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Can you guess what this vehicle
has in common with this vehicle?
The answer is that both run on electric power.
It isn't commonly known, but the electric engine was one of the first types used in horseless carriages, which later became known as automobiles. In fact, electric power enjoyed a brief period of popularity over the internal combustion engine in the early 20th century. It wasn't until the electric starter was developed that gasoline-powered vehicles were considered safer than pre-transistor era electronic technology. It's strange that a century later we should be confronted with the same decision.
I've been teetering for the last 6-8 months over converting my car to pure electric. It isn't for the economy so much, I barely drive my car except for sunny day trips to the beach with the top down. Since I live 3 blocks away, cost of fuel is pretty negligible. It isn't because I'm particularly ecological. I still can't figure out exactly which plastics go into recycling and which don't and I don't quite understand what constitutes compost if you don't have a yard. But it is a relatively clean and cheap power. It's a fuel that's readily available, as opposed hydrogen cells or nuclear power. And the technology just isn't efficient or reliable enough for solar yet, although sunlight would be an amazing solution in its organic simplicity.
It's more the strange allure of electric power, images from my youth of grainy films of tesla coils, mystical Frankenstein machines, that automaton from Metropolis who was named after the Norse goddess of the underworld, this kind of retro-futurist dream that is finally at the cusp of becoming reality. It's a technofetish, probably similar to what the folks at Venturi must have experienced when naming their $630,000 electric car.
Which brings to mind the cost. It's all good and fine to get moist over new technologies (in this case, not so new), but it's another thing entirely when you gotta feed the monkey. Despite what ecologists try to sell, electric power is not significantly cheaper than gas, based on my studies. A person does not buy a $100k Tesla because it's economical. It's a bit cleaner, but when you consider that 50% of electric power in this country is coal generated, it's not perfect. No, you do it out of love.
Or lust, as the case may be.
Bottom line, the performance of your electric vehicle in terms of speed, distance, convenience, and general sexiness is directly proportionate to the amount of money you put into it. Getting electric technology to perform on par with ICE (internal combustion engine) expectations is not cheap. With the current state of technology, at 100 thousand clams, the Tesla is a good value.
AC Propulsion, who designed the electric drivetrain for the Tesla and the Venturi Fetish will make a Scion run on a similar system for a mere $50,000. That does not include the car, which will run you another $15k if you don't provide your own. Suffice it to say that more than half the cost of an electric car is in the propulsion system.
Not everyone has that kind of coin to spend, which brings us into the realm of hobbyists, gearheads, and generally, nerds. These type of folks gut their cars and replace anything that moves or oozes toxic fluid or fumes with wires. And it's a pretty cool thing, the solutions they come up with and the things they create.
I'll give you the short rundown of the prevailing method currently used, or at least the one I like best. I'm sharing what I've learned so far. Keep in mind I've never taken a physics, engineering or advanced chemistry class in my life. The honors program at my school exempted me from these studies, instead propelling me towards humanities, linguistics, philosophy, semantics, and dead languages (like proper English). Useful stuff like that, which I'm glad I know, but the scientific pursuits have always had sort of an alchemical attraction to me. I learn a lot on my own, like if I have a question I find out the answer from books, but some areas end up being kind of spotty that way. My primitive intellect wouldn't understand things with alloys and compositions and things with molecular structures. So if you're a Poindexter and I'm wrong about something let me know. It isn't really my element or religion so I'm not gonna be insulted.
Essentially the principle is you choose a light car with a lot of storage capacity, preferably aerodynamic. You take out the engine, the exhaust system, the radiator, the clutch, air conditioning, and any exceptionally parasitic electronic parts that provide less value than the energy they suck from the battery. Then you throw in a whole bunch of batteries, connect that up to the accellerator and an electric motor that is essentially the same as what they've been using in elevators and forklifts for the last 50 years. You need a variety of gauges, controllers, fuses, circuit breakers, and connexions hooked up somewhere in between. Not that complicated, really. Certainly less so than a machine that moves around based on exploding a bunch of caustic materials, kind of scary when you think about it that way.
Now, let's take a look at the spectrum of what you can do, once armed with this knowledge. At the high end, you've got the Tesla. Runs like a regular car, except you plug it in instead of gassing it up, no oil change, smog testing, or shit like that obviously. It runs about 200 miles on a charge and tops out at over 125 mph. You drive it off the lot, ready to go. After the waiting list anyways. That costs you $100,000.
At the low end, you've got a $200 salvage yard Pinto with a few golf cart batteries. It has a range of 25 miles and a top speed of about the same number of miles per hour. That might cost you $3000, plus labor. You have to charge it like the Tesla, and also occasionally top off the lead batteries with distilled water and a turkey baster. So basically, any amount more that you put into it increases speed, distance, convenience or sexiness. That's a good amount of wiggle room. I've settled on spending about $15,000, which gives me a 50 mile range and a top speed of about 70mph, the ability to upgrade as battery technology improves without a complete replacement, and some other goodies. Good enough for an afternoon picnic or a trip to Berkeley and back in the surfmobile, which is all I really need.
The car I'm using is 1974 Volkswagen Thing, convertible, British racing green. It's a direct descendant of the German Kubelwagen, which was the Hitler-era's version of the jeep. As a personnel carrier, it wasn't as suited to heavy terrain as the jeep (actually they used a predecessor, called the...heh...Willy), but the Kubelwagen was able to thrive in much harsher environments. This was a tremendous advantage in places like Stalingrad and the Sahara. Anyways, it ultimately became the Thing, or Trekker as it is known in Europe, used by NATO up until about 1983. Now they're considered sort of an oddity, they were only commercially available in the US for 3 years. Some think they're ugly, I love them. They're popular with surfers, as many air cooled VWs are, because they're cheap, easy to fix and modify, and can run forever with minimal maintenance. Parts are plentiful, relatively interchangeable with similar models, and available just about anywhere in the world. The VW Beetle is the most sold automobile model in world history, overshadowing the Model T. Beetles used so frequently in electric conversions as to have standardized kits for them now. The Thing shares about 90% of the same parts as the bug, and yet I've never seen an electric one. So I may be the first, which is kind of cool.
One of the first choices you have to make are batteries. What kind, how many. It depends on your budget, what kind of performance you want, and personal preference. There are lithium-ion and the like, commonly used in laptop computers. They are very expensive, (think the $50,000 Scion I mentioned earlier). Some kids at MIT are currently converting a 1976 Porsche with some 18 lithium batteries donated by Valence Technology. Total cost to you or I for that kind of power would run about $36k for the batteries alone. Not terribly viable on my budget.
Another option is NiCd, if you ever had rechargeable flashlight batteries from Radio Shack, you probably had these. You probably also know that they had a terrible battery life due to something called "charge memory". GM developed a really good one for an electric car they made in the 80's called the EV1. Never heard of it? That's because it was begrudgingly developed, and the project was shelved upon release. Maybe 40 of these cars exist now, and that beautiful NiCD technology disappeared. You can't buy it. Rumor is the rights now belong to some oil company. That's the occasionally cannibalistic power of free-market capitalism for you.
So, what you're left with is essentially lead acid batteries. Basically the same type you have powering your windshield wiper on your car. These suckers are heavy, coming in at 40-80 pounds EACH. And you need a bunch of them to power a car. The general rule of thumb is, more batteries = more distance; the more powerful the battery = more speed. The rest is up to you. I'm probably going to have a dozen (hopefully that doesn't require new shock absorbers) batteries, nasty Hawker deep cycle, absorbant glass mat military grade batteries. They use these things on tanks, and they run about $300 apiece.
Pair those with a WarP9 motor, Zilla 1k controller, Manzanita charger and some other stuff, puts me at the bleeding edge of the technology that's available to a normal human being. Even at that it won't win me any drag races or get me to Santa Cruz and back. But there's this thing about working on cars that's kind of fun, sunny days, Ramones playing on the radio, making weird exotic things that don't really exist in the collective consciousness yet, maybe even having a hand in shaping a better future...I dunno. I'm not really smart, I learn a lot from books and other people, more than any classroom. Mostly it's from just jumping in and doing things, making mistakes along the way. I've done a lot of research and I'm getting started, taking things apart, strategizing next steps. I think I can realistically get it done for next summer, but I really look forward to the process. I think it will be great.
has in common with this vehicle?
The answer is that both run on electric power.
It isn't commonly known, but the electric engine was one of the first types used in horseless carriages, which later became known as automobiles. In fact, electric power enjoyed a brief period of popularity over the internal combustion engine in the early 20th century. It wasn't until the electric starter was developed that gasoline-powered vehicles were considered safer than pre-transistor era electronic technology. It's strange that a century later we should be confronted with the same decision.
I've been teetering for the last 6-8 months over converting my car to pure electric. It isn't for the economy so much, I barely drive my car except for sunny day trips to the beach with the top down. Since I live 3 blocks away, cost of fuel is pretty negligible. It isn't because I'm particularly ecological. I still can't figure out exactly which plastics go into recycling and which don't and I don't quite understand what constitutes compost if you don't have a yard. But it is a relatively clean and cheap power. It's a fuel that's readily available, as opposed hydrogen cells or nuclear power. And the technology just isn't efficient or reliable enough for solar yet, although sunlight would be an amazing solution in its organic simplicity.
It's more the strange allure of electric power, images from my youth of grainy films of tesla coils, mystical Frankenstein machines, that automaton from Metropolis who was named after the Norse goddess of the underworld, this kind of retro-futurist dream that is finally at the cusp of becoming reality. It's a technofetish, probably similar to what the folks at Venturi must have experienced when naming their $630,000 electric car.
Which brings to mind the cost. It's all good and fine to get moist over new technologies (in this case, not so new), but it's another thing entirely when you gotta feed the monkey. Despite what ecologists try to sell, electric power is not significantly cheaper than gas, based on my studies. A person does not buy a $100k Tesla because it's economical. It's a bit cleaner, but when you consider that 50% of electric power in this country is coal generated, it's not perfect. No, you do it out of love.
Or lust, as the case may be.
Bottom line, the performance of your electric vehicle in terms of speed, distance, convenience, and general sexiness is directly proportionate to the amount of money you put into it. Getting electric technology to perform on par with ICE (internal combustion engine) expectations is not cheap. With the current state of technology, at 100 thousand clams, the Tesla is a good value.
AC Propulsion, who designed the electric drivetrain for the Tesla and the Venturi Fetish will make a Scion run on a similar system for a mere $50,000. That does not include the car, which will run you another $15k if you don't provide your own. Suffice it to say that more than half the cost of an electric car is in the propulsion system.
Not everyone has that kind of coin to spend, which brings us into the realm of hobbyists, gearheads, and generally, nerds. These type of folks gut their cars and replace anything that moves or oozes toxic fluid or fumes with wires. And it's a pretty cool thing, the solutions they come up with and the things they create.
I'll give you the short rundown of the prevailing method currently used, or at least the one I like best. I'm sharing what I've learned so far. Keep in mind I've never taken a physics, engineering or advanced chemistry class in my life. The honors program at my school exempted me from these studies, instead propelling me towards humanities, linguistics, philosophy, semantics, and dead languages (like proper English). Useful stuff like that, which I'm glad I know, but the scientific pursuits have always had sort of an alchemical attraction to me. I learn a lot on my own, like if I have a question I find out the answer from books, but some areas end up being kind of spotty that way. My primitive intellect wouldn't understand things with alloys and compositions and things with molecular structures. So if you're a Poindexter and I'm wrong about something let me know. It isn't really my element or religion so I'm not gonna be insulted.
Essentially the principle is you choose a light car with a lot of storage capacity, preferably aerodynamic. You take out the engine, the exhaust system, the radiator, the clutch, air conditioning, and any exceptionally parasitic electronic parts that provide less value than the energy they suck from the battery. Then you throw in a whole bunch of batteries, connect that up to the accellerator and an electric motor that is essentially the same as what they've been using in elevators and forklifts for the last 50 years. You need a variety of gauges, controllers, fuses, circuit breakers, and connexions hooked up somewhere in between. Not that complicated, really. Certainly less so than a machine that moves around based on exploding a bunch of caustic materials, kind of scary when you think about it that way.
Now, let's take a look at the spectrum of what you can do, once armed with this knowledge. At the high end, you've got the Tesla. Runs like a regular car, except you plug it in instead of gassing it up, no oil change, smog testing, or shit like that obviously. It runs about 200 miles on a charge and tops out at over 125 mph. You drive it off the lot, ready to go. After the waiting list anyways. That costs you $100,000.
At the low end, you've got a $200 salvage yard Pinto with a few golf cart batteries. It has a range of 25 miles and a top speed of about the same number of miles per hour. That might cost you $3000, plus labor. You have to charge it like the Tesla, and also occasionally top off the lead batteries with distilled water and a turkey baster. So basically, any amount more that you put into it increases speed, distance, convenience or sexiness. That's a good amount of wiggle room. I've settled on spending about $15,000, which gives me a 50 mile range and a top speed of about 70mph, the ability to upgrade as battery technology improves without a complete replacement, and some other goodies. Good enough for an afternoon picnic or a trip to Berkeley and back in the surfmobile, which is all I really need.
The car I'm using is 1974 Volkswagen Thing, convertible, British racing green. It's a direct descendant of the German Kubelwagen, which was the Hitler-era's version of the jeep. As a personnel carrier, it wasn't as suited to heavy terrain as the jeep (actually they used a predecessor, called the...heh...Willy), but the Kubelwagen was able to thrive in much harsher environments. This was a tremendous advantage in places like Stalingrad and the Sahara. Anyways, it ultimately became the Thing, or Trekker as it is known in Europe, used by NATO up until about 1983. Now they're considered sort of an oddity, they were only commercially available in the US for 3 years. Some think they're ugly, I love them. They're popular with surfers, as many air cooled VWs are, because they're cheap, easy to fix and modify, and can run forever with minimal maintenance. Parts are plentiful, relatively interchangeable with similar models, and available just about anywhere in the world. The VW Beetle is the most sold automobile model in world history, overshadowing the Model T. Beetles used so frequently in electric conversions as to have standardized kits for them now. The Thing shares about 90% of the same parts as the bug, and yet I've never seen an electric one. So I may be the first, which is kind of cool.
One of the first choices you have to make are batteries. What kind, how many. It depends on your budget, what kind of performance you want, and personal preference. There are lithium-ion and the like, commonly used in laptop computers. They are very expensive, (think the $50,000 Scion I mentioned earlier). Some kids at MIT are currently converting a 1976 Porsche with some 18 lithium batteries donated by Valence Technology. Total cost to you or I for that kind of power would run about $36k for the batteries alone. Not terribly viable on my budget.
Another option is NiCd, if you ever had rechargeable flashlight batteries from Radio Shack, you probably had these. You probably also know that they had a terrible battery life due to something called "charge memory". GM developed a really good one for an electric car they made in the 80's called the EV1. Never heard of it? That's because it was begrudgingly developed, and the project was shelved upon release. Maybe 40 of these cars exist now, and that beautiful NiCD technology disappeared. You can't buy it. Rumor is the rights now belong to some oil company. That's the occasionally cannibalistic power of free-market capitalism for you.
So, what you're left with is essentially lead acid batteries. Basically the same type you have powering your windshield wiper on your car. These suckers are heavy, coming in at 40-80 pounds EACH. And you need a bunch of them to power a car. The general rule of thumb is, more batteries = more distance; the more powerful the battery = more speed. The rest is up to you. I'm probably going to have a dozen (hopefully that doesn't require new shock absorbers) batteries, nasty Hawker deep cycle, absorbant glass mat military grade batteries. They use these things on tanks, and they run about $300 apiece.
Pair those with a WarP9 motor, Zilla 1k controller, Manzanita charger and some other stuff, puts me at the bleeding edge of the technology that's available to a normal human being. Even at that it won't win me any drag races or get me to Santa Cruz and back. But there's this thing about working on cars that's kind of fun, sunny days, Ramones playing on the radio, making weird exotic things that don't really exist in the collective consciousness yet, maybe even having a hand in shaping a better future...I dunno. I'm not really smart, I learn a lot from books and other people, more than any classroom. Mostly it's from just jumping in and doing things, making mistakes along the way. I've done a lot of research and I'm getting started, taking things apart, strategizing next steps. I think I can realistically get it done for next summer, but I really look forward to the process. I think it will be great.
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