Mike sent:
I have one more bit of unsolicited advice. From the information below,
you
are obviously very experienced with high performance gasoline
engines. I
would bet that you worked with many other ICE projects before you
tackled
the 1000 hp nitrous engine.
Actually that's 1600 hp with the nitrous but who's counting? ;^)
If you were talking to somebody that wanted to build a 650 hp
super-charged race car as a first project with gasoline engines, what
would
you recommend to them? Would you recommend that they start with a
smaller
project that was less performance with less things to go wrong? That
is
what I would recommend, personally.
Ahhh, that's what's different between you and me. You want to go "the
safe
route" that thousands before you have gone. My approach is "Screw that!
In
the end it will only get me to where thousands already are. What's the
point in that?!?"
The electric drive you want to build is the equivalent of that race
car
motor. Personally, I would recommend some sort of lower performance
project to learn on first. Make the mistakes with a 50-100 kW system
rather than a 400-500 kW system. Either one could cause serious
damage or
injury, but the high power system can do it a lot faster.
Is it going to kill me? Not likely... what doesn't kill me makes me
stronger. What comes closest to killing me on the way gets me there
quicker.
You could probably get a conversion project from someone else for a
few
thousand dollars. Take that apart and put it together. You will
learn a
lot. Read through the EVDL archives. There are a lot of subtle
items that
don't seem that important, but are critical. For example, fuses and
contactors that are suitable for AC may be completely inappropriate
to use
on a high voltage DC system. They could be the starting point of a
plasma
fire if something goes wrong.
Personally, I'd rather contract out the whole EV thing. My goal is not
to
become an EV expert. My goal is to have an EV ONLY because it is a
marketing tool. I personally would be just as happy with an ICE because
I
can't justify the added cost of an EV.
Be careful and meticulous with all your assembly. You need to take
as
much care with assembly and torquing all your electrical connections
as you
would be in assembling an engine.
Anyone on the list want to do the EV part for me?
This is an exciting project you are tackling.
Well, if I have to go the "safe route" the EV option is out. I simply
do
not have the luxury of the time it would take.
Let me explain... Tesla already has the "$100k family car EV" market,
so no
point in going there. They soon should have the $100k EV SUV market as
well. GM beat them to the punch with the "affordable 200 mile EV".
They
won;t sell a lot because $37,500 isn't really "affordable" for and ugly
EV
with only 200 miles of range when you can buy an ugly ICE with 400
miles of
range for half of that.
That said, I see the gap between those and above those filling very
rapidly
with EVs no later than 2 years from now. So I have LESS THAN 2 years to
get
past a prototype and into limited production. If I had an EV prototype
meeting my performance goals tomorrow it would still be difficult to
hit
that target. If I screw around for 6 months to a year playing around
with
low end EV conversions, I might as well hang up the entire project
right
now. Oh I could get a car to market with that approach, but it will be
"Too
little, too late". Besides, I'll run out of money taking that route as
well. Every penny I spend on distractions is a penny I can't send
towards
reaching my goal.
So, if I had unlimited time and unlimited budget, the "safe route"
would
work. But I simply don't believe that I do.
Since you asked... I would recommend someone
1) Hire a professional to find a good used race car from someone moving
up
to the 2500 horsepower class. Used race cars are (relatively) cheap at
somewhere between $20k and $75k (it would cost 4 times that and 1 - 2
years
to have one built).
2) Go to a drag racing school. One weekend, $8k, 5 second 1/4 mile at
240
mph. Fastest and easiest way to get the license required to race a car
that
goes that fast.
3) Start racing the weekend after the class!
If you find out it's not for you, sell the car and you still can say
you
drove a 5 secind 240 mph funny car and you have the license to prove
it!
Few people can say that. Value: PRICELESS!!!
I did it the way you recommend and it took me decades. Wish I had known
then what I know now. I would have been a MUCH younger guy racing VERY
quick cars! More accurately, I'd be my age still but have DECADES more
experience racing those cars.
