EVDL Administrator wrote:
Now there's an interesting question. Who here has built a really low-cost
EV and would like to tell us how he/she did it?
I seem to recall the Lee Hart has built some bargain-basement conversions.
EVDL old-timers will also recall Bob Rice talking about his "duct tape and
baling wire" style EV creations.
I built my own EV from scratch in the 1970's, and while it worked, it
was fairly basic. I would call it a "Model T Engineering Test vehicle"
rather than a practical car. I went back to converting existing cars
after that.
But I've talked extensively with Bob Rice about his experiences. As
designer of the CitiCar, he was a master of the "git 'er done" school of
engineering. He proved the old 80/20 rule many times -- get 80% of the
results for 20% of the cost!
His "Electroliner" EV was a perfect example of a built-it-yourself EV.
Think of a CitiCar, but with a steel angle iron space frame instead of
aluminum pipe (cheaper, easier to weld). Plywood body panels instead of
plastic. Trailer springs, axles, brakes, tires, and wheels (cheap!).
Twin golf cart motors, each driving its own back wheel with a 5:1 gear
reduction (no transmission or differential). Contactor controller made
with 36v golf cart parts, that can switch motors and batteries in
series/parallel to provide 18v/36v/72v. Twin 36v battery packs, that can
be charged in parallel with a common golf cart charger.
You'd end up with a rather rude-n-crude vehicle, but it would certainly
be simple, and it beats walking! :-) The twin motors would be enough to
get it out of NEV territory, and (barely) able to do highway speeds. My
ComutaVan was almost built like this, and it did 55 mph.
I've also seen Jerry Dycus's home-made 3-wheeler (that Bob named the
"Lumberghini") :-) It was almost entirely made of wood, but had an
enclosed cabin and (I think) a 48v pack and golf cart motor. It was a
very clever design; Jerry used it for several years as his daily driver.
I wish Jerry had built more, or at least documented it so others could
learn from it.
One other approach comes to mind. Get a copy of Ron Champion's book
"Build your own sports car -- for 25 pounds" (it's British). Basically,
you buy a rusted out wreck, and transfer the entire suspension package
to your own welded steel space frame. His book keeps the original ICE,
but some have been built as EVs. One of them uses five Prius battery
packs as its propulsion packs! :-)
--
The greatest pleasure in life is to create something that wasn't there
before. -- Roy Spence
--
Lee A. Hart, http://www.sunrise-ev.com/LeesEVs.htm
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