Anyone own, built or worked on an electric vehicle?

[Jim Oaks]

My idea was to replace the front sheet metal with fiberglass and replace the bed with a battery tray and fiberglass bedsides to try and keep the weight down.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i would really aim for having the batteries BETWEEN the frame rails. thats about as low as they can go without reducing ground clearence. you could still leave the bed off since its just added weight anyway...plus then everyone will be able to see your batteries

 

[Ozwynn]

I researched that out for my LC. you'll need a 4spd transmission, Tcase, 192 volt set up (16 yellow top optimas X2) a motor, onboard charger, onboard Generator, a controller, ................. not going to be cheap ....... you could have Chip Foose build you a mustang for what what you are talking about would cost.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

...a 4spd transmission...(16 yellow top optimas X2)...onboard charger, onboard Generator

why would he need a transmission? and even more curious, why a generator?

AGM batteries are excellent for electric drag racing applications because, unlike a wet cell battery, they have the ability to dump almost all of their stored energy at once (like in a 1/4 mile pass). for a continuous, low-draw situation like rock crawling, standard wet cell batteries would perform just as well and be much cheaper.

the charger also doesnt need to be carried on-board. leaving it at home would save weight on the vehicle.

 

[Ozwynn]

why would he need a transmission? and even more curious, why a generator?

AGM batteries are excellent for electric drag racing applications because, unlike a wet cell battery, they have the ability to dump almost all of their stored energy at once (like in a 1/4 mile pass). for a continuous, low-draw situation like rock crawling, standard wet cell batteries would perform just as well and be much cheaper.

the charger also doesnt need to be carried on-board. leaving it at home would save weight on the vehicle.

so you have the option to gear down, like having an 8 speed transfer case. you use a direct connection from the motor to the trans, no clutch. Although I would run a clutch because some of these things have so much damn power that their brakes wont hold them and the cut off from the controller is not as instant as you think.

Better to mount the charger and have onboard gen so you don't get stuck out on the trail. better to be prepared. the gen and charger add so little weight compared to the batteries.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

wet batteries would really suck if you rolled it.
battery aganst battery (same size) the agm will kill a wet battery short or long term draw,with a quicker recovery time.
i sell them everyday.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i still think a transmission is unnecissary. the whole reason ICE's use it is because they make power in such a narrow RPM range. electric motors dont have this problem. with 100% torque available at 0 RPM, you could be crawling through rocks at 20 RPM without the need for an extra gearbox. then wind it clear up to 6,000 RPM for that sprint across the valley floor.

copperhead, good point about spilling the batteries, although it'd be easy enough to clamp the caps down in some way...AGM is probably safer in the long run.

 

[Ozwynn]

you say that now, but when people who build these for a living tell me to use a transmission for an off-road application. its not like you are shifting gears with it. and you still want a really low final crawl ratio.


we put rich's buggy on its top to see if the batteries would leak........ didn't start leaking till after 20 min. Lithium Ion would be the way to go when the price comes down.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

lithium ion would be really great. such higher energy density than lead acid

i still want to get some parts together to build a flywheel energy storage r/c car for proof of concept

 

[Ozwynn]

lithium ion would be really great. such higher energy density than lead acid

i still want to get some parts together to build a flywheel energy storage r/c car for proof of concept

those been running in europe as trolley cars for a while. use a flywheel to store energy and it gets spun up at every station. works rather well

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

theyve used them on an off for busses and the like. started back in the 20's or 30's. i want to try something a little more "free range" than a bus though.

plus a scale model would tell me how far off my math is

 

[Will]

The batteries are always the problem. Hard to believe because people with names like Volta, Franklin and Faraday lived 200 years ago.

Those flywheels are a little scary with their gyroscopic effect. But with enough computer power maybe you could drive on the ceiling of a tunnel like Men in Black.

 

[Simple_serf]

wet batteries would really suck if you rolled it.
battery aganst battery (same size) the agm will kill a wet battery short or long term draw,with a quicker recovery time.
i sell them everyday.

Sorry, but for overall longevity, I would have to say wet cells are better....As someone who works on/maintains batteries everyday as part of his job. The only thing that would make them better is the massive amount of in/out current they can take and the fact that you wouldn't spill them. Besides...L16's are cheaper...

I have 3 24 volt Exide Wet cell Loadhogs(I believe 600AH) at work...they are 14years old and still make it though a full shift without any problems. They get pulled down to 70% DOD most of the time.

For this application, AGM's would probably be best, due to the spilling hazard. However, it depends on how it's going to be used...hard offroad, mud, what? anything where you would possibly overturn the batteries or submerge them, I would go for agm's. If that isn't a real risk, say for mostly just trails then I would go for L-16's... We pull them down to 80%DOD every night and still manage to get about 2 years out of them in our floor scrubbers.

Just my opinion

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

serf,you do your job very well maintaining the wet batterys thats why they have lasted that long.

ill still put an agm or true gell aganst a wet battery any day.ill check with my vender and see if they make one for your application,pm me with your location and ill see if there is a vender in your area.....maybe i can get you some demos...then you can put them to the test and let us know how they stack up.

 

[Simple_serf]

serf,you do your job very well maintaining the wet batterys thats why they have lasted that long.

ill still put an agm or true gell aganst a wet battery any day.ill check with my vender and see if they make one for your application,pm me with your location and ill see if there is a vender in your area.....maybe i can get you some demos...then you can put them to the test and let us know how they stack up.

Hmm..I'd be interested, but we just replaced all L16's this year and have a replacement contract with our parts supplier out of Buffalo. usually when a cell does go bad, we have to run it for at least another month before everything is ok'd to replace it...

I'd still be interested in learning a bit more about what all you guys have...I'm between Erie PA and Buffalo NY (Jamestown NY).