Driving on Sunshine with 36KWH

The Z3 just passed inspection today following an extended upgrade of the battery pack. It has 1½ Leaf batteries now, for a total of 72 cells and ~290V. It has a new BMS, too; the Orion is much better than its predecessor. I'll be integrating that with an Arduino to send the info to an iPad or iPhone and drive the original fuel gauge in the dashboard.

It's time to pop the top and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Battery-maker HiPower promised much higher power than its competitors. Well, it turns out that the batteries were not able to deliver that and last very long. So I am replacing the battery pack with cells from a Nissan Leaf. It should have more range, less weight and last longer.

There's not much new about the hardware these days. We have been busy socially, though. I created a MeetUp and encourage interested people to join us and meet owners of electric cars to get firsthand info on their real-world experience. For those who are hesitant to go electric due to questions about range, charging, costs, etc., you can find out how people are doing it.
http://www.meetup.com/Northern-Virginia-Electric-Car-Owners/

There is also an electric car club in this area. It's the Electrical Vehicle Association of greater Washington DC (EVADC). The web site is http://www.evadc.org The members have a wide variety of models, from conversions to Tesla's and nearly everything in between. The monthly meetings are usually in Silver Spring, MD and sometimes in Virginia.

If you live in the region around northern Virginia, Maryland and DC, please join us. It's always a lot of fun.

We rode in the July 4th parade. So many people were surprised that a car could actually be solar powered. Unlike my friend Bob whose Prius has solar panels on the car itself, ours are on the house and the energy goes into the utility and later into the car.

This 150,000 is the first big odometer milestone for the Z3 as an electric car. Steve replaced the motor coupler recently and it's quieter than ever.

First Gas Free Week

A Big Milestone today: I just completed my first week without burning a single drop of gasoline! Yes, the groceries arrived at the store on a truck, but I didn't directly use any gas.

That grocery dependency is sort of symbolic. It really covers the farm equipment needed for crop production, the heavy equipment digging out coal, the train hauling the coal to the plant, the police cruisers maintaining law and order, etc. Pretty much everything. As a nation, we don't have control of our energy… yet. We're headed there, though.

Fun, But Not a Race Car

The electric car is configured to limit the motor to 5,500 RPM. First gear breaks the tires free so fast that it's not really useful.

Starting in second gear is better, but the motor RPM limit means shifting is required just past 40 MPH. It's fun off the line, but the time required for a clutchless shift hurts the 0-60 time.

Starting in third gear works. That goes from 0-60 in 9.4 seconds.

Any TV Footage?

I got a call Thursday night that the Secret Service was checking out the car before President Obama visited the car show again. We don't have a TV subscription. How else would we have time for such projects?!

So if anyone reading this has access to any news footage in the Advanced Technologies section of the Washington Auto Show for today, Feb 3rd, I'd love to see it.

Tech Specs and Bargains

I've been asked to post the technical specs of the car now that the conversion is complete. Here is our page on www.EValbum.com

Another good page is EVtradinpost.com. One of the things I've learned is that some real bargains can be found. One common story is that somebody does a conversion and uses lead acid batteries. Five or six years later, the batteries are fading and the car is no longer viewed as very useful. Memories fade and the owner has less appreciation for all the time and money invested in the conversion and offers the car for sale at a huge discount. If someone were to get it and replace the batteries with lithium, it would be a very easy way to acquire an affordable EV.

;-)

Local Charging Stations

Most folks, myself included, have assumed that our country will need to build a new infrastructure if electric cars are going to become viable. The truth is that every home already has electricity. There are many other options, too. Many offices and retail locations have an outlet that can be used to charge an electric car. Every 7-11 has an ice machine and a spare outlet. I actually used that once before I felt comfortable that I'd reach my destination.

The nearest Park & Ride in Hamilton has 5 charging stations and each can charge two cars at once. That's $1.44 per "fill up". Every Nissan dealer offers free charging. The local Smart dealer has two free ones. Washington, DC just installed 80 of them. Individual EV (electric vehicle) owners even offer their own home outlets via the PlugShare network. Here are some maps showing availability.

ChargePoint

SemaCharge

PlugShare (our home is in the upper left corner)

Have You Ever Been Arrested?

I nearly landed on the Group W bench recently. The Hamilton Park & Ride charging stations were never available on weekdays because the spaces were always full of regular cars. So I went out there one Saturday to paint "Electric Only" on one of the ten spaces. We drove right past the police officer and set up. As soon as I began to paint, the officer came over and told me to stop. He was nice enough to overlook the crime so far and suggested I contact the county to request a sign.

That didn't seem very quick, especially considering I had the stencils and paint right there. So I called the next Monday and a left a message, wondering if anyone would ever even hear it. It turns out that officer G. had already gone into the government building and put in a good word.

A big Thank You to county supervisor Andrea McGimsey for working so tirelessly to get the whole Park & Ride + charging stations to happen. Another well-deserved Thank You goes to Loudoun County Energy Manager Najib Salehi who helped get it done and more recently got the signs in place to ensure the charging stations become useful. And I'm very grateful to officer G. for not arresting me and being so helpful.

Power Supply Upgrade

Last summer, I posted a map of our place showing various sources of power that, in one way or another, contribute to the power for the electric car.

The original solar panels are enough for my entire 90 mile commute + 50%.

The windmill is delayed because the original vendor kept our money and delivered nothing. Ouch. The new vendor looks to be more professional. Still, it's more like next year before we take action on that because ...

... in the mean time, the barn just got 2.6KW of peel and stick solar panels. They fit right into the bays of a standard standing seam roof. In the coming weeks, we'll get the trench dug from the house to the barn and install the wiring. They are so inconspicuous, you might not realize they are already installed in this photo:

Washington Auto Show

The show starts tomorrow and runs until February 5th. Our car is in the show, in the advanced technologies section. That section also has some college projects which look very impressive. There are production EV's, too, such as the Volt, Leaf, Fit, Coda and maybe Ford's Focus Electric. No sign of any of the three Tesla models.

I hope that some of the people seeing these firsthand will take the leap and get us one step closer to being free of OPEC.

Heater Working

I've been driving the car most days on local errands or really any excuse to get out. It hasn't been easy, though. There's been no heater. The heated seats are nice and make it bearable. This weekend, I finished building and installing the electric heater. I'll drive it into the office on Tuesday.

Back On The Road!

The rear suspension springs arrived today. I installed them tonight and took it for a spin. Very nice. It seems to be sitting just slightly higher than stock, but not too bad.

This picture shows the originals, on the left, and the new ones custom made by Coil Spring Specialties in Kansas.

Also, this was the first time driving with the LEDs. All of the exterior lighting is now LED. They're pretty nice and use less power. These are all from superbrightleds.com in Missouri. They're a smart choice in a regular car if all you do is replace the interior lights. That way, if someone leaves that light on all night, your battery won't be dead in the morning. Not that I would know.

Charging Connections

I thought these charging connections were posted earlier; anyway, here it is now. This is where the gas cap used to be. It's a J1772 connection (from tucsonev.com) that takes 240V AC and there's a retractable 120V plug, too. In the upper left, behind the cap in this view, there is a green light indicating that charging power is available to the car. The 240V charges about 2 ½ times faster than the 120V. On the other hand, the 120V is available everywhere.

12V Power Supply

A normal car has an alternator to provide 12V power to lights and all the other loads, and to keep the 12V battery charged. This electric car has a DC-DC converter instead. It gets high voltage (~280V) power from the main battery and converts it down to 12V. The first unit wasn't working the way I wanted, so I returned it and Belktronix modified it and sent it back. This is one of the advantages of choosing Made in the USA whenever you can. Here it is installed.

Shocks and Shock-free

While waiting for the rear suspension springs to be modified (~5 weeks), I replaced the shock absorbers with heavier ones.

I also assembled a relay box to ensure that the 120V plug is never energized while the 240V charging power is connected. It's pretty simple. Here's a sketch.

Clean Fuel Plate!

Wow, it arrived even sooner than expected. I'm just about ready to be pulled over by the police for being in the HOV lane!

Electric Registration

The Woodbridge trip went well and the paperwork just came back. This is a unique document. The plates should arrive later this month.

In other news, the rear suspension springs are on their way to Kansas for modifications (stretching?) that will raise the back of the car back up to its original height. The DC-DC converter (12V power supply) is back to the factory for repair since one of the posts came loose. The main battery pack has been balancing for days and is improving quite a bit.