Copyright Malcolm Faed. Images and text may only be copied with the permission of the author. This blog includes personal things of interest including electric vehicle conversion. I have documented the conversion of a petrol (gas) powered vehicle to Electric. http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1149. The blog now documents the conversion of a BMW E30 to electric.
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Sydney AEVA field day in Silicon Chip magazine
Monday 24 November 2008
Productive Magazine - free edition
Take a look at http://productivemagazine.com/editions/
Sunday 23 November 2008
12 volt battery installed
I have used one of the spares as the 12 volt battery for the accessories. To fasten it I bought some 6mm threaded rod (600mm zinc plated for $2 from Hardware and General) .
I cut it to length and bent about 30mm on one end 90 degrees. The bent end goes through a 6mm hole drilled in the base where the original battery went.
The battery is sitting on a rubber mat. The threaded rod and the hold down clamp are covered in heat shrink to prevent any possible abrasion.
All battery interconnects are installed and wiring done.
The cables are 16mm^2 . Overkill but free. The contactors along the side are double pole. These are used to break the battery bank into 12 x 48v blocks and on 24v block. This makes it save to work on. I tested each contactor separately with my cable shears at the ready in case I had made a terrible mistake. Thankfully they were not required. Across any contactor there can only be 48v max so it is safe to work on. The stainless steel battery clamp strips are covered in heat shrink to give as much insulation as possible. Each battery has the zener-resistor balance circuit connected across.
Next step is to put the +- 300v cables and interconnects to the VFD into orange plastic tube. and begin connecting the controls. (throttle, reverse lights, direction switch and VFD display. Then the chargers and fuse holders for the chargers.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Batteries Installed
Thursday 13 November 2008
IEEE lecture by L Roy Leembruggen
There was a very good turnout for the presentation this evening. And quite a few AEVA members as well. Many of the IEEE members were keen to hear about the various conversions underway after the main talk.
Andrew brought his motor bike along that drew a good amount of interest.
I should have printed some AEVA 'business' cards to had out.
Roy gave an excellent talk on his various EV designs and also briefly descried a business he is setting up and was receiving expressions of interest for people to become a part of the company.
He described various sized family vehicles as well as buses of all shapes and sizes, including a double decker the size of a B Double.
Unfortunately there is not a web site. I found this by google that discusses some of his projects. http://eclipsenow.blogspot.com/2008/08/double-decker-trams.html
http://eclipsenow.blogspot.com/2008/10/aussie-car-company-should-run-roll-out.html
Sunday 9 November 2008
Battery box and VFD installed
Yesterday I installed it and the VFD in the tray. Beneath the trey there are 4 stainless steel square tube cross members to help support the batteries, act as spacers for the bolts to the trey structure and to support the VFD.
Emissions ICE vs coal generation
Essentially the CO2 emissions are about the same for an ICE for a similar weight vehicle.
So, even using power from a modern coal fired power station, the environment is winning. Also the point of combustion is away from populated areas.