V8INtheZ Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 ...I can travel 50 miles on that amount of energy, where a gas car that gets 30mpg can only travel 10 miles. That makes me jelous Might have to build one myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wedge Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I really love the idea and it does seem to be that complicated . Id try that in a samll size pickup like a nissan or any other small size pick up being able to place some batteries up front and some in the bed would be very nice . Use the electric car for short distance and the gas powered for long trips . Id be worried about water splashing under the car and winter at -40 celsius though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffGarcia77 Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Here's another reason to convert to electric drive: No more exhaust fumes entering the car. Unless, of course, you're running a genset. jmead and others doing this conversion, I applaud your efforts, and I considered this at one time, but for my purposes (I need my Z to be able to travel long distances) I need to find a clean-running, fuel efficient gasoline engine to replace my tired out, stinky, gas guzzling L-28. But keep up your good work, as batteries are improved upon, you'll be able to improve the range of your EVZs. BTW, have you considered Optima batteries? They might save a considerable amount of weight, and they can be mounted on their sides. On the other hand, their cost is about twice that of lead-acid batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Here's another reason to convert to electric drive: No more exhaust fumes entering the car. Unless, of course, you're running a genset. jmead and others doing this conversion, I applaud your efforts, and I considered this at one time, but for my purposes (I need my Z to be able to travel long distances) I need to find a clean-running, fuel efficient gasoline engine to replace my tired out, stinky, gas guzzling L-28. But keep up your good work, as batteries are improved upon, you'll be able to improve the range of your EVZs. BTW, have you considered Optima batteries? They might save a considerable amount of weight, and they can be mounted on their sides. On the other hand, their cost is about twice that of lead-acid batteries. Optimas don't have the storage capacity needed. The lead acid batteries that are used in most cases are not the size of a conventional underhood battery, but about 3 times that size, physically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthtk Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I just wanted to say this is a very cool project, congrats on the great job and can't wait to see where you go with it in the future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmead Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Here's another reason to convert to electric drive: No more exhaust fumes entering the car. Unless, of course, you're running a genset. jmead and others doing this conversion, I applaud your efforts, and I considered this at one time, but for my purposes (I need my Z to be able to travel long distances) I need to find a clean-running, fuel efficient gasoline engine to replace my tired out, stinky, gas guzzling L-28. But keep up your good work, as batteries are improved upon, you'll be able to improve the range of your EVZs. BTW, have you considered Optima batteries? They might save a considerable amount of weight, and they can be mounted on their sides. On the other hand, their cost is about twice that of lead-acid batteries. Optimas were my choice originally, but after doing some research I found they have been having quality control issues and were not performing as well as they did originally. The Odyssey batteries I settled on are very similar, except they use a flat plate configuration instead of spiral which allows a greater capacity in the same physical size. My batteries are only slightly larger, but have 73AH compared to the 55AH of an optima. Very similar discharge/charge characteristics though, with greater expected life cycles and a superior warranty too, all for about the same price. I am very happy with my purchase. They do look like normal batteries though, not nearly as futuristic in appearance as the "6-pack" design in my mind. I'd like to experiment with orbitals but I couldn't find anyone to sell me any? My next project will be higher voltage, something like 240v of orbitals would be perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudypoochris Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Just looked at the wiring a bit closer. Some of those positive terminals are very close to the steel retaining bars... might want to insult them considering that if they touch you have about 700lbs of batteries to blow. Heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmead Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Just looked at the wiring a bit closer. Some of those positive terminals are very close to the steel retaining bars... might want to insult them considering that if they touch you have about 700lbs of batteries to blow. Heh. Yeah, I don't like that either. I have already modified their placement a little bit, moved them closer to the middle, in order to minimize that risk. They are clamped down with several hundred pounds of force, as much as I was comfortable wouldn't crack the battery cases. I'm in the process of installing rubber strips between the clamp bars and the batteries which will compress, spread the force out, and hopefully ensure that the bolts do not loosen under vibration. Still, I think I would like further protection against this potentially catastrophic occurrence. My list of options: Weld cross pieces to lock the bars in alignment with one another, so even if one bolt should loosen there is no chance of the bar flopping around and coming in contact with a terminal Weld the bolts that hold them underneath the batteries perpendicular to the brace so that the threaded rod holding them resists movement in either direction Insulate the bars in some way (they are already slated to receive several coatings of POR-15, a rust inhibitor which is also non-conductive). Aesthetics are important and I can't think of any insulation which wont be ugly. Insulate the terminals so that even if the bars did come loose and make contact with a terminal there would be a layer of insulation. A dead short across multiple batteries would be very, very, very bad. They are rated to have a short circuit current of 3,500 amps. Pretty much enough to vaporize anything that gets in the way. I'd rather now find out what that looks like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudypoochris Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I would just shroud all the positive terminals using that squareish shaped rubber cover that is on many car positive cable hookups. This is all I could find on a quick search of Google: http://www.solarseller.com/battery_terminal_cable_lug_covers_and_protectors.htm I would go ahead and actually insulate the bars on second thought as well... Someone must sell a spray on insulator. Reason being... if water were to spill onto the tops of the batteries, which shouldn't, but could happen. That would be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmead Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 I would just shroud all the positive terminals using that squareish shaped rubber cover that is on many car positive cable hookups. This is all I could find on a quick search of Google: http://www.solarseller.com/battery_terminal_cable_lug_covers_and_protectors.htm I would go ahead and actually insulate the bars on second thought as well... Someone must sell a spray on insulator. Reason being... if water were to spill onto the tops of the batteries, which shouldn't, but could happen. That would be an issue. Not too worried about water, it wouldn't cause too many problems as it is not terribly conductive normally. Now, if salt water were to be dumped on the batteries that could be bad, but in that case each battery would short against itself and the exposed metal wouldn't pose any additional hazard. I do think you're right through, those terminal boots are the best solution. I am placing an order for 13 reds and 13 blacks as we speak. (While I only have 12 batteries at the moment my controller supports up to 13, so its just a matter of time before I need that extra anyhow, who could resist ~8% more power?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudypoochris Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 who could resist ~8% more power?) No one on this forum! Ha. I think a nifty idea might be to have a "cruising" battery pack and have those be high capacity but low discharge batteries. Then have a set of packs for "WOT" where they can discharge quick and give you some speed. Might have interesting results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecase70 Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 fantastic job your doing... I really appreciate the work you are doing on your z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gritz Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Stop the press!! I have the answer here..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-Xebra-Brand-New-Fully-Electric-City-Car-Speeds-up-to-40-MPH_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6472QQihZ011QQitemZ320239163394QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CArFAn Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Stop the press!! I have the answer here..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-Xebra-Brand-New-Fully-Electric-City-Car-Speeds-up-to-40-MPH_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6472QQihZ011QQitemZ320239163394QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW believe it or not i seen one of those today while at sherwood mall. It was green though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Mine Motors Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 The problem with those electric cars are that they ALL look like s**t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmead Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 The problem with those electric cars are that they ALL look like s**t Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the xebra. Making slow, underpowered cars that just look like a novelty to most people does the image of electric cars a huge disservice in the long run. But I guess cheap transportation isn't a bad thing, and the more choices there are the better, even if I'd never be caught dead in one myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffGarcia77 Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 That Xebra would be OK for a person from the planet Ork who wears suspenders and looks like a young Robin Williams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I'm tempted for this, maybe even run a transaxel to get the motor farther back. Line the hatch floor with solar panels to help recharge while at work. But batteries just don't cut it in the cold up here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fhptom Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 This past week I just saw a show on TLC called Mr Electric Gadget or Dr Electric Gadget. He has a shop out in CA and does electric cars. That show was about doing a 1967 Camaro for some rock/alternative band singer. It was pretty cool but the best part was when they sent it to the paint/body shop the guy had 2 S30s in there getting restored. This Camaro smoked the tires pretty impressively during the final ride sequence. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukaniuk Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 It was pretty cool but the best part was when they sent it to the paint/body shop the guy had 2 S30s in there getting restored. Hahaha I saw that too. My gf didn't understand why I got so excited. She never understands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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