030 ... 53008 ..... 455 ....... 106 ...... 58
15Nov09 .. 45174 ... 53512 ..... 486 ....... 109 ...... 36
29Nov09 .. 45296 ... 53532 ..... 535 ....... 109 ...... 27
16Dec09 .. 45421 ... 53885 ..... 353 ....... 108 ...... 43
29Dec09 .. 45518 ... 54129 ..... 398 ....... 108 ...... 38
24Jan10 .. 45506 ... 54704 ..... 490 ....... 112 ...... 40
06Feb10 .. 45671 ... 55039 ..... 493 ....... 112 ...... 43
08Mar10 .. 45867 ... 55649 ..... 555 ....... 114 ...... 31
27Mar10 .. 46097 ... 55868 ..... 600 ....... 116 ...... 24
06Apr10 .. 46206 ... 56105 ..... 460 ....... 120 ...... 29
19May10 .. 46465 ... 56669 ..... 459 ....... 122 ...... 70
24Jun10 .. 46657 ... 57169 ..... 384 ....... 120 ...... 62
05Jul10 .. 46766 ... 57414 ..... 444 ....... 118 ...... 29
04Aug10 .. 47025 ... 58012 ..... 433 ....... 118 ...... 72
15Aug10 .. 47143 .. 58282 ..... 437 ....... 117 ...... 32
15Sep10 .. 47332 ... 58731 ..... 449 ....... 115 ...... 53
18Oct10 .. 47597 ... 59298 ..... 467 ....... 118 ....... 68
20Nov10 .. 48036 ... 60213 ..... 480 ....... 118 ....... 109
14Dec10 .. 48322 ... 60748 ..... 721 ....... 121 ....... 65
27Jan11 .. 48760 ... 61594 ..... 438 ....... 128 ....... 111
12Feb11 .. 48974 ... 61996 ..... 532 ...... 128 ....... 52
12Mar11 .. 49294 ... 62617 ..... 515 ...... 132 ....... 83
09Apr11 .. 49587 ... 63232 ..... 476 ...... 132 ....... 80
13May11 .. 49822 ... 63011 ..... 470 ...... 137 ....... 68
14Jun11 .. 50074 ... 64311 ..... 435 ...... 136 ....... 79
30Jul11 .. 50597 ... 65551 ..... 421 ...... 136 ....... 170
08Aug11 .. 50647 ... 65681 ..... 384 ...... 135 ....... 17

Total saving in petrol over 2 years & 13,700 miles = UK
£1,662

And that's the last entry I'm afraid as my van was written off
in an accident on the 7th August. I will be salvaging the
electric drive which appears undamaged and progressing to
EV Part II (see above kit car photo) next year. OK - 2013,
then. No, 2014! Nearly the end of 2016 and it still isn't done.
I have been distracted by retiring, divorcing, starting a
business (EVBitz.uk) and planning a move to a remote island
off the west coast of Scotland. Seems a reasonable bunch
of excuses to me!

I'm also looking for a used HiJet 4WD to convert - using the
old drive train (as it is all ready to 'drop in'). If you have one
going spare, please let me know.

June 2018 - Now residing on the magical Isle of Colonsay, I
*still* haven't finished the Sebring/Austin Healy and I'm
about to start planning to build another house so who
knows when it will ever hit the (12 miles of single track)
roads, here...

code by jerry