August 1, 2002 - I kid you not, 10 years to the day! I have it written on the door frame timeline of significant events I keep, like the way my grandmother marked my height during each summer visit. I have decided to spend the money ($4,725) and "go professional". I would buy an EV conversion kit from Electro Automotive out of California. Home Power magazine had taken the place of Mother Earth News in my library and research. I mailed them a check and they started sending me parts and pieces.
Controller, relay, fuse, shunt, gauges, cable lugs, clutch and motor mounting plates, etc.
8 inch, 96 volt dc Advance motor mounted to 1980 Dodge Omni transmission
Three months later and another $1,120 for 16 new six volt deep cycle golf cart batteries and the EV conversion was coming right along. On board 96 volt battery charger can be seen in upper right of photo.
A bit more work under the hood to place 4 batteries. Wire everything up and...
I drove my EV conversion project over for the first day of school!
Lets get technical - EV conversion Data
BATTERIES
Six volt golf cart batteries (16 required)
250 Ah rated for 130 Min @75 Amp draw
Wired in series for a total of 96 volts dc
Wired with 50 feet of 00 welding cable
70 pounds each - 1120 pounds total battery weight
Recharging requires 10 - 12 hours
Expected life 3 - 5 years
Total battery cost $1,120
MOTOR
8" Advance D.C.
15" long
Weight 107 lbs
Voltage 96 - 120
Efficiency 89%
Continuous run at 91 v 178 a 5000 rpm 19 HP 14.4 KW
Peak HP 68
Brush life 80,000 miles
Cost $1,400
CONTROLLER
Curtis/PMC
Cost $1,130
CHARGING
Russco SC 18-120
Input 120 vac at 15 amps
Output 80 - 170 VDC adjustable and 12.5 Amps adjustable
Cost $ 525
Operating cost 2.5 cents per mile (with grid power at .10 per kwh)
Top speed 50 - 60 miles
Range - 25-30 miles
TOTAL EV conversion cost $4,725 in 2002
Buyers beware of doing business with Electro Automotive. Check their BBB rating and multitude of unresolved complaints filed by customers who've been ripped off.
ReplyDeleteHello Albert - I think you're being a bit harsh on the folks at Electro Automotive. Are speaking from first hand experience with these folks? I did a search on the CA BBB and they did not rate well in the eyes of the BBB. They list 12 complaints hardly what I would consider a "Multitude". That said I can tell you they aren't into "next day delivery" but they do deliver. That was true in 2002 and continued on this project in 2013. They even covered the extra shipping costs for one of the products I ordered. By the way, Your last name is the same as the publisher of Home Power (Richard Perez) and that caught my eye as maybe something was up. Bottom line - From my experience I would say the Electro Automotive guys are OK.
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