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Rate my odds of success

AtomicCEO

By AtomicCEO,
in The Tailgate

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Odds of Success  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. To what degree of success will my electric car project be?

    • Complete success! A Daily driver for your commute. Everyone who sees it will want one.
      10
    • It'll work.. kinda... but you wont rely on it to commute
      14
    • Almost! You'll find yourself short of the goal and sell it off at a loss to someone who knows what they are doing
      5
    • Utter complete failure. Thousands of dollars in the toilet, and nothing to show for it.
      12

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The Holy Roller Huddler

The Holy Roller

Posted
Posted
I voted kinda work. After my latest Hybrid class I see many problems that you may not be able to overcome. Keeping the electric motor cool is a serious issue. The transmission is a hugh hurdle and then once you get it fabricated it will also have a serious cooling issue. Anything I can do to help[ let me know!

 

:wacko: Like you don't have enough to do right now.

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Thews40 Huddler

Thews40

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By the way, the last time I worked on a car was 1995, and I changed a distributor cap. It was the most advanced thing I had ever done on a vehicle... usually I limit myself to changing batteries and wiper blades.

 

However, as most can attest to around here... I am a borderline genius, and I'm an expert at everything.

Having experience at working on cars is a must. If you finish this, I’ll predict you’ll exceed $10K easy. One more thing you’ll need is access to a machine shop. Some experience with AutoCad wouldn’t hurt either. I applaud your effort, but after you get in over your head, it’ll cost you to get past the difficult parts.

 

My ex boss built a three wheeled electric bicycle. It has a range of 60+ miles, it goes 35 MPH (faster than the law allows), and it’s really cool. I think he’s into it for $5K or so. Oh… one more thing, he designs motors for a living. I don’t care how smart you think you are, you need a level of craftsmanship and problem solving ability to pull something like this off. I wish you luck… you’ll have the sweetest smelling farts in Boulder.

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whomper Huddler Hall Of Fame

whomper

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Where is the "you're going to electrocute yourself" option?

 

 

:wacko:

 

 

I have never asked Atomic a question that he couldnt answer. I have faith in him. Good Luck. If you want to make it a lace interior let me know.

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Thews40 Huddler

Thews40

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Well, unless you want to go up to 144V, which is an awful lot of batteries... you need a car that is as close to 2000 lbs as possible.

 

Common conversions are Geo Metros, VW Rabbits, VW Bugs, and little pickup trucks.

 

It's much easier to find old Bugs than it is to find Rabbits or Metros, and I didn't want a truck. Plus there is a massive marketplace for aftermarket VW Bug parts. If I need a new bumper, seat, shocks, clutch, or dashboard... I can find tons of options from 5 or 6 different manufacturers.

 

If this works out, I've been giving thought to trying a fancy kit car on top of the VW frame. There are a lot of interesting sportscar bodies you can put on a Beetle frame.

 

It's really one of the best cars to work with for this.

I agree that bugs are cheap, but not the safest of cars. My 66 Mustang has manual steering, no shoulder seat belts and 4 wheel drum brakes. I’d never let one of my kids drive it those were upgraded. I have over $10K into my 69 Firebird (not including what I paid for it), and I’m no where near finished and I've owned the car for 10 years now. It runs, and it’s fun to drive, but the parts are very expensive. In the end, if you won’t drive this bug when there’s bad weather, then it’s prolly just a fun project. If you’re serious about using this as an year round commuter, I’d change the base car right now. Air bags and stuff weigh more, but it’s worth it.

 

:wacko:

Good Luck. If you want to make it a lace interior let me know.

:D Chitty chitty bang bang... chitty chitty bang bang

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AtomicCEO Huddler Hall Of Fame

AtomicCEO

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I agree that bugs are cheap, but not the safest of cars. My 66 Mustang has manual steering, no shoulder seat belts and 4 wheel drum brakes. I’d never let one of my kids drive it those were upgraded. I have over $10K into my 69 Firebird (not including what I paid for it), and I’m no where near finished and I've owned the car for 10 years now. It runs, and it’s fun to drive, but the parts are very expensive. In the end, if you won’t drive this bug when there’s bad weather, then it’s prolly just a fun project. If you’re serious about using this as an year round commuter, I’d change the base car right now. Air bags and stuff weigh more, but it’s worth it.

 

It's been upgraded to shoulder belts. That's about it.

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Thews40 Huddler

Thews40

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It's been upgraded to shoulder belts. That's about it.

Still can't drive it in the snow, but then you'd need heat too, so I guess chitty chitty bang bang will be a fine fair weathered friend. I used to have a late 60’s Karman Ghia (I’ve owned more cars than I can count). That was a fun car, and it looks sorta Porsche cool. PM me with any questions… I know really smart people and have some access to one of the most high tech machine shops I’ve ever seen. My friend Jeff is an amazing machinist and is the type of guy that will build something to do what you want it to do, and all he needs are the dimensions. Get some high tech measuring equipment. I’m jealous… this sounds like a fun project. You’ll prolly want a PC readout of current consumption and to monitor batteries n’ stuff. A Labview interface would be cool.

 

PS – Not sure what district you’re in, but my friend is going solar and he said it’s compensated up to 80% by the city. It’s going to run him over $40K, but he claims he’ll get almost all of it back and be 90% running on his own power.

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Skippy Huddler All-Pro

Skippy

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:wacko:

 

I wish I was closer to you so that I could kick in a hand here and there. These are the sorts of projects we need and we need people like you to keep track of everything that you do to make it work. I want to see this work but I hope you have some experinced wrench heads around you that can kick in a little help here and there.

 

I guess I am going to have to sign up on facebook as I do want to follow this project.

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TimC Huddler All-Pro

TimC

Posted
Posted

GM may beat you to the punch with the Volt.

 

The Volt is a major gamble for General Motors, which aims to be the first automaker to market a plug-in hybrid, and the first to offer a hybrid vehicle that is propelled solely on electrically generated power. Featuring an electric-only range of 40 miles, a small gasoline engine is on board only to charge the batteries on longer trips, but cannot move the car on its own like the engines in traditional hybrid vehicles.

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if it will be a success or not? :wacko:

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  • 1 year later...
AtomicCEO Huddler Hall Of Fame

AtomicCEO

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Posted (edited)

UPDATE:

14 of you doubters are already wrong. :wacko: 10 more to go. :tup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbAi0zO_S4o

 

We hooked it up to the year-old batteries with whatever charge they had in them (somewhere between 70-80 volts, too low for the voltmeter I installed), and it goes... around the block and back again. I'm psyched!

Edited by AtomicCEO
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Puddy Huddler All-Pro

Puddy

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UPDATE:

14 of you doubters are already wrong. :wacko: 10 more to go. :tup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbAi0zO_S4o

 

We hooked it up to the year-old batteries with whatever charge they had in them (somewhere between 70-80 volts, too low for the voltmeter I installed), and it goes... around the block and back again. I'm psyched!

Mad props for sure. I've been following this project through your Facebook updates and have to say I am impressed. Really cool stuff.

 

:tup:

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