Sydney AEVA field day in Silicon Chip magazine

The latest (Dec 08) Silicon Chip magazine has 4 pages dedicated to the Sydney AEVA October field day.

Productive Magazine - free edition

Here is something a bit different. In my day job I manage a knowledge management application for a multinational. (can I use manage twice in one sentence). There is a new publication that caught my eye. It is good reading for anyone into productivity or just getting things done.

Take a look at http://productivemagazine.com/editions/

12 volt battery installed

When I bought my batteries I ordered 5 additional as spares. Rumor has it that the failure rate is about 1 in 30.
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.

This weekend I installed the battery interconnects. They are made from copper sheet, cut into 12mm strips and drilled. All the straps are n shaped so they will allow a little battery movement. This is to prevent the battery terminals from working loose.

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.

What to do with 25 empty battery boxes?

Make a robot of course!

Try and get google to find this page better

Malcolm Faed

Electric Vehicle

Hilux

Greensaver

Malcolm Faed

Batteries Installed

Today I installed the batteries and cut and drilled copper bus bars. Also put heatshrink.

I need some stainless steel bolts to attach the bus bars and the balance circuits. The screws and nuts that came with the Greensavers are too short and have cheap plated screws.

Here are the photos.

360kg of batterys almost make my Vitara pull wheel stands :)

Batteries bolted down

One set of 4 batteries connected. I need to buy some new bolts for the terminals to do the rest.

The battery balance circuits are attached to the 4 batteries in a set.

IEEE lecture by L Roy Leembruggen

I attended a lecture at the IEEE tonight . Details here

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

Battery box and VFD installed

While I was away last month Geoff from GT Tooling built my battery trey.
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.

The contactors are visible on the posts vertical supports. The connections will be the same height as the battery terminals.

Each threaded rod will be covered with heat shrink to prevent the batteries from being abraded in case they come in contact.

All components of the battery trey are stainless steel.

Next weekend I hope to install the batteries and start connecting them.

The interconnects where practical will be made from copper strip. The rest will be 16mm^2 cable with appropriate lugs crimped on.

The straps to hold the batteries down will also be covered in heatshrink to provide additional insulation to the Battery Balance Circuits.

Emissions ICE vs coal generation

I did the math on charging using an inefficient coal fired power station as a worst case example.

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.

Long time no post

After being away on holidays and for work for a month it is time to get back into the ute build.