[69MyWay]

For giggles and grins...and because I hate seeing the prices at the pump, I have been looking on-line at EV stuff. What I didn't know, is it isn't all that uncommon to take a traditional gas car, mount a electric motor against the trans, stack it full of batteries add something called a Rotrax controller...and you are cruising on volts instead of oil.

The stuff is out there already made at some high prices:

http://www.teslamotors.com/

I found a place in S. Florida that converts 911s and they brag about some serious performance gains...and of course no stops at the pump.

This place has all kinds of ads for different types:

http://www.austinev.org/evtradinpos...list=classifiedscategory&rollid=17&clearoff=1

The formula for a DIY EV seems to be a light weight car with room to stuff plenty of batteries. They get about 40 miles round trip on a charge and can go up to 50 or so for short bursts.

Considering most people only drive about 30 mile round trip to work...this could suffice at about 1 to 2 cents a mile.

So, the "wheels" get turning in my brain. A C4 at least can be stripped down pretty dang light weight. If you pull the fuel tank and use the engine bay as well, there is more than enough room for batteries. You would need some skinny tires to reduce friction.

I dunno...call me crazy, but I would love to cruise past the gas pumps everyday and just smile...then when I want to rip up some asphalt, I could pull the 468 cube 69 Vette out and burn up some dead dinosaurs.

 

[chevyguy1969]

good advice hehehe

yehhh what does she sound like when she flys thought second gear and headed for third in a hurrry. stick with your gas brother i know the wallet hurts at the gas pump but you soul loves love a C3 on gas yee haa.artyon:

 

[chevyguy1969]

sorry

i'm sorry!!!! you said strip down a c4 i thought you wanted to convert a C3 my bad. LOL i just love the smell of burnt dinasours from a C3...........Make some ones day pass them your vette :thumbsup: :cheers:

 

[69MyWay]

i'm sorry!!!! you said strip down a c4 i thought you wanted to convert a C3 my bad. LOL i just love the smell of burnt dinasours from a C3...........Make some ones day pass them your vette :thumbsup: :cheers:

Yes...but if one could have both, and killer gas guzzling monster V8...and a pure electric transportation cheating machine....that would be awesome beyond cool.

Of course, hacking up an old VW bug would be the cheapest and fastest way to have EV fun, and keep the Vette running old school.

 

[Paranoid]

I guess as long as it would keep the same sound as my BB.

 

[Rick 2000]

Whit some electrical car experience my self . If you planning
to use same drivetrain like Tesla is using ( AC propulsion ) most
likley the best one availble right now . Don't think you ever will
safe enough mony to recover from conversation cost , do it as
a sience project only + those batterys needs to be replaced
after a period of use at a very high cost . On top of that the
resale value on a complicated car like that will not be great .
I your only purpose is to save mony , buy a Chevrolet Aveo
40+ mpg , or a Harely 50 mpg whit ( excelent resale value ).
Me personaly see raises in gas prices as a motivater to get a
better paying job .

 

[chevyguy1969]

Whit some electrical car experience my self . If you planning
to use same drivetrain like Tesla is using ( AC propulsion ) most
likley the best one availble right now . Don't think you ever will
safe enough mony to recover from conversation cost , do it as
a sience project only + those batterys needs to be replaced
after a period of use at a very high cost . On top of that the
resale value on a complicated car like that will not be great .
I your only purpose is to save mony , buy a Chevrolet Aveo
40+ mpg , or a Harely 50 mpg whit ( excelent resale value ).
Me personaly see raises in gas prices as a motivater to get a
better paying job .

:agree:

 

[mrvette]

EV, horsecrap.....fun to drive untill the battery fails....what then??

we can't even get a cphone battery to last a year....fail to hold a charge....
electric tools, like drills...same thing....

who wants to drive a golf cart to work??

got 25-30 batteries in a EV....12 volt lead acid....wonderful, therefore by the numbers you have 25-30 times the allready high failure rate of a typical 12 volt battery.....

lemme see, a 12 volt battery used to last 5-6 years, they down to 3-4 at most now a daze....methinks that's EPA type crap about making them.....

so what is the result?? considering premature failures happening 10% of the time, that makes it one battery every 2 weeks??? summfin like that....

methinks this is NOT the way to go....

Sorry, Chris, I think the electric motor is the way to go for total performance in any vechicle....what kills it is the damn electric energy storage...the damn battery.....

 

[TwinTurbo]

how much is it over there? Here we just hit 7,65$ for a gallon of RON98 ... :surprised :WTF :down:

 

[mrvette]

how much is it over there? Here we just hit 7,65$ for a gallon of RON98 ... :surprised :WTF :down:

We pay about 3 bux/gallon US for mid grade....89 octane....which is what I run my vette on...the truck get 87 octane for a dime less/gallon....

gas is a commodity item, you remove the taxes we pay for roads building/upkeep all over the joint here 2500 miles north/south, and 3000 miles east/west.....we pay a buck a gallon, on average for fuel taxes....
making gas today 2 bux/gallon in reality...

so the true price is 2 bux/gallon, no offense, but your .gov over in Europe jacks the tschit out of gas prices for social welfare type reasons....
can't imagine any other cause....can't see cost/mile of roads being much differant there than here.....money gotta be going somewhere??

 

[big2bird]

For giggles and grins...and because I hate seeing the prices at the pump, I have been looking on-line at EV stuff. What I didn't know, is it isn't all that uncommon to take a traditional gas car, mount a electric motor against the trans, stack it full of batteries add something called a Rotrax controller...and you are cruising on volts instead of oil.

The stuff is out there already made at some high prices:

http://www.teslamotors.com/

I found a place in S. Florida that converts 911s and they brag about some serious performance gains...and of course no stops at the pump.

This place has all kinds of ads for different types:

http://www.austinev.org/evtradinpos...list=classifiedscategory&rollid=17&clearoff=1

The formula for a DIY EV seems to be a light weight car with room to stuff plenty of batteries. They get about 40 miles round trip on a charge and can go up to 50 or so for short bursts.

Considering most people only drive about 30 mile round trip to work...this could suffice at about 1 to 2 cents a mile.

So, the "wheels" get turning in my brain. A C4 at least can be stripped down pretty dang light weight. If you pull the fuel tank and use the engine bay as well, there is more than enough room for batteries. You would need some skinny tires to reduce friction.

I dunno...call me crazy, but I would love to cruise past the gas pumps everyday and just smile...then when I want to rip up some asphalt, I could pull the 468 cube 69 Vette out and burn up some dead dinosaurs.

A Vette would be a horrible platform for an EV. A Pickup would be better suited. You could put a Gaylord cover on the bed, line up/wire all the battery's, and the suspension could handle the weight. Some IBEW sparky's have done this with good success.

 

[TimAT]

Looking at the weight of the batteries, and the life of them, I'd think it would be almost as economical to convert to either LPG or Natural Gas. Methane would be cool, but it's so corrosive. One day maybe they'll have the fuel cell thing working- A Hydrogen powered Vette?

Still a good question.

Throw a 10hp Briggs & Stratton in there, run as big a generator as you can, and then a battery bank.

Back when I was a kid, GM did some Corvette promo stuff that included a battery powered go cart (they had a gas one too, mine was electric) Sold it in 1970 for $400- Anyone want to take a potshot at what it'd be worth today? I need some really good depressing news to start the day with.

:cheers:

 

[TwinTurbo]

no offense, but your .gov over in Europe jacks the tschit out of gas prices for social welfare type reasons....
can't imagine any other cause....can't see cost/mile of roads being much differant there than here.....money gotta be going somewhere??

Yes, it's for all those immigrants and such.. it's just a big bottomless pit..oh and the EU, that **** costs heaps of money also. Less than 20% goes to the oil co's and the pump owner... insane ain't it?

 

[69MyWay]

The entire idea still intriques me.

I'm going to learn as much about these things as possible.

If I could pick up a VW cheap and build one - I don't see the downside.

What does a battery cost? $50 - $80?

I spend that much a week now in my 04 Silverado on gas.

So, if I lost one every 3 to 6 months...no biggie.

I see there are many small truck EV conversions out there.

Consider a battery weighs...30 lbs or so each??? The EV motor would weigh maybe 100 - 150 lbs. 12 batteries would be 360 lbs + motor = 510 lbs.

Now...gas weighs 8 lbs a gallon, and a small block dressed is 800 lbs or more.

So, a full tank of gas and motor would still weigh more than a Vette strapped down with batteries.

Or...a VW, or other power plant.

I think it would be cool to put an alternator on the driveshaft to charge the accessory battery while you are cruising (lights - horn - radio - blower fan).

Just thinking...

I suspect $4 a gallon this summer, and when the first hurricane starts to brew - $5.50 for regular. Watch and see.

There is no good sense in burning up my paycheck just to go to and from the work hole everyday.

 

[DLee]

I think an electric c4 would be a really cool project, I met a guy a few years ago who converted a miata to electric. I asked him about it and he said it's the best thing he's ever done, he just charges it at home every two days and the cost of charging it is NOTHING compared to filling up on gas. Plus it's quick & quiet. If you have the time and the money to do it why not. If you haven't watched it, rent 'Who Killed the Electric Car' really interesting documentary about the whole EV technology and why it hasn't caught on.

 

[mrvette]

I think an electric c4 would be a really cool project, I met a guy a few years ago who converted a miata to electric. I asked him about it and he said it's the best thing he's ever done, he just charges it at home every two days and the cost of charging it is NOTHING compared to filling up on gas. Plus it's quick & quiet. If you have the time and the money to do it why not. If you haven't watched it, rent 'Who Killed the Electric Car' really interesting documentary about the whole EV technology and why it hasn't caught on.

I"m only saying this once.....NO ONE KILLED the electric car, it's the laws of physics, reliability, energy storage with current tech.....

electric cars are a wet dream untill battery tech takes a quantum LEAP....

by a factor of well over TEN.....and at that, 20 would be more like it....

hey, beleive what you want to, do it if you desire....C U in say 2 years, lemme know how it ALL worked out.....

so, ok, working on a buddys boat a few hours ago....I went and weighed his boat battery....cranks a 350 chebby engine...marine deep cycle battery....weight came out at 55 lbs.....call it 60 for supports/clamps included...now my boat battery just cranks an outboard and it's 37.8 lbs...call it 40 with clamps/supports....figger 20? batteries per car....

plus motor weight, have fun....

 

[joeshmoa69]

Hydrogen wont be a good fuel source until all of the power plants are converted over to nuclear. It takes a ton of energy to get the compressed hydrogen into tanks and most of our power plants use fossil fuels which defeats the whole purpose of using hydrogen in the first place.

 

[Double_Take]

I have been getting more and more into alternate fuel vehicles recently also. I love my vette for the weekends, but I need a cheaper way to get to and from work. 'Who killed the electric car' is a great flick and I suggest everyone here sit down and watch it. The EV1 electric car was working fine 10+ years ago. What was your computer like 10 years ago? The arguement is that there is no market for alternate fuel cars, but GM hardly advertised the EV1 and even talked customers out of buying them by listing all the draw backs of the car. When was the last time you went to a dealership to buy a car and the sales person told you the tank needs to be filled up every 300 miles, you need to change the oil every 3000 miles, and the interior space is too small for your needs? NEVER!

Battery technology is taking leaps and bounds almost monthly now that a market is emerging for them. If only the government would give all the money they give to big oil to find new oil fields to some of the leading battery mfg's the industry would be in top shape in no time. The economics is there, the car companies need to stop dragging their feet before the japanese and small companies like tesla are able to seze the market.

 

[mrvette]

I have been getting more and more into alternate fuel vehicles recently also. I love my vette for the weekends, but I need a cheaper way to get to and from work. 'Who killed the electric car' is a great flick and I suggest everyone here sit down and watch it. The EV1 electric car was working fine 10+ years ago. What was your computer like 10 years ago? The arguement is that there is no market for alternate fuel cars, but GM hardly advertised the EV1 and even talked customers out of buying them by listing all the draw backs of the car. When was the last time you went to a dealership to buy a car and the sales person told you the tank needs to be filled up every 300 miles, you need to change the oil every 3000 miles, and the interior space is too small for your needs? NEVER!

Battery technology is taking leaps and bounds almost monthly now that a market is emerging for them. If only the government would give all the money they give to big oil to find new oil fields to some of the leading battery mfg's the industry would be in top shape in no time. The economics is there, the car companies need to stop dragging their feet before the japanese and small companies like tesla are able to seze the market.

Battery tech is going NO WHERE....the leaps needed are QUANTUM, not incremental....how reliable is YOUR flashlight???

my previous post stands....i'ts not practical....good for poly-ticks ONLY....

all based on a lie....

the very making of any battery larger than a D cell creates more 'pollution' than the car could EVER save....

wanna save gas?? eliminate Cat ass trophic converters, put the lead back in gasoline, and pick up ~10-15% better miles per gallon....

AND save another 10% of the crude oil per gallon used for eliminating Tetraethyl lead....

so there is a double savings....pushing 25% of crude consumption...all for the greatest LIE ever foisted on the American public....

 

[DJ Dep]

Hydrogen...I seen videos of the hydrogen bomb..I'll pass. :laughing:

Methane...if they can bottle cow farts, we should be all set :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Dep