| Owner | Richard Pease | ||
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| Location | Overland Park, Kansas United States map | ||
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| Vehicle | 1985 Dodge D-50 Ex-4 wheel drive mini-pickup. I removed all 4wd gear and replaced with 2WD to save weight. | ||
| Motor | Advanced DC ADC-4001 Series Wound DC 9.13" double shaft | ||
| Drivetrain | 140 V DC system, standard 5 speed no clutch. Would prefer clutch, however. | ||
| Controller | Manzanita Micro Z1K Curtis blown when car purchased, rebuilt and repaired six times under warranty. Gave up on Curtis repair, used a borrowed Logisystems for a while, then built and installed Re-volt Cougar kit. It failed, replaced w/ curtis, which was inadequate, so replaced with zilla Z1K which has been wonderful. | ||
| Batteries | 44 CALB/Skyenergy SE130AHA, 3.20 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate Installed March, 2012 Lead-acid pack purchased new Nov 2009. (Feb 2012) Lead Acid pack dead after 7000 miles due, presumably, to overcharging causing overheating. Replaced with 44 CALB 130AH LiFePo4 batteries at mile 12293, first run Apr 3rd. Put the batteries in a workman's pick-up bed tool box. | ||
| System Voltage | 140 Volts | ||
| Charger | Quick Charge Reworked by Quickcharge for Lithium 230 volt 30 AMP fixed pack voltage charger. Will NOT charge with 208 V, the usual j1772 chargedpoint voltage, however. Backup K & W BC-20 115 volt 10 amp charger, swap voltages using Anderson connectors. Both on board. 9/1/2013 Am building 10KW 240 volt charger from EMW. | ||
| Heater | Came with ceramic heater. Works well, using a 144 V DC to 120 V 20 AMP AC inverter. Being a very small cab helps. Runs about 9 Amps at 140 volts. Add 5k BTU window AC powered by 110V inverter. Put in bed, piped cool air and return to cab through cab back with tubes. Whimpy, should have gone 8K BTU. | ||
| DC/DC Converter | 55 AMP originally an AC 12 V charger. Had to replace after 5 years. | ||
| Instrumentation | Custom dashboard with round analog gauges. Replaced with homemade arduino/Raspberry Pi based complete instrumentation incl MPH, RPM, HP, range, WH/mi, trip, usage graph, motor/controller/chiller temps and graph, logging. | ||
| Top Speed | 70 MPH (112 KPH) Had a little more speed to go in 4th, but vehicle was 37% battery weight and is twitchy steering at that speed. A little more speed with Lithium pack, but drives MUCH better. A little bouncy at 70, still has lead-acid overload springs in it. | ||
| Acceleration | With Logisystems, sparkling up to 35 or so, will smoke tires. Adequate but NOT sparkling above that. Returned to Curtis and Revolt because of unavoidable jackrabbit starts with the Logisystems. Acceleration adequate for a retiree. Acceleration is much better with Lithium. Better yet with zilla controller. | ||
| Range | 50 Miles (80 Kilometers) Most ever actually attained on the lead- acid pack is 40 miles under super ideal conditions. Never planned trips over 27 miles. Lithium range first day 48 miles with some to spare. 50 miles is conservative 80 % depth-of-discharge, could presumably go considerably farther with careful featherfoot driving (not something I do much of). I plan 30 miles round trips to account for when I get lost, detours... | ||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 325 Wh/Mile Was about 375 Whr/mi for Lead-Acid, numbers from Re-Volt controller info for around town, highest speed 50, average about 37. Steady 60 MPH flat ground 409 Whr/Mile. Lithium: Measured by onboard computer (see "instrumentation" above)at 325 watt-hr/mi on 38 mile trip, 62% thruway at ave 55 with four 100 foot high hills, remainder stop and go. About 390 Whr/Mile in winter with heater on, cold tires, cold transmission fluid, et.c. | ||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | Two. NOT two people and 55 pound dog, NOT two people and string bass, NOT two people and 3 bags of groceries (unless out in the wind). My one major beef with the vehicle. It is my primary vehicle, and I have to rely on a small homebuilt diesel school-bus-based RV for more than two people or lugging things. With the Lithium pack there is now room for the bass, groceries and dog in back. Still two people max, though. One of the big reasons I bought a MIEV. | ||
| Curb Weight | 3,130 Pounds (1,422 Kilograms) Was 4340 with Lead-Acid. Batteries were 1600 pounds of that weight. At or near the driveability limit considering weight. It is a very small pickup, made by Mitsubishi. New weight with Lithium measured at 3130 pounds. Huge difference in driveability and range. | ||
| Tires | Off the shelf 4WD type tires. I did a coast down test with them at 35 pounds and again at 50 pounds pressure, and the difference is DRAMATIC, both in increased coasting range and in increased roughness of ride. Ride much smoother with Lithium, but springs are now too stiff, not too loose as with lead- acid. Bouncy at 65-70 MPH. Comfortable on thruway, for short distances. | ||
| Conversion Time | Bought barely working. Complete rebuild, Eventually replaced all EV components except motor, incl batteries, controller(s), and high voltage cables. Also replaced all truck components that turn (except steel wheels and steering wheel); incl transmission, coupler, drive line. Added DC-DC converter, electric power steering pump (which failed, had to replace), onboard charger, new 230 volt outlet on my mail box. About 450 hours (most of a summer's spare time, I'm retired) | ||
| Conversion Cost | Base partially converted vehicle was $3500. Added about $6800 including PbA batteries, Re-volt controller kit, mechanical upgrades, charger, et c. Replacing failed controllers, dc-dc,Ps pump added $3000. Total cost with Lithium is #@!%(!*@#, but I have 30,000 miles on them, so cost is, per mile, already less then lead-acid. | ||
| Additional Features | 110 V AC 20 amp inverter. MR2 power steering pump. Two onboard chargers, 110v and 220V. Homemade control and performance instrumentation suite. cobbled up home Air conditioner. | ||
| The friends at MAEAA car club recommend that if you want to build an EV, buy an already-converted used one first to find out what you like and don't like, it is cheaper than buying new parts and making the mistakes yourself. Very good advice. I find a small pickup isn't adequate as a primary vehicle, even if there is just me and my wife. Lithium helps, gives me my bed back with a cover so I can haul stuff. My upright bass and amp fit, and I have range now for most gigs. I purchased the vehicle as previously converted with 4710 electric miles on it. The mileage reported above reflects all of it's electric miles, not just mine, the original converter having installed a new speedometer. More than 30,000 of those miles are on the lithium pack. Vehicle was priced considering a known dead battery pack, however, had numerous other issues, especially trying to rehabilitate a Curtis controller with the end blown out if it. 2 WD drive tranny I installed to replace the 4WD was different size, so I had to fab new engine mounts, new tranny cross member, new crossmember attach scheme, rebuild the driveshaft, all difficult to obtain because the base vehicle was over 25 years old. Advice - convert something new enough so you can still get ordinary replacement vehicle parts. Replacing brakes, rotors and drums was really difficult considering age, cost over $1900. I have been stranded many times, but never due to powertrain problems. Brakes, bad dc-dc, bad 12 V battery usually. Having a non-driving 90 year old wife I can't be stranded anymore, so I added a MIEV for reliability and IT stranded me the first day I had it. Battery problems. Retired vehicle Jan 2018. Because of disabled wife, I did not dare to take her on trips where we might be stranded, so I bought a use Miev and let this vehicle sit for 6 months with it on charger not realizing that charger didn't trickle, and it ruined the lithium pack. Rather than replacing pack, I bought a friends S-10 with 81 calb 180's, about 20% were dead, as was his controller. I put my zilla controller in it and used the best 48 calbs. Range is now 60 miles, about 410 watt hours per mile, it being much heavier vehicle. | |||
1985 Dodge D-50
“ELMO”
Last Updated 05-16-2018
Copyright © 1997-2024 by Mike Chancey