Owner | Michael Brooks | ||||||||
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Location | San Jose, California United States map | ||||||||
Web/Email | WebPage | ||||||||
Vehicle | 1986 Honda CRX Car was given to me with a blown engine. | ||||||||
Motor | Advanced DC FB-4001 Series Wound DC Purchased on Ebay almost 8 years ago. | ||||||||
Drivetrain | Original transmission, rebuilt and filled with 5-10 synthetic oil. | ||||||||
Controller | Curtis 1231C Wired to EVAmerica's plans with a primary and secondary contactor. | ||||||||
Batteries | 45 CALB/Skyenergy 100Ah, 3.40 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate Originally I had 12 Trojan T1275 batteries, 5 up front, and the rest in the rear. When I went to the Li's I got them all in the rear. I left all the racks in the front for bracing, and re-adjusted the torsion bar to allow it to be balanced again. | ||||||||
System Voltage | 144 Volts | ||||||||
Charger | 2 ThunderStruck Motors tms-2500. Originally I had a select-a-charge 110V very slow chargers. I now have 2 Thunderstruck Motor's chargers in parallel with a standard EV charge port. At 110V 15A it takes about 8 hours. I have only used 220V 1x and suspect about 1/2 that for a full charge. | ||||||||
Heater | None yet | ||||||||
DC/DC Converter | Iota DLS-45 I tried a Vicor power module, but it blew 2x probably due to voltage slew near the rated power. | ||||||||
Instrumentation | Voltmeter and Ammeter. Still trying to decide what else I need. I built a battery monitor system from plans from James May: WebPage It works very well, and now I can see as my batteries fade | ||||||||
Top Speed | 65 MPH (104 KPH) Usually I drive city streets, max of 45. Expressways around here are 50 and it does that well. | ||||||||
Acceleration | Pretty close to stock | ||||||||
Range | 33 Miles (53 Kilometers) I haven't had a real need to go further. I suspect 50 would be OK as long as I'm not doing 65 | ||||||||
Watt Hours/Mile | 18000 Wh/Mile I average around 35 MPH on city streets. It can get on the freeways fine. The furthest so far has been 9 miles at 65 Mph. With 20 miles max that day | ||||||||
EV Miles |
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Seating Capacity | 2 adults | ||||||||
Curb Weight | 0 Original weight was 1860 lbs. I need to weigh it to get current weight. With the Li batteries I suspect I'm actually below the orignal vehicle weight. | ||||||||
Tires | Upgraded to 14" rims. 185 60 14 | ||||||||
Conversion Time | Elapsed time 9 years! In reality when I got serious about 6 months. I removed ICE stuff 9 years ago. I didn't really start seriously until March of 2008. I drove it the first time in Sept 2008. | ||||||||
Conversion Cost | around 10K so far. It still needs a paint job | ||||||||
Additional Features | I put solar panels on the roof of my house, fed back to the grid (solarcity.com) So charging is essentially free! I upgraded the front steering knuckles with '87 Acura Integra knuckles, and replaced the brakes and rotors with Acura parts, giving me about 20% more surface area for braking. It stops on a dime now. Rear springs replaced with Acura Integra springs, put the car back to original height with batteries installed. I average about 25 miles a day. I can charge at work if needed. | ||||||||
Thanks to Steve McDonald for insight and motivation. The below was before I got the EV certification. I took it to a gold station where the guy apologized for my grief. He didn't even charge me to give me the certification. He started taking a bunch of pictures which scared me, it turns out he was teaching a class on EV conversions and wanted to show it to the class... I suppose now days it would be a breeze.. Californians, beware! I tried after a year to get a carpool sticker, since EV's qualify. Turns out my car was registered as a hybrid, there is no way for a DMV office to change it to electric without a certification from a Bureau of Automotive Repair GOLD station. So now my car's registration is in limbo until I get that completed. Doesn't cost much, $8.25, but there are only a few "GOLD" stations around. I should have left things alone! |