Do-it-yourself electric car in THREE DAYS! Video step-by-step instructions for creating a homemade electric car!
A team of enthusiasts from Australia set the task of converting an ordinary car into an electric car. The task seems to be not difficult (when you know how), but the deadlines are amazing ...
The first day
It usually takes 6 to 12 months to convert a car into an electric car. We set out to do it in a week. I wish there were more electric vehicles on the roads, but to do so, we need to find ways to reduce the time and cost of rework. In the future, it would be nice to see auto services for converting conventional cars into electric ones.
I worked on the project with my friend Michael from Geelong, Victoria. We decided to rebuild his Daihatsu Charade (same model as mine) with an inexpensive Chinese made conversion parts package.
For the past few months, we have been preparing for the project, purchasing the necessary parts, and manufacturing the missing components (such as a clutch and an adapter for connecting an electric motor to a gearbox). By setting up a permanent rework facility, these things can be automated. For example, the gearbox adapter has already been converted to CAD format, so the production of these parts using laser cutting can be arranged. We have also prepared a detailed work plan and estimate, which will be published to help other enthusiasts.
I also invited many people who are interested in electric vehicles to take part in our conversion project. Many agreed to come and yesterday we had about 10 people with whom we did much more work than planned. Everyone was very organized and engaged in the project on their own, and the skills of some were simply amazing. We had mechanics, engineers, painters, video and photo operators, electricians, and my wife Rodemary cooked food for everyone!
On the first day, we removed the internal combustion engine and all systems associated with it, such as exhaust and fuel, from the car. We also installed an electric motor and a gearbox connected to each other. They also mounted the engine mount to the car body and began to make a platform for installing batteries. By my calculations and with the help of such a wonderful team, we did the job for which 3 days were allotted.
Teamwork was excellent, many of those who helped us took a day off from work and got a lot of positive emotions. Teamwork to create an electric car is cool!
Video - day one:
Second day
Saturday morning, just woke up after a very long day on Friday. 6 more people spent the night with us under the same roof:
We finished installing the battery pack in the back of the car and even wired them together. The back of the car looks like a finished product, which is good news!
A more complex frame for the batteries in the front is almost ready (there will be more welding work inside the compartment to level the pallet). Today we will install the pallet, clean and paint.
Made wiring for instruments and installed a voltmeter. Thanks Joel!
The engine and transmission are installed, fixed and checked. Michael, John and team - great job!
Erick installed the vacuum pump, it remains to connect it.
Staples for wiring cables under the bottom of the car are installed, it remains to finish the wiring.
Today we are going to install a DC converter, a vacuum pump switch, a battery charger, an emergency brake and a control box. Then we'll connect it all.
The progress of the second day was less noticeable, because. basically it was the “finishing” of the first day, wiring and installation of small equipment inside the car. Visually, this is not as impressive as the dismantling of the internal combustion engine and the installation of an electric motor with a box.
Be that as it may, these steps can take several months for lone designers.
If we compare this project to the project of my first electric car, then the same amount was done in the first day as I did in the first 6 months! On the second day we did the work of the next 5 months of my independent work. Now we are at the stage of completing the wiring - I was at this stage 3 days before the test drive. Today I hope we will take this baby for a walk!
I originally planned to finish the project in a week and was a little nervous about how many people showed up to help. I thought all this would distract me from the conversion work itself. Despite this, the exact opposite happened - thanks to all these people, we have done so much. I don't think it would have been possible if only Mike and I were working. It can be concluded that the work on the manufacture of some parts takes a lot of time. For the next project, it will be necessary to develop a work plan to accelerate such work. For example, make a template for making pallets for batteries.
Video - day two
Day three
After a long day at work, by 11 pm we left for the first test drive in Michael's new electric car. Just 3 days after the start of work!
Yesterday, I spent almost the whole day dealing with connecting the tubes of the electric pump, and for this it was necessary to make several adapters. We also made the wiring of power cables under the bottom of the car. Andrew did a great job hooking up all 12 volts and 96 volts. The controller board that came with the Chinese kit fell into place perfectly and we quickly connected it.
We cleaned and painted the front battery tray in the morning and installed it after lunch. All metal work is excellent. And the painting was done very professionally, so everything looks just great!
Many people helped us that day. At some stage, one group did the wiring under the car, another poured oil into the transmission, and the third made the missing parts.
By the evening we were so close to completion that everyone picked up the pace. Finally completed all the connections under the hood and installed all the electrics. The first thing we did was check all the 12 volt appliances to make sure everything was working with the ignition on, after that we hooked up the 96 volt power supply and checked the brake vacuum pump and DC converter. After a little tweaking of the vacuum pump switch, the brakes worked as they should. After that we connected the converter to the 12 V system, it worked perfectly.
As a result, we connected the last motor cable and started the motor. Luckily he was turning the wheels in the right direction on the stand. Despite the heavy rain, we couldn't resist the first ride. First we did a few laps around the building - everything works great, despite the increased weight, thanks to Mike's new suspension. The engine is very quiet and you can change gears very quickly without the clutch. Everyone was very pleased with the first test drive.
There were still a couple of minor problems such as a small oil leak from the transmission, and also the acceleration of the car seemed weak (peak current was less than 100A) most likely due to some kind of wiring error. On Sunday we rest and on Monday I think we will solve these problems. There will also be cleaning and cosmetic work before passing the official inspection of the car.
As a result, we got a great project that was completed much faster than planned.
» general and electrical diagram of an electric vehicle.
Topic: the general scheme of an electric car - make an electric car with your own hands.
Let's take a look and analyze the general electrical circuit of an electric car. After that, you will have generalized ideas of what is what and where exactly to move in this regard. So, the electrics of an electric car consists of several fundamentally important parts. These are a power supply element (battery), a DC electric motor, an engine control unit (controller), a potentiometer (a rheostat that responds to pressing the gas and brake pedals). Each of these parts is of fundamental importance. Each part must be properly selected and properly tuned. The operation of the electric vehicle as a whole depends on this. This will provide an opportunity to answer the question - how to make an electric car correctly.
Since the total power of the electrical system (primarily the electric motor) for an electric vehicle lies in the range of 5-10 kW, or even more, we will proceed from these data. We choose an electric motor for this power. The specific controller circuit and the number of batteries (the type of connection between them) depend on the motor supply voltage. Please note that you should not follow the principle - the more power I supply the electric motor, the better and stronger the car will be. There will be additional problems with batteries. Choose the best option based on the available weight of the machine, the required technical characteristics, speed, driving range per charge cycle, etc.
How to make an electric car with your own hands in terms of mechanics, this is already a matter of creativity and the electromechanical skill of the master. And we will analyze the most complex elements in this system from the point of view of electricians. And this part is the controller. Why? Yes, because the subtleties of the operation of the entire electric vehicle depend on it. The controller is an electrical (electronic) circuit, the main task of which is to control the frequency of rotation of the electric motor. If you directly connect the battery to the electric motor, then we will get its maximum speed without the ability to control the speed of movement. This is wrong and not good. If the control is performed by an ordinary powerful variable resistor, then in this case the “cut off” electricity will simply be lost to heat. Economy does not smell here.
How to make an electric car with your own hands all the same? The most acceptable option for controlling the speed of an electric vehicle is a special controller circuit. The circuit consists of a low-power variable resistance, a direct circuit for setting the rotational speed (pulse circuit) and a power section, which supplies the required amount of electricity to the electric motor. The power part may consist of powerful thyristors, triacs, bipolar or field-effect transistors. It is important that the entire controller circuit must correctly respond to measurements of variable resistance and smoothly give out the necessary portion of energy that will be supplied to the electric traction motor of an electric vehicle.
In this article, as you can see, there are two electrical schematic diagrams of controllers. Their general principle of operation is similar. The only difference is that one is assembled according to a more simplified scheme and for one supply voltage, while the second is more complex and incorporates other electronic elements. If you don’t want to mess around and invent circuits yourself, then you can purchase a ready-made converter without fooling yourself with homemade products.
P.S. Before you start creating your electric car, first of all, be sure to think through all your wishes, namely, what parameters your future device should have. This will save you a lot of time, effort and money.
And it is necessary, in order to convert a gasoline car into an electric one, just a little bit, to replace the internal combustion engine engine with an electric one. How the master DIYer coped with this task, we will learn from this article. He has already made such a car before and he has a lot of material on this topic. For those interested, you can watch several videos by clicking on link. This is not a direct instruction, but rather a direction indicator.
Tools and materials:
-Automobile;
-Various tools and equipment (keys, screwdrivers, drilling machine, etc.);
-Engine from electric forklift;
-Batteries;
-Coupling;
-Controller;
-wires;
-Jack;
Step one: car
The first thing you need to do is choose the right vehicle. They are not all equally suitable for conversion into an electric car. We need something light and energy efficient.
Heavier vehicles need more power to drive and thus the batteries run out faster. You also don’t need hydro or electric power steering and brakes, power windows and electric locks. In general, you need as few power-consuming appliances as possible.
As a result, the master purchased Geo Metro for $500. The engine ran fine and the bodywork was in good condition. The clutch did not work, but in an electric car it is not needed, however, like a regular engine.
Step two: dismantling
It is necessary to remove everything related to the internal combustion system of gasoline. Dismantle: gas tank, exhaust system, muffler, coil, starter, radiator, fuel lines, etc. Removing all unnecessary parts will reduce weight and simplify subsequent installation of equipment. The airbags and other elements of passive and active protection were not touched by the master.
If everything is carefully dismantled, then you can sell parts to cover the costs. The craftsman bought the car for $500 but then sold the engine, gas tank, and radiator for $550.
Step Three: Adapter Plate
The engine is dismantled, but the regular box will be used in the future. The question is how to attach the motor to the gearbox? The master found a way out and made an adapter plate from a piece of aluminum sheet. The mechanic removed the gearbox from the car and then outlined it with a pencil and marked all the holes. Then I cut the aluminum plate to the desired size and shape. The center of the engine drive shaft and the center of the transmission drive shaft must be perfectly aligned.
Before screwing the engine and transmission together with the adapter plate, it is necessary to make a coupling that will connect both shafts.
Step Four: Clutch
You can connect the shafts of the engine and box in different ways, but the master decided to use a clutch from some mechanism.
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With this connection, the car worked all summer. Then there was a breakdown. The master thinks that the alignment was not quite observed. Then the clutch was slightly redone.
Step Five: Motor
The craftsman bought his motor for $50 from some guy's garage. It was a forklift motor. The motor was very old and rusty, but working. The craftsman cleaned it, removed the coils and sprayed insulating epoxy on them, checked the bearings. I also replaced the brushes, put everything together and painted.
Step Six: Batteries
This car uses 6 x 12V batteries. These are real Deka Dominator helium batteries. They do not require maintenance. The craftsman was able to buy used batteries for $12 each.
The disadvantage of these batteries is that they are demanding to be charged. The craftsman purchased a 72V charger designed for these batteries for $200.
Four batteries are in the trunk of the car, and two are in the front, where the radiator used to be.
For the rear batteries, I cut two pieces of the bed frame to fit on the spare tire and bolted the frame to the car's frame.
To install the front batteries, the bumper was dismantled. Then the frame is welded and fixed in place of the radiator. Now you need to install the batteries and put the bumper in place.
In the store, the master bought a "charger power input". This is an electrical connector with a rubber cover. Since the gas tank has already been removed, it is a connector in place of the gas tank neck.
Batteries are charged during the night.
In the future, the master changed the configuration of the batteries. The maximum number of batteries is 12 pieces, which gave the master 144 V. On these batteries, he was able to accelerate to 117 km / h.
He also works on a heater for batteries in the winter.
Step Seven: Controller
The controller is an important part of an electric vehicle. The controller is an electronic unit that regulates the operation of the electric motor.
The master uses a Curtis 400A peak PWM controller designed for use with motors in series. It can operate in the range from 48 to 72V.
The greater the current, the better the acceleration (traction). The higher the voltage, the better the top speed and economy of the car.
The 72V controller proved to be a good compromise between cost and performance. The master bought it on E-Bay for $300.
For connection, follow the diagrams provided by the controller manufacturer, for connecting the batteries to the controller and the motor, use thick cables such as a welding cable.
The master uses a 5 kΩ potentiometer as a choke. The potentiometer is installed in conjunction with the standard gas pedal.
Step eight: summary
This car can travel 32 km on a charge, and has a top speed of 75 km/h. This is enough for a trip to work and back. Batteries can be added if necessary.
This project cost the master about $ 1,200, including the purchase of a car. If the master did everything himself, he would spend only $ 800 on everything. This car is charged in the craftsman's private home through a renewable energy program. All electricity comes from wind, biogas and other renewable energy sources.
By having an electric car, you will save money on fuel in the first place, which is great for the environment. We hasten to please you that you can build an electric car with your own hands even using the most ordinary car. Today, electric transport is presented by marketers as the carrier of the most advanced technologies in the automotive industry. And many believe that an electric car can be either expensive, like the Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or very expensive, like the Tesla. However, members of the tight-knit community of do-it-yourselfers know that this is not the case! In the simplest man-made version, a "battery-powered car" is much cheaper than its industrial counterparts and does not require innovative technologies and materials. Therefore, a lot of elementary electric vehicles drive alongside us on the roads under the guise of ordinary gasoline models - we just don't know about it!
“Electric car version 1.0” is a basic-level car that can be made in six months in a garage by virtually any handy man who knows how to repair a car and has basic knowledge in 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 “road map” 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 currently drives a modernized Lada Ellada, told Wheels about this. Body
What does an entry-level electric car consist of, which is easy to build on a garage slipway? A body from a 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 components that can even be brought into the design immediately, and later - after the first test drives, which the soul of a garage engineer is so looking forward to ... As a body donor, as a rule, they take a front-wheel drive car so as not to lose energy on friction in the cardan crosses and the hypoid gear of the rear axle. They try 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 car. At one time, Tavria was very popular among garage electric cars - the body is light and excellent "rollability" - on a flat road you could literally push with your finger! But almost all Tavria, alas, have already rotted ... Golfs of the first or second generation, Daihatsu Mira and similar small cars are popular. They try to increase the "rollability" with 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.
Choosing an electric motor for an electric vehicle
I SAW HOW ON A MACHINE WITH THE ENGINE REMOVED, A POWERFUL SCREWDRIVER IS CONNECTED TO THE INPUT SHAFT OF THE MANUAL GEARBOX, THERE IS A POWER BUTTON CONTROL INTO THE SALON AND IN ACTUALLY RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE IN HALF AN HOUR! YES, CURIOUS, YES, RIDING NO FASTER FIVE KILOMETERS PER HOUR, BUT, IN ESSENCE, DEMONSTRATES THE SIMPLICITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DESIGN "OPTION 1.0" WELL! ALL OF THIS, OF COURSE, FROM THE FIELD OF "MECHANICS JOKE", BUT THE PRINCIPLE, IN GENERAL, RESERVES.
The most common entry-level homemade engines were and still are DS-3.6 traction motors from Bulgarian Balkancar EB-687 electric warehouse forklifts. These are series excitation motors powered by direct current with a voltage of 80 volts and a power of 3.6 kilowatts. Such a motor looks like a cylindrical barrel, weighs 66 kilograms. This is far from the best motor in terms of weight and economy, but it is easily accessible and popular with budding 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, such a cost is justified - the motor is not high-speed, but it has excellent torque, it pulls on any hill even in third gear, it is easy to install, unpretentious.
Electric motor for electric vehicle
Transmission In "Option 1.0" you will not find motor-wheels and other progressive electromobile "nanotechnologies". It is done as simple as possible, and the easiest way is to splice the electric motor with the transmission already existing on the donor car - a manual gearbox with final drive and differential, through 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 excess weight, and we no longer need them. - says Igor Yuryevich, - True, we will still switch gears - but rarely and without disconnecting the motor and gearbox shafts - simply sticking the gears with the gearbox handle. The desired gear without clutch is switched on quite calmly both before the start of the movement and on the go: you throw off the gas, you bring the gearshift handle, the synchronizers work - and we go further. We use third gear for city driving, fourth gear for country roads, and second gear for gullies. The first one is never used at all, the moment on the wheels is such that they simply scroll with a light touch of the accelerator! To install an electric motor under the hood, two main “handmade” parts are needed: an adapter plate and an adapter sleeve, with the help of which the electric motor is connected to the car’s “native” manual gearbox. The plate connects the electric motor and the gearbox, and the sleeve connects the motor shaft and the gearbox input shaft. The plate is easily made with your own hands from thick steel or aluminum - it is enough to have medium-level locksmith skills, a grinder and a drill.
The adapter sleeve connecting the shafts of the electric motor and the gearbox is also easy to make with the help of Uncle Vasya the turner and welding - on the one hand, the sleeve must be aligned with the motor shaft, and on the other, a splined part is welded to it, cut out from the clutch disk of the box with which we connect the electric motor.
AT THE TIME, MANY HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE LEAD – INCLUDING ME. NOW THERE IS NO SENSE TO REPEAT SUCH ERRORS. MY STARTER BATTERIES STARTED TO DIE AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS, BARELY SOLD OUT FOR HALF PRICE, UNTIL THEY LOST CAPACITY. THEN AT ONE TIME I USED SEALED BATTERIES POWERED BY TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SOURCES OF CELL TOWERS) - ENOUGH FOR THE SEASON, THE INTERNAL RESISTANCE BEGAN TO GROW ... THEREFORE, AS ONCE WIDE AVAILABLE LITHIUM APPEARED IN THE NEUTRAL. 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 COMPONENT OF THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE - THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BY A DIYER…
A simplified calculation of the parameters and cost of the battery looks like this: suppose we need to dial a 100-volt battery - quite a lot of motors are designed for this voltage. The voltage of one "lifer-can" is 3.3 volts, which means we need to connect 30 cans in series. But the second important battery parameter is capacity. Since the "banks" are the same, the capacity of one = the capacity of the entire battery. A good quality can costs about $1.50 per ampere-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 calculate: 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 a good way, it needs to be at least doubled ... Electric vehicle batteries are charged most often with semi-homemade chargers made on the basis of cheap decommissioned power supplies that saturate backup batteries at base stations cellular communication - there they work in conjunction with 48-volt lead batteries. You need two of these blocks - they are connected in series, 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, a regular 12-volt battery, as a rule, remains in its place - it is convenient to power various regular consumers from it - a sound signal, windshield wipers, power windows, "music", light, etc. Later, as one of the first upgrades, it can be replaced with a three hundred watts DC/DC converter, 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 components - both necessary and optional. Categorically necessary is, of course, the engine control controller. In the simplest version, it can be made independently on relatively inexpensive and widespread parts, and the throttle angle sensor from the injection VAZ will serve as the gas pedal sensor. You can buy a controller from domestic do-it-yourselfers, order a factory one 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 mandatory for a trial (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 necessary for the operation of the brake booster also disappears. Therefore, many do-it-yourselfers install VUT electric auxiliary pumps borrowed from cars like the Volvo XC90, Ford Kuga, etc. However, it all depends on the project - on a light electric car, not everyone even upgrades the brakes, since the role of the “vacuum pump” is partly performed by regenerative braking 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.
How much does it cost to assemble an electric car with your own hands?
Donor car, electric motor, controller - all this varies flexibly and here you can "cut" to the best of cunning and desires. You can buy a donor car for 100-150 thousand in a decent condition on the body, you can buy for 50 thousand - but with the need for tin, welding, painting ... You can buy an electric motor from an elderly Bulgarian loader, or you can buy a used or new American motor designed specifically for electric vehicles . You can purchase an industrial engine thrust control controller, or you can solder it yourself if you have the skills. The same goes for everything else, except for the battery. Here, nothing will be especially “tailored”: the prices for new lithium-ferrum banks are approximately the same everywhere, the question is capacity. A good 80-100-volt battery for about a hundred kilometers will cost $4,000-5,000 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 an 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 impact values that shorten their life ... While you are arguing with the purchase of the second half, the first one will die ... So is it profitable to build an electric car? Even an experienced do-it-yourselfer and, in fact, the guru of a garage EV building, Igor Korkhov, believes that a hobby is in the first place, and “cheating the system” can only be very conditional - it will border on self-deception ... The fact is that the end result cannot be assessed purely by the cost of a kilometer traveled, as it seems to many, you have to take into account both comfort, and functionality, and safety of the car, and just the feeling of what you own. Here, for example, 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 early-generation VW Golf will cost the same in terms of components - plus time spent on thematic forums and your own labor invested. As a result, on one side of the scale - albeit a domestic, but smelling of novelty and trouble-free car under warranty, and on the other - an elderly and outwardly shabby "electric self-propelled gun" in the stage of endless finishing, without the possibility of refueling on the way, at first (or even forever) without air conditioning, brake booster and the like. Well, or, say, the next bar is Hyundai Solaris. New it costs from 600,000 rubles, which is about $ 9,200. A similar amount will have to be spent if you build an electric car based on a more or less fresh foreign car body that looks decent from the outside and has an unkilled interior, having bought a good American electric motor for this body, a reliable Curtis proprietary controller and dialing a capacious battery. However, the output is, in general, almost the same as in the first case ... Solaris has maximum speed and dynamics in its trump cards, the ability to replenish fuel everywhere, and not just in a personal garage where there is an outlet, all the advantages of a new and reliable car with a lot of functional amenities, guarantees and more. A homemade product, even if it is more decent inside and out, remains a homemade product - a machine with significant limitations in terms of range and refueling, an eternal constructor, a simulator for hands and mind ... conclusions From the point of view of the application of hands and mind for a person who loves cars and technology, building an electric car is certainly justified! Of course, this hobby is costly, but everything is known in comparison - and, in comparison, not with oligarchic extremes like collecting Faberge testicles, but with quite common and massive technical applied hobbies. Let's say, for a fishing lover, an average 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 QUADROCOPTER WITH A CAMERA COSTS NOT LESS. AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND, THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN ELECTRIC CAR DOES NOT STAND OUT IN ANYTHING - SUCH NORMAL MEN'S FUN ...
Equally attractive to building a “Version 1.0” electric car is that the result is achievable for many, and not just for the elite - you don’t need to be an “engineer of the 80th level” to articulate an electric motor with a gearbox, lay power and control wiring and place it in the trunk batteries. In the simplest design and with a lot of advice from a responsive electric car community on the Internet, the work will be pleasant and almost certainly successful. However, until efficient batteries become cheaper and inexpensive sets of traction motors and controllers spread, as happened with whales for electric bicycles, a garage-built electric car in terms of operating costs 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 ...
An increasing number of motorists around the world are switching to environmentally friendly vehicles. Many only plan to purchase an electric car, saving money for a long-awaited purchase. Even a budget model of eco-transport costs several tens of thousands of dollars, which often complicates the purchase of a car. However, there are craftsmen who convert their cars with a gasoline engine to power an alternative type of fuel - electricity. But, of course, before embarking on such a serious undertaking to reorganize the internal component of the vehicle, it is necessary to thoroughly weigh the pros and cons. First of all, we recommend that you study the device of the factory electric car.
How to choose a vehicle for conversion?
The process of switching the power system of a car from gasoline to an alternative type of fuel is not easy. The vehicle itself must meet the following criteria:
- It should be a common machine in the region, for which you can easily get a set of spare parts.
- It is desirable that the mass of the car does not exceed 1 ton - a two-seater car or a compact four-seater passenger car is ideal.
- The body of the car must be made taking into account the norms of aerodynamics, otherwise the electric car will be too slow and clumsy due to oncoming gusts of wind.
- When choosing a car among modifications with a manual and automatic transmission, give preference to the first option.
It is also important that there is enough free space in the car to install the battery. In an electric vehicle, the battery is mounted low with the weight distributed over the entire area of the vehicle. This also needs to be taken into account. Now about the electric motor. It should be simple, not requiring professional intervention during installation. In the secondary market, you can always buy good motors from electric cars.
The battery serves as the main power source for the electric motor of the "green" car, so you should carefully prepare for the choice of this component. Adhere to the following rules:
- The most rational solution is to buy two batteries at once. The first is installed directly in the car, and the second serves as a fallback. In operation, the gel power supply proved to be the best.
- A lithium-ion battery is more expensive, but it has a number of advantages.
- When choosing a battery, keep in mind that ideally, the device should have a volume of 40 kW / h and produce a voltage of 75 volts.
With these simple tips, you can purchase a reliable battery that will give your vehicle the range it needs.
How to assemble an electric car yourself?
When all the necessary equipment has been purchased, you can begin to reorganize the gasoline power system. The instruction is as follows:
- Raise the machine with a hoist and dismantle the power plant.
- Remove all parts that made the gasoline engine work. Leave only the parts and mechanisms necessary for the stable operation of the electric motor.
- Get rid of the power steering.
- Modify the existing motor mounts to fit the dimensions of the electric motor. Also, this work can be entrusted to auto mechanics service stations.
- The motor shaft is connected to the transmission by means of a redesigned flywheel.
- Install an electric motor and a power controller in the engine compartment.
- Fix the battery with the brackets using M50 wire to connect the unit to the controller.
When choosing a component and during the work, consult with professionals. Today, new mechanisms and devices for electric vehicles are constantly appearing on the automotive market, as well as ready-made kits designed to re-equip certain car models. If you have not found such kits, then you can always turn to a professional workshop for help, where they will certainly help you become the owner of an environmentally friendly car. However, one must understand that recently it is too labor-intensive and economically inexpedient to make an electric car from an ordinary car, when you can buy a used factory car within 400 thousand rubles.
