| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
canis_lupus
Heavy Crude
![]()
Joined: Apr 07, 2005
Posts: 225
Location: West of Chicago
|
 Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: Homemade electric Saturn! |
  |
|
Saw what looked to be an electric Saturn after lunch today. Check this out: a DIY battery operated car. My kind of guy!
Cool as hell! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
lorenzo
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jan 01, 2005
Posts: 1975
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
Nice conversion!
Only: the batteries weigh 1000 pounds and have to be replaced after one to two years (8,000 to 10,000 miles max). Costly affair.
Why didn't he pick lithium-ion batteries?
_________________
The Beginning is Near! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JRP3
Heavy Crude
Joined: Oct 23, 2006
Posts: 384
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:00 pm Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
| lorenzo wrote: | Nice conversion!
Only: the batteries weigh 1000 pounds and have to be replaced after one to two years (8,000 to 10,000 miles max). Costly affair. |
That seems really short. People have gotten much better life than that.
| Quote: |
Why didn't he pick lithium-ion batteries? |
Because the good ones are still very very expensive. You can buy 3 or 4 lead packs for the price of one lithium.
_________________
The shovel with a wheel - The Wovel.
http://wovel.com/
Building the AMPhibian
http://amp-phibian.blogspot.com/
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mos6507
Fission
Joined: Aug 03, 2007
Posts: 2487
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:57 am Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
| JRP3 wrote: | | lorenzo wrote: | Nice conversion!
Only: the batteries weigh 1000 pounds and have to be replaced after one to two years (8,000 to 10,000 miles max). Costly affair. |
That seems really short. People have gotten much better life than that.
|
Yeah, by driving like 5 miles a day on a 40 mile capacity pack. You're better off with a bike given such constraints. Lead acid is kind of like trying to take care of an LP. No matter what you do, every time you play it, the needle is wearing out the vinyl. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JRP3
Heavy Crude
Joined: Oct 23, 2006
Posts: 384
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:06 am Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
Most people seem to get more like 3-4 years out of a pack, and not by driving only 5 miles on a 40 mile pack. Certainly shallower discharges are better but even 20 miles on a 40 mile pack is only 50% DOD and lead acid can last quite well at that level. Unless he has undersized his pack and is taking it near 100% DOD daily he should do better than 1- 2 years.
_________________
The shovel with a wheel - The Wovel.
http://wovel.com/
Building the AMPhibian
http://amp-phibian.blogspot.com/
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lorenzo
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jan 01, 2005
Posts: 1975
|
| Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
| JRP3 wrote: |
That seems really short. People have gotten much better life than that. |
The guy in the vid says he already drove 8,000 miles in 4 months time. So he'll have to replace his batteries very soon, even if he gets 16,000 miles out of them (which is really very very much).
Sorry, I don't dig lead acid batteries.
But this doesn't do away the fact that the conversion was very nicely done.
Just give it some time and li-ion batteries will become much cheaper (hopefully).
_________________
The Beginning is Near! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Golgo13
Heavy Crude
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
Posts: 200
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:01 am Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
| I think it'd be better to just run off an industrial electric motor and power it with a small generator. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JRP3
Heavy Crude
Joined: Oct 23, 2006
Posts: 384
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mos6507
Fission
Joined: Aug 03, 2007
Posts: 2487
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:47 am Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
| lorenzo wrote: | | JRP3 wrote: |
That seems really short. People have gotten much better life than that. |
The guy in the vid says he already drove 8,000 miles in 4 months time. So he'll have to replace his batteries very soon, even if he gets 16,000 miles out of them (which is really very very much).
Sorry, I don't dig lead acid batteries.
But this doesn't do away the fact that the conversion was very nicely done.
Just give it some time and li-ion batteries will become much cheaper (hopefully). |
Because of the lack of coverage of limited battery life, there are going to be a lot of people who get the EV grin on with their conversion only to get a rude awakening when they realize that they are probably spending the equivalent of $5 a gallon gas to drive an EV conversion when you divide the cost of the battery pack into the number of miles you can get out of it.
_________________
Peak oil is sort of like a mental Everlasting Gobstopper, except it tastes like ass and you can't get it out of your mouth.
--BigTex |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mgibbons19
Light Sweet Crude
![]()
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1034
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:51 am Post subject: Re: Homemade electric Saturn! |
|
|
Give toecutter a while to show up on this thread. He seems to have all the links to DIY conversions, and also seems to have all hte pertinent info re batteries off the top of his head. The kid is good.
I mention this because a couple years ago I was wondering the same thing. Wouldn't it be cool to take an old small Toyota pickup, and convert that? It's been done, you take off the bed and build the battery racks there, put the bed back on and it doesn't even look like frankenstein, until you open the hood.
I didn't actually do it, but would love to given the time and money. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
