Welcome to the Electric Car Weblog. In addition to links, news, and tips about electric cars and other forms of alternative transportation we are publishing an on-line diary of our current EV project. Started in August 2005 the chronicle follows the conversion of a gas powered Ford Probe into an Electric Car.
You will find articles organized by categories, along with recent comments, along the right hand column of the website. If you are just getting started with the idea of converting a gas car to electric be sure to check out Your First Electric Car .
Welcome and enjoy!
-Jerry
You will find articles organized by categories, along with recent comments, along the right hand column of the website. If you are just getting started with the idea of converting a gas car to electric be sure to check out Your First Electric Car .
Welcome and enjoy!
-Jerry
- Been researching brakes after a nice email from Kendall suggesting that I could replace the back drums with discs. Hmm, that would be kind of nice I think. Here’s a few related links:
- Converting Ford Probe rear drum to disc brakes, performanceprobe.com (site really doesn’t like other browsers)
- All you ever wanted to know about brakes (probetalk.com forum)
- Braking in plain english
Comment [4]
- Pick the answer you think fits best:
- fun at parties
- fuel efficient
- safe in parking lots
- will need bigger stereo
- bug zapper
- Someone on the EVList has uploaded a battery handbook to this site. It’s a little complicated to get it: click the “free” option, then wait 30 seconds or so on the next page for the timer at which point you should see links for downloading it.
- General Hydrogen’s Hydricity pack looks interesting. Meant as a pop-in replacement for the battery packs in forklifts, industrial vehicles, and off-road equipment.
- Ergosphere on EROEI (Energy Return On Energy Invested) as applied to insulating your home (which I can relate to this time of year).
Comment [1]
- James sent along a link to this concept car. Looks like they are optimizing for weight over everything else…everything. Resulting in a 186mpg diesel. We were thinking the body would be fun for an EV conversion (lithium, ac, etc..). Bonus points if you can figure out how to get into the car.
- How carbon fiber works.
- Zeke’s not going to like this one: ventilated car seats can reduce the need for A/C and thereby improve fuel economy. (My dog loves his A/C)
- If you want to charge your EV with “clean” electricity, then check out the state by state listings of the Green Power Network. [via AltEnergyBlog]
- Bill would give hybrids the same small business tax breaks as big SUVs.
Comment [3]
- Open-Source DIY Plug-in Prius…in a Weekend. Part of the upcoming Make magazine Maker faire April 22-23 in San Mateo, CA. “Join the creators of MAKE magazine, the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors at MAKE’s first ever Maker Faire!”
- New life for sulphated lead acid batteries? (PDF file).
“Over the years I have tried many chemical treatments supposed to rid a cell of sulphation. None of them made any perceptible difference. A strange and devious set of circumstances has led us to the successful chemical removal of sulphation from six lead acid cells. Not only are the circumstances odd, but the chemical used, EDTA, is benign– in fact, it is used as a human food preservative.“
- Vehicle-to-Grid Power: Battery, Hybrid, and Fuel Cell Vehicles as Resources for Distributed Electric Power in California.
Comment [4]
- No, no, really, Zap will be selling their Smart Cars any day now!
- Does Ford have a better idea about sustainability? Series of articles from GCC.
- Darin’s getting into MPG graphs now. I can’t wait until he has an EV to play with.
- Flash and frugality, it’s gotta be tough to be an automaker these days: keep cranking out bigger/faster or try to hop on the efficiency train?
- VW’s diesel hybrid 250mpg car. Fun with carbon fiber composites.
- Looks like Ballard needs our help. Here’s my idea: they give us EV converters free fuel cells, or at greatly reduced prices, along with the support infrastructure to fuel them (home hydrogen kit?). We install them in our EVs, show the technology off, spread the word, ...(?), profit! Meanwhile Toyota and GM’s joint fuel cell research is ending due to lack of progress.
- Honda might be working on a cheap hybrid.
- Jim’s added some more repair/take-apart pictures to his Hi-Torque Electric motor site. I particularly like the photo of the siamese 8 inch motor install complete with Zilla controller.
- Looks like they are taking orders for the new Rudman MK3 battery regulator/monitors. “The current command structure supports 99 regulators in series. All communications are done on with terminal software.”
- Another breakthrough in solar cells. I’m not sure what the exact major breakthrough is (i.e. how much cheaper to make or % efficiency) but thought this quote from the article was interesting: “Alberts said in Switzerland it was already compulsory for all new houses to include solar technology to lessen energy demands on national grids.” Another take on the story, here
- Geoff’s e-jet, jet power assist EV-1? Uh, ok…
- While we are covering science fiction, “Bush said the batteries could someday enable a hybrid car to plug into a wall socket to recharge and then travel 100 miles on a single gallon of gasoline.” Or, hey, how about NO gas?
- I heard back from A123 Systems: “Thank you for you interest in A123Systems’ exciting new battery technology. Electric vehicle (EV) & hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications are extremely attractive applications for our technology. Unfortunately, we are not currently in a position to support the individual inquiries for project cars.” Dang!
Comment [7]
- Miles Twete’s 1921 Milburn Light Electric: top speed 28mph, range 90 miles, worm drivetrain, and a Coal-burning foot warmer.
- Chris Jones’ EV Conversion Plan. He’s put together some helpful information, including a battery comparison chart and a drive train comparison.
- It was inevitable that hybrid kits, of some sort or another would start showing up. And like some of the new “hybrids” that will be coming from auto manufacturers, not all of them are meant to improve fuel efficiency. Check out the Electrocharger kit, to increase the initial rate of acceleration. Essentially a beefy alternator with a heavy duty belt connecting it to the engine shaft. They claim that it should improve fuel efficiency, but won’t have data to support this until later this year.
- No idea on the propulsion means for any of these, but some very interesting cars in this Art Car Fest flickr set.
- A123’s new nanotechnology-based lithium-ion batteries will start showing up in power tools soon. A123 claims its battery offers twice the power density of comparable ‘old-technology’ lithium ion cells. I’ve volunteered to be an EV tester…no word back yet. ”:^)
Comment [2]