ConversionPaintMakingCouplerNoPartsEVPartsPartsMountedGeo as A TruckFront batteriesSolar Powered Car
OwnerJohn Loveless
Owner's Other EVs1992 Toyota Pickup - RETIRED
2007 Black and Decker
LocationKaysville, Utah United States map
Web/EmailWebPage email image
Vehicle1991 Geo Metro LSI Hatchback
I have retired this vehicle. All parts have been
sold off to pay for my used Nissan Leaf
purchase. It's has been a lot of fun but this
concluded my EV conversion projects. At least
for now.
Motor EMC RT-200 Permanent Magnet DC
Power: 11.5 kW cont-- 23 kW pk
Voltage: 12-72 Volt rated
Speed: 3700 rpm @ 72V unloaded
Size: 8" OD, 7.4 " long (w/o shaft)
Shaft: 7/8"x 1-3/4", 3/16" key
Weight: 39 lbs.
Kind of small for a Geo but has more torque
than original motor. I love that I don't need
a lift to remove/install this motor.
DrivetrainOriginal Manual front-wheel drive.
Drive around town in 3rd gear and 4th gear on
the freeway. Clutch and flywheel removed.
ControllerKelly Kelly KDZ72551
12/5/2014 Two years to the day after finishing
car, blew out Alltrax SPM-72400 400A controller.
Put in this Kelly one and am loving the regen.

72 Volt 550 Amp with regen.
Batteries24 Winston 160Ah, 3.30 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate
Winston brand batteries from China.

12/5/2012: Just installed them this week.
12/10/2014: Nearly 17,000 miles later and they
are still performing like new.
System Voltage79 Volts
ChargerElcon PFC-1500
11/26/2012 Got my batteries but just found out
the charger doesn't work. Argg..
12/10/2012 got a replacement charger.
Yeah!
HeaterSmall 12V heater. I also insulated my garage
and it never gets lower than 40 degrees F in
the winter time, even when it is 12 degrees F
outside. I wear a coat, gloves and put a
blanket on my lap. Suck it up and take it like
a man.
1/4/2013: 4 degrees F outside. Garage temp
dropped to 39 F inside.
1/12/2013: -5 degrees F outside. Garage temp
is 36 degrees F inside.
DC/DC Converter Chennic 30 Amp 13.8V
30Amp 13.8V supply. $123 on Ebay. Works
great.
InstrumentationLigoo BMS 3.5" touch screen. It's awesome.
All LED lights (less headlights).
Top Speed70 MPH (112 KPH)
PM motor RPM is voltage dependent. With front
wheels off the ground, max top speed is 85mph.
Actual top speed is less due to wind loads and
sustained amp draw limitations in the motor.
Motor is also too tiny (not enough heat
dissipation) to try to push much faster for
very long.
1/4/2012: While it was 19 degrees F outside,
I got it up to 68 mph on a flat stretch of I-
15.
12/11/2013: Top speed is 77 mph down hill.
High rpm limits current draw in motor. Air
resistance prevents going any faster, even
down-hill.
11/14/2014 Top speed on flat stretch is 70
mph.
AccelerationAwesome! Much better than original Geo.
Excellent acceleration up to about 40mph.
As PM motor reaches higher RPM, peak power
drops off.
From 40-65mph, acceleration is not great but
adequate.
Range80 Miles (128 Kilometers)
12/22/2012: Drove 80.5 freeway miles
(averaging 55 mph) and 10 city miles all on
one charge.
Odometer showed 76.6 miles but Google Maps
showed route as 80.5 miles.
BMS showed range as zero but there was still
some battery left.
11/2013: Drove from Kaysville to Logan 67
miles strait shot. Had 25% SOC remaining.
12/2014: Drove 65 miles and had 19% SOC
remaining. 2 years later and no measurable
loss of range.
Watt Hours/Mile160 Wh/Mile
This is based off of several charge cycles
(average speed 55 mph) and measuring energy
from Kill-A-Watt meter from the wall to re-
charge pack.

Originally was 225 Whr/mile. Grill block and
undercarriage cover brought it down quite a
bit. Oh, I also removed exterior rear-view
mirrors and installed interior ones.

1/18/2013: Notice the motor pulls more amps
in 5th gear vs. 4th gear, even at the same
speed. I don't know why.
I keep it in 4th gear but my top speed is only
about 58+mph, which is fine by me.
I only put it into 5th when I want to go
faster, which is only for a couple mile
stretch of my daily commute.
3/15/2013: Rear wheel skirts and kamm-back
brought energy usage down to 181 Wh/mi.
7/2013: Summer driving with lower air density
has brought energy usage down significantly.
As low as 155 Wh/mi.
10/2014: Found resistive losses in cable going
to the charger bringing down efficiency.
Replaced with a shorter cable with higher AWG
wire 160 Wh/mi average.
EV Miles
Start:41,862 Miles (67,355 Kilometers)
Current:59,349 Miles (95,492 Kilometers)
Total:17,487 Miles (28,136 Kilometers)
 
    As of 3/13/2022
Seating Capacity4 adults. Rear seating has been preserved.
This comes in very handy for hauling kids to
school.
2014:It isn't very often but at times I haul 6
people, (on residential streets only).
Can carry a lot of stuff. I once hauled 800
lbs. of concrete and eight 4x4 posts.
Curb Weight1,760 Pounds (799 Kilograms)
Original curb weight was 1642 lbs.
Removed 134 lb motor and 120 lbs in other
parts.
Added 39 lb motor and about 30 lbs in other
parts (controller, mounts, shaft
coupler). Added about 300 lbs for the 160Ah
LiPo4 battery pack.
Tires12" All-season tires
Conversion Time5 months, (most of that was waiting for the
LiFePo4 batteries to get here).
Conversion Cost$~8300:
$460 for the car, $30 paint job
$1400 for motor, throttle, contactor and
controller.
$4200 for LiFe batteries
$500 for charger,
$700 for Ligoo BMS.
Another $900 for stupid customs fees.
Additional FeaturesAll LED lights (less headlights).
Homemade motor mount made out of a 12" steel gusset.
Homemade motor shaft coupler made out of a 6" steel gusset
welded to a 7/8" shaft coupler. Original clutch disk is
riveted and bolted onto the gusset.
1/2015: 2 years and 17,000 miles later, the shaft coupler is working
like new. I'm a better welder than I thought.

Ligoo Battery management system with 3.5" screen. LOVE IT!

Mounted 8 cells under rear seat (where the gas tank used to
be). 10 cells are above the motor and 6 cells in the front of the
engine compartment just behind the grill.
12/21/2012: Motor gets hot after 60 strait miles on the freeway.
I still have some work to do in reducing areas of high friction as
the energy consumption is higher than calculated.

12/21/2012: Put Royal Purple Synchro-Max in the gearbox. Reduced
gear drag (tires spinning but not going anywhere) by
14%. Currently it pulls between 110 and 145 amps at 55mph (72V
battery pack).

12/22/2012: Partial undercarriage cover and grill block brought
55 mph amp draw down to 108 Amps.

01/01/2013: Finished undercarriage cover. Removed exterior rear-
view mirrors and replaced with interior ones.

01/04/2013: Drives great (even when it's 4 degrees F outside).
Cold air has higher density. At 55mph this alone causes a 6%
increase in current draw. I use a Harbor Freight 12V cab heater to
keep windows clear during frigid winter driving. Works OK.

01/10/2013: Replaced all wheel bearings but sadly, they didn't
reduce the current draw that much for my regular commute. Maybe
only marginally. Weather got really cold negative single digits,
BURRR!) so that could be canceling out the gains. When I am
carrying more weight, current draw is much less than it used to
be.

01/18/2013: Undercarriage aeromods cause motor to get hot in stop
and go traffic or whenever I am pulling more than 150Amps for a
long duration. Made a duct directly to the motor. Motor now runs
much cooler. I even drove up a 1000 foot hill with a 12% grade
(going 20mph) carrying 2 people. Motor was about 125 F by the top.
Outside temp was 8 degrees F. I doubt I could do this going that
fast in the summer time.

2/10/2013: A cracked brush caused a hex-screw in the motor
(internal buss-bar tie point) to back out, overheat and melt. I
believe this damage happened early on before I ducted the motor
but has just now revealed itself. To be on the safe side, I
replaced the whole brush assembly ($86).

2/15/2013: After 1 year, because of my home's solar panels, my
net electric usage at home is zero (including EV driving). I am no
longer charging up at work at all. I don't need to. 8kWh per 40
miles.

02/27/2013: Verified cold winter range is 70+ miles. Drove 70
miles (mostly freeway all on a single charge). According to a
Kill-A-Watt meter it took 15.8kW-hr and 12-hrs to completely re-
charge the pack from a 120V outlet at home.

3/15/2013: Added rear wheel skirts and Kamm-back. Energy usage is
now 5.5 kWh/mile. Warmer 73 F weather is upon us. But after a 20
mile drive, the motor temp was 125 F. I will need to add better
passive cooling before it gets really hot.

5/23/2013: Added vent slots in undercarriage aeromods to allow
passive cooling to motor. Even when it is 103 �F outside, the
motor still maintains decent temperatures (under 150 F) while at
freeway speeds. Averaging 6.28 kWh/mile. Nice!!
Leased a 2013 Leaf for my wife. Now we both drive EVs.

9/17/2013: Made it through the hot summer season without any
issues. Lately the LiFe batteries are acting like they are larger
capacity than they were originally. Cool but Weird. I manually
equalized one of the cells before noticing the improvement. Still
driving it and still loving it.

11/12/2013: Took both EVs to Logan for a USU science
demonstration (Geo EV and Nissan Leaf) Drove up sardine
canyon. Drove 67 miles one way. Still had 25% battery capacity.
Charged up both cars overnight and drove back home. Nice!

12/13/2013: 1 Year of driving this car back and forth to work, 40
miles a day, 4 days a week. 8800 miles, almost all on solar power.

5/2014: I am ashamed to say, of my own doing, I killed one of my
LiFePo4 cells. I don't want to talk about it. Replaced with a new
one. All is well.

6/5/2014: Had to replace the throttle control potentiometer. It
cost me $17 and took 15 minutes to replace.

10/1/2014: Due to the split pack design, cells B19 and B9 fall
out of balance and I have to manually bring them back up about
once a month. Continues to be a fun, reliable car. Continually
finding small ways to reduce energy usage like in charging.
Averaging 6.6kWh per 40 miles, most of which is freeway.

11/06/2014: Adjusted profile on Alltrax controller, now I have
much better acceleration on the top end. It also raised top speed
by a couple mph. Cool. Now I can go 57 mph in 4th gear. 68-70 in
5th.

12/5/2014: Two years to the day, I blew out the controller.
Replaced it with Kelly controller with regen. Loving it.

1/9/2015: Motor acting kind of jerky and top speed was only 55 mph
on way home from work. Amp draw was also erratic. Found several
brushes with loose wires, (pulled out of brush). I'm amazed the
motor could even spin at all. Motor bus wires are also showing
signs of corrosion. Two years driving on salted, Utah roads
probably didn't much help either. Removed back of motor and using
good parts from the old assembly that I still had, I pieced
together a complete, wire-brush assembly with all good brushes.
Cost $0. Back in business.

01/29/2015: Sheared the shaft coupler on the way to work.
Repaired it on the side of the road and then drove it back home.

code by jerry