Building an electric car is a great alternative to a gasoline-powered car. Modern technologies allow us to find new ways to solve the problems associated with the cost of vehicle fuel.

Spending money only on the constituent elements of the future electric car, in the future, you can perfectly save on fuel.

In addition, electric motors are environmentally friendly, unlike conventional engines, which emit carbon dioxide when refining gasoline.

It is worth noting that almost every car company already produces electric cars or hybrid cars. For example, from the company of the same name.

But the price of such environmentally friendly vehicles remains inaccessible to many motorists, so the issue of creating an electric car with their own hands, especially for the CIS countries, is still very relevant.

We create an electric car

To create an electric car with your own hands, you need to purchase:

1. Base car model;
2. Electrical engine;
3. Batteries, cases for them and charging;
4. Gas electric pedal, as well as voltage regulator and synchronizers.

Basic car model

The base car model means any car that will be taken as a basis for the manufacture of an electric vehicle.

Since any electric car is based on its lightness, which is directly proportional to the size, the material from which it is made, it is advisable to take small cars as a basis.

Agree, it will be difficult to make an electric car out of a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.

Domestic VAZs, famous Cossacks, Slavuta, OKA are good for such purposes.

From foreign Fiat 126 and other small cars up to 2000 release.

You can make your own original body, but the complexity of the work and their high cost repels many from this idea.

Electric motor

The electric motor is chosen depending on the size of the car and the option for connecting it to the car.

If you connect it to a gearbox, then the electric motor, even with a small power (5 - 7 K watts), will be able to move the car.

When connected via a drive axle, a more powerful electric motor is needed. And the higher the overall weight of the car, the more power the future motor should be.

An electric motor with a minimum power installed on a small machine has a speed limit of 75-80 km / h (provided that the motor is directly connected to the gearbox).

By purchasing an electric motor with a higher power, you do not need to worry about additional energy consumption. These costs do not depend in any way on the mileage traveled and the power of the electric motor.

Battery

When choosing a battery, it is better to focus on energy carriers with lithium.

They can be used without recharging for 5 hours of continuous movement at a maximum speed of 80 km / h.

The total service life of such batteries is on average 5 years. Lithium energy is an expensive option.

Lead-acid batteries can be selected as a less expensive alternative. Such energy carriers have a shorter service life (on average 1-2 years) and are discharged after an hour of intensive traffic.

In order for the batteries not to wear out so quickly, it is necessary to select them correctly in the appropriate volume.

Small-sized energy carriers fail earlier, as they wear out strongly, being completely discharged in the process of movement. Therefore, it is better to purchase one large battery with an increased resource.

Heating system

If the owner of an electric car expects to use it in the cold season, it is necessary to consider the heating system.

Heating a car using the electric power of the engine is very costly. In this case, the battery will not charge even for one trip.

Therefore, it is better to install a gasoline heater or a seat heating system. For all other electrical equipment in the cabin, it is better to purchase a separate energy carrier.

Power regulator

A very important part in an electric vehicle is the power regulator, which is necessary to regulate the traction of the electric motor.

The most reliable regulators are American-made. Due to limited finances, you can purchase its Chinese counterpart.

Regulators are chosen depending on the power of the current. For everyday commuting, a standard 150 volt regulator will do.

Also, in the electric car, in place of the removed generator, you need to mount a converter that performs similar functions.

Electric cars for children

Of course, you can make an electric car for your child, but is it worth the effort? After all, now they are already sold in full

The cars we are accustomed to, running on gasoline, are gradually fading into the background. This is due to the fact that electric vehicles are gaining more and more popularity in society. Indeed, electrically powered machines are easier to manufacture, use and operate. In addition, a car of this type does not pollute the atmosphere with fuel combustion products, which means it saves the environment. Taking into account all the advantages of an electric car, the problem of its independent production becomes urgent.

Making an electric car means creating a perfect replacement for a gasoline car ... With the help of modern technology, it is very easy to solve the problem of fuel costs. After all, once having invested a tidy sum of money on the elements of your electric car, in the future you will save much more on fuel.

Today, many of the automotive giants are making electric or hybrid cars. But their cost is not affordable for the masses, so the creation of a car powered by an electric engine is an ideal solution for everyone who wants to purchase it.

How to make an electric car? Where to begin?

So, are you determined to create a do-it-yourself electric car? Then it is necessary to acquire some components of the future mechanism. At first, automobile. A specific model serving as the base for the future electric vehicle. That is, creating a machine that runs on electricity with your own hands is a re-equipment, and not manufacturing from scratch.

Secondly, Electrical engine. It is natural that an electric car cannot exist without a heart.

Thirdly, batteries, their charging and body. The electric vehicle must be powered. Batteries will cope with this task with ease.

Fourth, voltage regulator and synchronizers. Your invention can only function on an electric current of a certain voltage. Its constant drops can lead to short circuits and completely disable the electric car.

Fifth, electric gas pedal. Since the car and its operation are built on a different principle, you need a special pedal that will set your final invention in motion.

It would be advisable to consider each component of the future electric vehicle.

Car model

Almost any car can be the base of your future car. Small cars are best for this, because one of the characteristics of an electric car is lightness. This property is directly influenced by the size and material of the base car.

Best of all, our VAZ, Zaporozhets, OKA and Slavuta, as well as foreign Fiat 126 and small cars produced before 2000, are suitable for the role of the basis for creating an electric car.

You can create a specific body with your own hands, but keep in mind that this is a time consuming and expensive undertaking.

The heart of the electric car

The electric motor must be purchased taking into account the dimensions of the car and the way it is connected to the car.

If such a motor is connected to a gearbox, then even a motor with low power will do. 5-7 kilowatts is enough to get the car moving. If the electric motor is connected through the main bridge, then a more powerful motor is needed. There is a pattern: engine power directly depends on the size and weight of the machine. A weak electric motor in a small car will provide a travel speed of no more than 75-80 km / h when connected to a gearbox.

It is worth noting that electricity costs are independent of the motor power and the distance traveled. The dependence is only on the driving speed. The faster the car goes, the faster the battery is discharged. So feel free to choose a more powerful motor.

Battery

When creating a new generation car with your own hands, opt for a lithium battery. It is this type of power source that can function without recharging at a speed of 80 km / h for 5 hours. Such batteries are quite tenacious - on average, they can work for 5 years. But, lithium-filled energy is not cheap.

Lead-acid batteries are a more economical option. They will last less than two years, and only last about an hour during heavy traffic.

To extend the life of a battery, you need to select the correct amount. Small power supplies die earlier, due to strong wear and tear, as they quickly and completely discharge when the car is moving. Therefore, it is more profitable to buy a large energy carrier with an extensive resource.

Heating

If, when creating an electric car with your own hands, you plan to use it during the cold seasons, you should think about a heating system.

Heating a car with electricity is expensive. Under these conditions, the battery does not have enough charge even for one trip. Based on this, it is worth installing a gasoline heater or a seat heating system. For electrical engineering, it is better to buy a separate battery.

Power regulator

The power regulator is one of the main components of an electric vehicle, which regulates engine thrust. The most reliable devices from American manufacturers. You can also get a cheaper analogue from China.

The regulator must be selected taking into account the current power. For daily travel, a standard 150-volt device can be purchased.

In addition, in an electric car created by yourself, you need to connect a converter with identical functions instead of a generator.

How to make an electric car: instructions

To be productive and fast, involve others in your venture. The help of friends and acquaintances never hurts, and if they also have useful knowledge and skills, the result will exceed all expectations! If you yourself have enough knowledge in the field of engineering, mechanics and can handle everything, the process will go much faster with friends;

Draw up an algorithm and work plan that you should adhere to exactly. And also create drawings and diagrams of the future electric car and prepare the necessary materials and tools;

• Remove from the car a gasoline engine and everything that has no place in a car powered by electricity;

Install the electric motor and connect the gearbox to it. Prepare a place for the batteries, install the power supplies in the back of the car and connect them. Create wiring and connect instruments and voltmeter;

Connect emergency brakes, vacuum pump, inverter, control, etc. Power cables need to be laid under the bottom of the car, so make some brackets first;

Create a platform for the power supplies at the front of the machine. Install the batteries, fill the transmission with oil.

Check devices: 12 volt at ignition, vacuum pump, converter at 96 volt power supply. Check engine operation at 12 volts. If everything works, the car is a success!

Children's electric cars

You can create an electric car for your own child with your own hands, but is it really necessary? There are many battery-powered kids cars on the market today. They are beautiful, bright, convenient and practical to use.

It's up to you, of course. But buying a children's electric car is much more profitable than making one.

Price

The picture of making an electric car yourself would be incomplete without describing the costs of its production. If we take into account the cost of all the components of the future electric car, then it turns out 5000-8000 dollars. But all this amount pays off when the electric vehicle is used for 2 years.

Therefore, if you have the appropriate skills, capabilities and desire, you can try to make an electric car with your own hands. After all, this is the future of all vehicles.

conclusions

If you are tired of unstable fuel prices and expensive car maintenance, you can create an electric car with your own hands.

An electric car is a car powered by an electric motor that runs on batteries, as opposed to common gasoline cars. The movement of the machine is based on electricity. An essential advantage of such a car is that it can be charged from a standard voltage using a regular outlet. Thus, you can save money, since electric energy today is much cheaper than fuel. Maintenance of an electric car is simple, since you do not need to monitor the level of oil and antifreeze and replace them periodically.

It is very convenient to move around the city on such a car. The constant change of the relief increases fuel consumption, and the intermittent movement does not affect the electric car at all.

The electric car gradually starts to move and is silent due to the small number of elements that move. Such a machine does not pollute the atmosphere with fuel combustion products. This is the transport of the future!

DIY electric car

The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries - the first self-propelled carriages with internal combustion steam engines and (well, come on) electric! By the way, the electric car was the first to overcome the speed limit of 100 km / h. However, then cars developed faster and by the beginning of the 30s, electric cars were forgotten.

Let's see today. Since 1988, Toyota has been producing an electric car (Prius model). The bottom line is this: you sit down the car, turn the key, move the control lever to the "Drive" position and immediately (!) Start moving. What you are driving - you do not know. Usually, small trips are electric. When the car "realizes" that the batteries are empty, it starts the gasoline engine and charges the battery by itself. There is also an emergency case - if the batteries run out, there is no gasoline - you pull the red handle in the trunk and (oh, miracle!) The batteries are charged, you can go.

Eco, battery, hybrid engine, starting current, homemade electric car, electric motor for a car, DIY electric car

A similar situation was described to me in NAMI, where they have been studying such a hybrid mobile for 4 years. This model also came across in the secondary car market (approximately $ 8.5 thousand for 98? 99). GM has similar developments, and Europe also has a lot of small (1-2 seater) electric hybrid vehicles used in green areas or, simply, on golf courses.

Let's return all the same to the dominant personality trait of the author of the site - the desire to save money.

Paying $ 8.5 thousand for a right-handed Japanese miracle - the hand does not rise, and the wallet does not allow, but how much time, effort and money it will cost to assemble an electric vehicle on your own in the simplest version:

Estimate:
1. Body (on bridges, plastic, homemade, with documents) - $ 1000. - pay attention to the weight of the structure. Mine without engine and battery weighs 350kg. It is important. - A homemade plastic car is not as rare as it might seem at the beginning. Quite recently - in the beginning of August in the newspaper "Iz Ruk v Ruki" in the section "Others", it was on sale. Who seeks will always find! (In the end - will glue).

2.Salon. Two front seats from a Porsche-924 car, a rear seat cushion from a Toyota Supra, 4m2 of carpet from a store and all this is passed through a workshop for sewing covers (all seats are used) - $ 400. - Your imagination can be limitless: in the country there is a mass of valuable types of wood, fine leathers and very expensive acoustic fabrics.

3. Power unit (used). Engine from a decommissioned and almost completely ruined Bulgarian loader (3.6 kW, 84 V, 1400 rpm, 24 Nm) - $ 200. - I would prefer to use a 10 kW 120V motor - $ 650 - new, under warranty. (any office supplying spare parts for forklifts).

4.ACB. Seven units (12 V? 200 Ah), starter, Italian. In a wholesale company - 2,600 rubles / piece, in a store - 4,000 rubles / piece. - Do not try to use domestic batteries - you will receive the nominal capacity only the first few times (the lead for the battery must be from fresh ore, and not from remelted old batteries, and in our country there are no lead ores, at least for battery manufacturers). - Ideally, you need to use traction batteries for forklifts, but the price is 3 times higher! Why for a car a battery costs $ 80, and for a loader (of equal capacity) - $ 250, guess for yourself (not difficult).

5.Miscellaneous. Smaller wheels (rolling friction should be reduced to min), however, the wheel has its standard load capacity indicated, count, choose with a small margin. The engine control unit. Options: 1) From a loader new, relay, 6-speed - $ 400. 2) Thyristor with smooth regulation - $ 1100. 3) A huge rheostat - the grandfathers on the Mitinsky radio room (you will be the only one who needs it) - several bottles of universal currency.

5) Personally, I am trying to build an electronic control unit with 110% assistance from friends of electronics engineers. It will work out - I'll tell you.

The flange connecting the engine and transmission (in my case, the VAZ 2101 gearbox). Made in the right place - Cardan-Balance firm - $ 70. It is better to do this thing from professionals who know automotive specifics - they will tell you whether it is possible to do with a rubber coupling or insert a crosspiece or something else ...

Plan-washer - connection of the engine and gearbox. I managed to make it myself, but the alignment should be no worse than 0.2 mm, or you get tired of changing the gearbox input shaft bearing and engine bearings.

Total: Approximately $ 3,000 spent.

300 hours of working time for one average qualification of an engineer. He's a welder, he's a locksmith, he's an electrician. For this money and time, I have: Car weighing 850 kg (4-seater), battery 84 V x 200 Ah, Mileage 200 km. Speed: 60 - 75 km / h in a straight line, up to 90 km / h for a short time (for overtaking) or downhill. 35 km / h starts and accelerates to this speed uphill 12%.

Feasibility Study. The number of recharge cycles to full capacity with correct use is 800 times (from the advanced Italian, for a reasonable price). 800 times x 200 km = 160,000 km. The cost of one charge, reduced to 1 km of track.

(200 A x 84 V) / (1000 n) x C = 25 rubles n - charge efficiency = 60% (0.6) C - cost of 1 kWh (90 kopecks)

So: 12.5 kopecks / km. The cost of the battery, reduced to 1 km of track. (2,600 rubles 7 units) / 160,000 km = 11.4 kopecks / km. Only 24 kopecks / km.

The prototype of the VAZ 2101 with a flow rate of 8 l / 100 km, AI 92 (10 rubles / l) 80 rubles / 100 km = 80 kopecks / km.

Add here regular oil changes, filters, carburetor adjustment, valve ignition, cap. engine repair, finally ... How much did it turn out? 1.2 rubles / km and 24 kopecks / km.

5 (five) times cheaper, gentlemen! 5 times !!!

Any questions?

I foresee one question: "What to do with the saved money?"

One more progotic question: what will the traffic police say?

Answer: I don’t know yet. But we have electric cars, they drove on the roads. AZLK also has electric vehicles (2 models). VAZs somehow, about 20 years ago, rolled around Moscow with battery. UAZs for military hospitals existed with electric motors. And there was even an auto (pardon) electric race. Now there is a ZIL electric truck with very good parameters. They were, are, they are driving ... In fact, why is my car worse?

You say this homemade body was purchased ready-made. Is it generally known who made it, what is its history?

No, I never got a pedigree. In the past (2003) year we talked with Algebraistov (brothers Yu. And S. Algebraistovs - well-known home-builders in the USSR who created the Yuna car), he and his friends tried to remember who made this car, but they never succeeded ...

I got this car through the "tenth" hands. And at that moment I was just going to make an electric car in some small, light body, for example, on the basis of "Oka". And then, just after the first "Autoexotic", in which we participated with our converted Zaporozhets (with a BMW-shnoy chassis), our friend Yuri came to us, who is now gluing himself a plastic jeep, and offered to take this body from him. I came to look at this homemade product, appreciated its weight qualities and realized that this is what I was looking for. The most suitable platform for an electric vehicle. This fiberglass body, according to an estimate of 200 kilograms, is lighter than the base Zhigulevsky.

By the way, a question about the "base". What is this body? Fiberglass on the frame?

This is a "Zhigulevskoe" bottom with wheel arches, glued with fiberglass on both sides so as not to rot (it has been holding for 20 years ...), then a frame made of a square and, in some places, round pipe is welded onto all this. Outside, it is all pasted over with fiberglass panels.

And the bottom is somehow additionally reinforced?

No, absolutely standard, a pipe frame is placed on it only from above.

So you got the "base". What's next?

Then I began to make an electric car. This is a young business, there is no patience, so I did not invent anything and tried to use standard components as much as possible. Traction motor - from a Bulgarian loader, rated power 3.6 kW. At the same time, in acceleration with good dynamics, it painlessly develops up to 15 kW for itself. From this advice to everyone who will do something like this: when selecting a motor, you need to take into account its overload capacity.

Yes, when I was trying to figure it out, I found domestic motors - DPT-6. They are 6 kilowatt and are also intended for a forklift ...

In my case, 3.6 kW in terms of rpm and gear ratios of the 4th gear of the gearbox and the rear axle should be achieved at 1400 rpm of the engine, which corresponds to a speed of 44 km / h. And so it turns out: when I drive at about this speed, I see 50 amperes on the ammeter at an operating voltage of 80 volts. Thus, I have 4 kW and efficiency = 90%.

I did some calculation at my leisure. If we take a VAZ-2108 with a weight of 920 kg and a power of 57.2 kW, then we get the ratio of mass to power = 16.1. With a weight of your car of 850 kg and a power of 3.6 kW, we get a similar figure = 236.1.

Yes. When I started building an electric car, I made a similar calculation and was horrified. And so I left the gearbox - in the first and second I will move anyway. Plus, it saves me that the real starting power of the engine is higher than the passport one.

By the way, there is no clutch. And how do you manage to include programs?

And then there is no idle. When changing gear, the gearbox synchronizer "pulls" the engine armature to the desired speed. The only inconvenience is the shift times are slightly longer than with the clutch.

I was hoping that with the new impulse unit, which I put on my electric car, it would be possible to immediately turn on the fourth one and get under way on it - but, alas, the power is a little lacking. Therefore, I am now moving around the city on the second, and when moving I use the fourth.

How is the charging time?

The batteries are charged with a standard charger with a current equal to 10% of the nominal capacity, somewhere overnight. Now a new control unit is being developed for me to order, which itself will charge, then go into boiling mode - "finishing", and then turn off the charging and remain in the "standby" mode. My batteries are acidic, ordinary - they cost reasonable money. Special traction batteries are one third heavier and inconceivably expensive, so I refused them.

At the same time, for standard 200-ampere batteries, the discharge current is not very large - 50 amperes. Moreover, if we take that the real capacity of a non-new battery is 170 amperes / hour, we get at least 2.5 hours of confident running.

It's clear. So you have two batteries in the front and ...

... and five in the back. Just 200 amps. The engine is rated for 80 volts as standard, I gave it 84. I also checked how it would behave at 96 volts - it turned out much more fun. In general, I am satisfied with the engine - it holds "overloads" well. Enough "oak", thick wire wiring, all "vitrified", etc. I can say for sure that you need to go to 120 volts - in order to switch less high currents. The motor control unit used now was developed for a year and a half until it began to work with dignity and not burn out.

Thyristor?

Nah-yeah. On 8 field-effect transistors, standing in parallel. There is a DC control problem with thyristors. Variable is not a problem, but with direct current, the thyristor is difficult to close after "breakdown". Another big plus of the field operator: several volts drop on the thyristor, and only 0.15 V on the field operator. Plus, in the future, the use of recuperation.

How about in winter?

Yes, the capacity of the batteries drops, but when driving, they heat up a little and the problem should be solved by itself. Here is another question - with the stove. I think it is wrong to put gasoline. There is an idea to use the principle of a vortex tube for heating or cooling the passenger compartment, which only needs a fan for operation. Now I'm thinking about adapting this device for my car.

I even managed to ride this car while sitting behind the wheel. By the way, the acceleration is quite acceptable. True, when I pressed the gas to the floor, Vladislav still asked me to look at the ammeter so that the starting current was not large. For me, the lack of grip was still a problem. Well, I'm not used to automatic transmissions. And then there is the brake pedal made by combining the "classic" brake and clutch pedals ... After stopping, you need to put the car on the handbrake - the electric motor, unlike the internal combustion engine, does not hold compression.

In general, the electric car has a rather pleasant feeling. Of course, in terms of dynamics and mileage at one "gas station", it is significantly inferior to gasoline ones. But, on the other hand, what a savings!

So let's take a step-by-step look at the work done.
The guys from Lithuania took the old Vaz-2106, even demonstrated that it works - they installed a battery and started an internal combustion engine.

Most likely the guys used the prototype as an example -.

In principle, a pretty good choice of car, the VAZ 2106 is a fairly light car. At the same time, the car is not the smallest in terms of body size with large overhangs relative to the axle of the wheels in front and behind. Vaz has quite a lot of space in the engine compartment and in the trunk - this is where the craftsmen installed a whole battery of batteries.

Let's go back to the engine. As far as can be judged from the video, it was decided to use a 12 kW DC motor for the electric drive, most likely with a supply voltage of 110 volts. By sight, it can be assumed that similar engines are used in electric cars or industrial devices.

12 kW in terms of approximately 17 hp - which most likely does not promise great dynamics for the assembled car. However, I would like to note that the internal combustion engine has been dismantled from the car, which in fact makes up 80 percent of the car's weight. The Vaz body itself is not heavy.

I would like to note one not very positive moment - the guys decided to use their own manual VAZ gearbox. It is not known whether they had to alter some of the design features of the gearbox (say, remove the synchronizers), but the video clearly shows that the gears are shifted without connecting and disconnecting the clutch.

A very bad moment was noticeable when one of the authors touches the gearbox shaft with his foot and cannot stop it in different gears. Then the neutral gear is turned on and the shaft turns anyway. At the same time, a rather distinct noise is heard and the shaft continues to rotate, although it can be stopped with a little effort.

This all suggests that the box is not in a better condition, most likely quite large losses will be observed in it. Considering that the box itself will add weight to the car, as well as its gear ratios, in principle, are not very relevant when using an electric motor (the torque at different engine speeds is almost the same) - perhaps using a native box was not the best solution.

Although the box with the clutch block made the installation process much easier.
As far as we could understand from the video, the guys welded the clutch disc to the electric motor axis, and also welded a frame from the corner to mount the engine in the engine compartment.

From the same corner, a frame was assembled and welded with the help of which the clutch disc on the electric motor was connected to the clutch disc on the gearbox.
In the course of the entire video, it was not possible to understand whether the creators are using this clutch for its intended purpose - most likely not.

After assembly, one of the authors demonstrates to us how the car drives into the garage by itself. Most likely, only a regular battery is used for recharge, and it is quite enough for the car to drive backwards into the garage by itself. You can even see sparks fly when the motor is directly connected to the battery.

Now, to control this mighty beast, it was necessary to assemble a strong power controller. The test was carried out from a voltage of 24 Volts (2 batteries of 12 Volts each). The only thing that can be seen in the video is that most likely some kind of microcontroller and several field-effect transistors were used (there are only 3 of them in the 24 Volt circuit). Most likely, the field workers do not get very hot, since the authors of the video boldly touch the radiators with their hands when the electric motor is running.

The final videos demonstrate the operation of the car, including on the track.

Here you can clearly see how the car looks after a complete assembly cycle. The authors installed 5 batteries in a rather large trunk. It is noticeable that a switch is immediately installed for emergency shutdown of all batteries from the trunk, perhaps a current fuse is installed nearby, or maybe it is an automatic relay that closes the contacts when the system starts. In general, there are any solutions that are, in fact, very important for the safe use of such powerful electrical systems, and at the same time, the functional essence of the process does not change.
Right there in the trunk, we can notice the absence of a spare wheel - a very correct solution to lighten the car.

Three more batteries are installed in the engine compartment. As we discussed above, there is a lot of space in the engine compartment of the VAZ, if, on top of that, we consider that the engine used in this design is quite small compared to the internal combustion engine.

It will be very correct to decide on the arrangement of the batteries in the front and rear parts evenly, this will have a very positive effect on the weight distribution of the car, and therefore on its stability on the road - handling.

The new 96 volt control unit now looks quite different. It is assembled in a beautiful shiny aluminum case, and then thoughts creep in that it may even be factory-made. Right there, next to the control unit, a standard rechargeable battery was hidden to power the on-board network of the car. Now, to charge it, you also need a voltage converter and it probably lies in the same box of the control unit.

Power accumulators are much larger than the standard one. It can be assumed that most likely these are serviced traction batteries (plugs are visible on each section, battery cell).

We also managed to find the official website of the SIAP battery manufacturer http://www.siap.pl/firma.html - the company deals specifically with the production of traction batteries, unfortunately what type is not described (most likely they are lead-acid).

Total battery capacity 110 Ah
Operating voltage 96 Volts
At the same time, as we remember, the motor power is 12000 watts

That is, each battery at a voltage of 12 volts produces 100 amperes per load - roughly equivalent to 1200 watts. Quite permissible values, considering that such currents will flow only at full load. Most likely, the batteries do not even heat up with uniform movement and work in a stable mode.

In the video where the car stops and starts again at a traffic light, you can see that the current reaches 178 Amperes (178 A * 96 Volts = 17080 Watt). This is even more than the rated power of the engine. By the way, I would like to note that many motors can operate in short-term overload conditions up to double the rated power.

As a result, according to the assurances of the authors, the VAZ 2106 electric car can
- charged from a 220 Volt network within 7-8 hours
- travels 50-60 km on a full charge
- maximum speed 70 km / h (on the video you can only watch a demonstration of movement at a speed of 40 km / h)

Will someone be able to repeat the experience of such talented masters. Or maybe such cars will finally be put into production?

"Electric car version 1.0" is a basic-level car, which can be made in six months in the garage by virtually any handy man who knows how to repair a car and has basic knowledge of electrical engineering. The purpose of this article, of course, is not to give the reader clear instructions for use, but to give, as it is fashionable to say today, a “roadmap” for understanding that an electric car is easy! Igor Korkhov, the administrator of the largest thematic forum electrotransport.ru, who successfully built completed designs of his own electric vehicles, and is currently driving a modernized Lada Ellada, told Koles about this.

Body

What is an entry-level electric car that is easy to build on a garage "slipway"? The body from the donor car with steering, suspension, transmission and brakes, a DC electric motor aggregated with a standard manual gearbox, a battery pack with a controller, an accelerator pedal from which the controller receives a signal and a number of auxiliary units that can even be added to the design immediately, and later - after the first test drives, for which the soul of a garage engineer is so impatiently awaiting ...

As a body donor, as a rule, they take a front-wheel drive car so as not to waste energy on friction in the universal joint crosspieces and the hypoid transmission of the rear axle. They are trying to find a lighter car, ideally up to 600-700 kilograms, although this is not always possible - most cars are excessively heavy in terms of building an electric vehicle. At one time, Tavria was very popular among garage electric cars - the body is light and excellent "rolling" - on a flat road you could literally push your finger! But almost all of Tavria, alas, have already rotted ... Golfs of the first or second generation, Daihatsu Mira and similar small cars are popular. They try to increase "rolling" due to special tires - the so-called "green" ones: narrow and allowing a pressure of 2.7 or more atmospheres to eliminate losses due to rubber deformation.

Engine

I saw how, on a car with the engine removed, a powerful screwdriver was connected to the input shaft of the manual gearbox, the control of its power button was brought into the salon and in fact received an electric car in half an hour! Yes, curious, yes, driving no faster than five kilometers per hour, but, in fact, it is a good demonstration of the simplicity and efficiency of the "version 1.0" design! All this, of course, is from the field of "mechanics joking", but the principle, in general, remains.

Igor Korkhov

The most common engines for entry-level homemade products were and still are the DC-3.6 traction motors from the Bulgarian electric warehouse forklift trucks of the Balkankar EB-687 type. These are series excitation motors powered by direct current with a voltage of 80 volts and a power of 3.6 kilowatts. The engine looks like a cylindrical barrel and weighs 66 kilograms. This is far from the best motor in terms of mass and efficiency, but it is easily accessible and popular with novice electric vehicle designers. You can buy such an "engine" to the best of your luck - someone will get it for thanks, someone will find it for 5-10 thousand rubles. In principle, this cost is justified - the motor is not high-speed, but it has excellent torque, pulls up any hill even in third gear, is easy to install, unpretentious.

Transmission

In "Option 1.0" you will not find wheel motors and other progressive electromotive "nanotechnologies". It is done as simple as possible, and the easiest way is to merge the electric motor with the transmission already existing on the donor car - a manual gearbox with a main gear and a differential, through the front-wheel drive CV joints with hubs and front wheels. - Actually, the basket and the clutch disc, its drive (hydraulic or cable), and the left pedal itself are removed - this is extra weight, and we no longer need them. - says Igor Yuryevich, - True, we will still switch speeds - but rarely and without disconnecting the shafts of the motor and the gearbox - just sticking the gears with the gearbox handle. The required gear is engaged without a clutch quite calmly, both before starting the movement and on the move: you throw the gas, bring the gearshift knob, the synchronizers are triggered - and we go further.

We use the third gear for driving around the city, the fourth - along the suburban road, the second - along the gullies. The first is never used at all, the moment on the wheels is such that they just spin with a light touch of the accelerator!

To install an electric motor under the hood, you need two main "hand-made" parts: an adapter plate and an adapter sleeve, with the help of which the electric motor is connected to the "native" manual transmission of the car. The plate connects the electric motor and the gearbox, and the bushing connects the motor shaft and the input shaft of the gearbox.

The stove is easily made with your own hands from thick sheet steel or aluminum - it is enough to have middle-level locksmith skills, a grinder and a drill.

Battery

The battery for electric cars - only lithium-iron-phosphate, there are no other options! Forget about starter lead-acid batteries, which seem attractive for a start, "just try it" right away and forever - they are categorically unusable, just money down the drain. Several charges and discharges - and the batteries will go to the collection point for non-ferrous metal! Traction lead-acid batteries also do not last long, because with their mass, the capacity will always be insufficient, which means an excessively large current consumption per battery. At such currents, traction lead does not hold either. So only "bras", although it is not cheap.

At one time, many passed through lead - including myself. Now there is no point in repeating such mistakes. My starter batteries began to die out after a couple of months, I barely managed to sell them for half the price until they lost their capacity. Then at one time I used sealed batteries from telecommunication systems (uninterruptible power supplies for cell towers) - enough for a season, internal resistance began to grow ... Therefore, as soon as the widely available lithium ferrum appeared, everyone switched to it. The best specific energy density, the ability to give and receive high currents, durability, frost resistance. But the prices are still high, and the battery is the most expensive part of an electric car - a DIYer needs to take this into account ...

Igor Korkhov

A simplified calculation of the parameters and cost of the battery looks like this: suppose we need to collect a 100-volt battery - quite a lot of motors are designed for this voltage. The voltage of one "lifter can" is 3.3 volts: this means that we need to connect 30 cans in series. But the second important battery parameter is capacity. Since the "cans" are the same, the capacity of one = the capacity of the entire battery. A "can" of good quality costs about $ 1.5 per 1 amp-hour, and an entry-level 30 amp hour battery will provide a car weighing up to a ton of 25-30 kilometers of power reserve.

We consider:

30 amp-hours x $ 1.5 = $ 45 for one can $ 45 x 30 cans = $ 1350 $ for the whole battery

In general, the battery is not budgetary, and this is only a capacity suitable for the first experiments - in an amicable way, it needs to be at least doubled ...

Electric vehicle batteries are usually charged with semi-homemade chargers made on the basis of cheap decommissioned power supplies that saturate backup batteries at cellular base stations - where they work in conjunction with 48-volt lead batteries. You need two of these blocks - they are connected in series, the internal adjustment allows you to raise the voltage of each to 64 volts and charge the batteries for most common electric motors used by EV-DIYers.

By the way, the standard 12-volt battery, as a rule, remains in its place - it is convenient to feed various regular consumers from it - a sound signal, windshield wipers, power windows, "music", lights, etc. Later, as one of the first upgrades, it can be replaced with a DC / DC converter of three hundred watts, making 12 volts out of 100.

Other nodes

Actually, in addition to the motor, transmission and battery in the simplest electric car, there are a number of other units - both necessary and installed at will. A motor controller is, of course, absolutely essential. In the simplest version, it can be made independently on relatively inexpensive and widespread parts, and the throttle angle sensor from an injection VAZ will serve as a gas pedal sensor. You can buy a controller from domestic home-builders, order a factory-made controller from China, or order a used Curtis branded unit from eBay - the module will cost $ 250-300.

There are a lot of additional nodes that are not required for a test (or even in general!) Trip. For example, a stove, from which a liquid radiator is thrown out and an electric heating element is installed instead. Or, say, a vacuum pump for a brake booster. Since there is no internal combustion engine on the machine, the intake manifold vacuum, which is necessary for the operation of the vacuum brake booster, also disappears. Therefore, many home-builders install VUT electric auxiliary pumps, borrowed from cars such as Volvo XC90, Ford Kuga, etc.

However, it all depends on the project - on a light electric car, not everyone does even a brake upgrade, since the role of a “vacuum cleaner” is partly performed by regenerative braking by the engine, and many cars from the factory did not have a vacuum booster, in principle, braking quite well. Without it, for example, not only the notorious VAZ-"penny" was produced, but also Tavria, Oka in some years and so on.

Prices and money

A donor machine, an electric motor, a controller - all of this can be flexibly varied and here you can "cut" to the best of your cunning and desires. You can buy a donor car for 100-150 thousand in good condition for the body, you can buy it for 50 thousand - but with the need for tin, welding, paint brushes ... You can buy an electric motor from an elderly Bulgarian forklift, or you can buy a used or a new American motor, specially designed for electric vehicles. You can purchase an industrial motor traction controller, or you can solder it yourself, if you have the skills. The same goes for everything else except the battery. It will not be possible to “tailor” anything especially here: the prices for new lithium-ferrum banks are approximately the same everywhere, the question is in capacity. A good 80-100-volt battery for about a hundred kilometers will cost 4-5 thousand dollars in today's money. You can, of course, start with a low-capacity battery with the prospect of building up (after all, even a short first trip inspires and gives you the understanding that you are not working in vain!), But you need to understand that a small capacity should be increased as soon as possible, since its lack leads to an increase in the recoil current from each individual can up to dangerous shock values ​​that shorten their life ... As long as you mess with the purchase of the second half, the first will die ...

So is it profitable to build an electric car? Even an experienced self-builder and in fact a guru of a garage EV-building Igor Korkhov believes that hobby comes first, and "cheating the system" can only be very conditional - it will border on self-deception ... The fact is that the final result cannot be evaluated purely at the cost of the traveled kilometer, as many people think - one has to take into account both comfort, and functionality, and the safety of the car, and just the feeling of what you own. Here, let's say, a new gasoline Lada Granta - it costs from 360 thousand rubles, which is approximately equal to $ 5,500. The most budgetary electric car based on some VW Golf of the early generations will cost the same in terms of components - plus the time spent on thematic forums and the invested own labor. As a result, on one side of the scale - albeit a domestic one, but smelling of novelty and a problem-free car under warranty, and on the other side - a middle-aged and outwardly shabby "electric cam" in the stage of endless finishing work, without the possibility of refueling on the way, at first (or even forever) without air conditioning, brake booster and the like.

Or, say, the next level is Hyundai Solaris. New it costs from 600,000 rubles, which is about $ 9,200. The same amount will have to be spent if you build an electric car based on a more or less fresh body of a foreign car, which looks decent from the outside and has an unbroken interior, buying a good American electric motor for this body, a reliable proprietary Curtis controller and typing a capacious battery. However, at the exit - in general, almost the same as in the first case ... Solaris has maximum speed and dynamics in its trump cards, the ability to replenish the fuel supply everywhere, and not only in a personal garage, where there is an outlet, all the advantages of a new and a reliable car with a lot of functional amenities, guarantees and more. A home-made product, albeit more decent inside and out, remains a home-made product - a car with significant restrictions on the range and the possibility of refueling, an eternal designer, a simulator for hands and mind ...

conclusions

From the point of view of the use of hands and mind for a person who loves cars and technology, the construction of an electric car is certainly justified! This hobby, of course, is costly, but everything is learned in comparison - moreover, in comparison not with oligarchic extremes like collecting Faberge testicles, but with quite widespread and massive technical applied hobbies. For example, for a lover of fishing, a mediocre inflatable boat with an outboard engine of a well-known brand of forces in ten will result in at least two-thirds of the simplest electric car ...

A good quadcopter with a camera costs no less. Against this background, the construction of an electric car does not stand out at all - such a normal man's fun ...

Equally attractive is the fact that the result is achievable for many, and not just for the elite - you do not need to be an "80th level engineer" to connect the electric motor with the gearbox, lay the power and control wiring and place it in the trunk batteries. In the simplest form of design and with numerous tips from a responsive EV community on the Internet, work will be pleasant and almost certainly successful.

However, until effective batteries fell in price and inexpensive sets of traction motors and controllers became widespread, as happened with whales for electric bicycles, an electric garage-built car in terms of operating cost is unlikely to be a serious competitor to budget gasoline cars, and even more so to gasified cars ... to save money, investing in the installation of propane gas equipment is easier and more profitable ...

Photo courtesy of Bruce, an American home-builder, who carefully documented all the stages of building his electric car at home based on the 1985 Suzuki Mighty Boy pickup-hatchback.

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