EV Projects · 30 January 07

As the comments here and my email Inbox can readily attest there’s always quite a few EV projects in the works from all around the world, along with many other folks interested in taking on their own conversion or finding someone to convert a vehicle for them. I suspect when warm weather and higher gas prices return later this year we’ll see an even larger demand!

So I thought I’d share a couple of the photos from the Inbox. As always, click the photos for larger, more detailed versions.

First off an update from Bob Hurst. We featured Bob a while back with his 1957 Citroën EV. Bob and his son Jim made the drive up from Massachusetts a couple months back to take a peak at Eve and to pick up Atom’s old controller. Bob’s EV, which he made by hand during the energy crisis of the 70’s, didn’t have a controller per se, just a lot of salvaged parts and Yankee ingenuity.

Here you can see a blend of the old and the new, with Atom’s 36-48volt Curtis controller nestled up front amidst the giant rectifiers, fuses, and a few unrecognizable parts.

Despite the age and eclectic parts making up Bob’s EV he not only got around town with it for a number of years, he also constructed his own regenerative braking circuit. Bob and Jim are waiting for a little warmer weather before venturing out on the road with the new controller. They also plan on constructing a controller bypass and integrating Bob’s regen circuit with the Curtis. Should be interesting to see when they are done (even more so to see the schematic!).

BTW, Atom’s old motor went to Yugo Greg. There’s a meter left over and what’s left of the body is sitting in our yard as I try to come up with a good home or an interesting use for it.

Our next photo comes from Ray who is making an electric motorcycle. The specs include:

• Lemco 200 AXE4844 Controller
• MaguraThrottle Magura 0-5k Twist Grip
• Curtis LED 48 Volt State of Charge Meter
• 200 Amp Circuit Breaker, Manual Reset
• 13 26Ah powersonic batteries (1 is the Aux)

He’s also somewhat stalled with the conversion due to the cold weather, but as you can see he’s got the motor in, general battery layout (which is always a challenge with motorcycles), and now needs to do the system wiring.

I also have another stack of photos from Joe’s 280z EV which I hope to post in the next week or so.

Which reminds me, if you make or sell EV related parts (motors, batteries, controllers, etc..) or have started an EV conversion business be sure to drop me an email. I’ll add you to our EV Resources page and maybe write an article if you have some interesting EV info to share.

Copyright © Jerry Halstead 1995-2011