Projects
The heart of improving fuel economy on this web site is PROJECTS!
Individuals work on vehicles to make them better! Take a look through any of the projects posted here. Leave a comment. Let us know what you think.
Or, contact us, and get your project added!
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I really wish I would have pulled my head out of my arse and bought a Kaneka panel when you guys did. $90 is much better than the $150 I will have to spend now
And I am in wisconsin.
Cheers
Ryan
1) how many HP is a forklift motor
2) what about bypassing transmition? Is there a good way to have 2 Smaller motors direct drive the front or rear wheels?
3) I have a car that when I replace it, Id like to try it on. A 2 door accent.
Forklift motors come in different horsepower ratings, but most of them are pretty beefy. By overvolting them, you can further increase the horsepower.
You could bypass a transmission, but then you get into building something fancy and custom between the motor and the wheels, and you still need gear reduction. If you use two motors, you need two motor controllers. The TROPICA was rear-wheel drive with one motor on each the rear wheels.
Good luck on your project Robert!
What is the top speed of your fork lift motor?
Can you run on the autoroute or do you have to stay on the back roads?
Third don’t you get some kind of exhaust or something from your in car propane generator ?
The speed of the motor depends on the system voltage. With 72V, it will go 45 MPH – the speed limit of the road outside my house. It’s all 25 mph roads in town, only 2 miles away. On 144V, I have gotten the car up to 73 MPG, which is illegally fast on our interstate highway.
The propane generator has an exhaust pipe that exits the bottom of the car, with a muffler on it.
First of all, congrats on the win.
Did you ever do the project of putting a Merc diesel engine into small pick-up? I have a pristine 300 SD turbo diesel and tranny and was looking forward to the lesson.
Cheers,
Mike
The diesel engine is sitting in my garage right now. That has, unfortunately, been my “back-burner” project. I still plan on doing it, it’s just a matter of time, money, and talent…
The 300SD turbo-diesel would be a GREAT engine to throw in a little truck. One of the reasons I am going with the engine from the 240D (besides it being affordable, and me not being able to find one from a 300SD…) is that it is the same physical length as the GM 2.2l 4-cylinder already in the truck.
Check back in the spring for further truck updates….
Ben –
After all your hard work, how much difficulty did you encounter with the WI Motor Vehicle Dep’t. in getting the car licensed ? Any requirement for smog certification (since it has a small-displacement ICE generator)? Also, how did you found a “sympathetic” insurance carrier ?
Thanks, Johann
Bought your metro conversion video. Great job. Wondering what differences if I buy on old VW ? I will have many other questions along the way. I am hunting down a forklift motor 1st. Then I will go on from there.
Old VWs are great! They have been just about the most modded car in American history. The main differences are that it’s rear-wheel drive, and the motor is mounted longitudinally. That’s actually an advantage. It means you can use a really big motor. There’s plenty of room back there for just about any configuration of electric motor you want. My friend Paul has a VW he converted to electric. You can see it at: http://www.evalbum.com/3725 or take a look at his open source controller information at: http://www.paulandsabrinasevstuff.com/evmotorcontrollers.html
Does anybody know where can I get instructions to convert my forklift motor to 144 volts?
I read about moving the brushes but I am not sure how to. So I will appreciate any help.
Thank
Newbie to the ev world
Bob
Hey Bob,
I also have found it very difficult to really nail down any details on exactly how to determine exactly how to mod a motor for 144V use. I do know a guy who works in the test lab at a carbon brush manufacturer. Even asking him directly, the best I really got was “Well, it really depends on a number of factors, speed, voltage, etc, etc.”.
I know that Netgain simply advances the brushes 15 degrees. Basically, remove the bolts that hold in the commutator end of the motor, and rotate the whole end 15 degrees INTO the direction of the motor rotation. Mark the new spots on the commutator end, then drill and tap the new holes and put everything back together with the CE bolts through the new holes.
That’s about the best info I have gotten so far. Right now, I have been running a 48V Nissan forklift motor in my Electro-Metro at 108V. I haven’t had any issues with it at all, but I mostly use my car at lower speeds in town. If I upgrade to 144V, I plan to change the brush timing, and take photos and video of the process and share my results.
Ben,
For my first project, don’t laugh, I would like to convert an old riding lawn mower. I am willing to purchase your DVD if you think this will assist me. I have zero knowledge of electrical and respect it immensely. I need maybe 4000 rpms to drive cutting deck and tranny. Would I need a motor as large as forklift motor, or could I use something smaller? I guess that I would have room to house 4 or 5 12 volt batteries. Thanks for you’re reply. Ken in Richfield Wi.
A riding lawn mower is a GREAT first EV project!
The wiring for a mower is pretty simple. All of the same CONCEPTS of an electric car also apply to a rider. You would easily be able to use forklift parts for the mower. Mowers typically run 36 or 48 volts, the same as an electric golf cart or forklift. Also, you more that likely would NOT need a PWM motor controller, instead, just run the electric motor in place of the gas engine and use the clutch and gearing that the motor already has to control the speed. A small forklift motor would work fine. Etek and similar pancake permanent motors are also popular for mower conversions.
My friend Tim, who is a moderator at EcoRenovator built his own electric rider mower conversion. He documented it pretty well too. You can see that at: http://ecorenovator.org/introducing-ecorider-riding-mower-electric-conversion-project/
My lawn mower is a GE Electrak. It’s a factory-built electric riding lawn mower from the 1970′s. They are starting to get hard to find though. I think a modern conversion to electric is a great way to go!
-Ben
Ben,
I have been fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) that an old boyfriend of my daughter has left a 1978 BMW 320i coupe in our garage (its mine now). It has the factory 4 speed. I was wondering if this would be a nice car to convert, and which electric motor would be a good choice. Thank You,
Allan Smith
Hi Allan.
I am personally not familiar with the car, but it seems to me that BMWs have a reputation of good design and construction. Older cars (before computers ran everything!) tend to be a little better for conversions in that you don’t have to “trick” any onboard displays. Fuel gauge and other instrumentation can usually be modified easier as well. What I usually recommend for anyone asking “will this car work?” is to search for that same make and model on the EV Album. I saw two of the 320s on there. Take a look to see what those owners used for motors, batteries, and time and cost associated with the conversion.
http://www.evalbum.com/type/BMW/32
Hi,
I´m starting a nice EV conversion on my motorcycle, and I was wondering if have you ever tried to plug a dynamo on the front wheel, and that way at the same time you´re running around, you get a little charge-up to the batteries and so more distance range.
Thanks for any advice.
Pablo
The short answer is here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion_machine
Ben I have a question, I came across this website that I am a fan of….http://opensourceecology.org/
In it they were wanting to do a open source electric motor and I came across nickel iron batteries….
Nickel Iron batteries seem very durable would they not be better option than lead acid?
http://www.beutilityfree.com/pdf_files/NiFeFlyer.pdf
Some friends and I visited the Open Source Ecology project a while back. We went down there both to tour and find out more about it, and to physically help out. We were laying up earthen bricks made on location with their brick-making machine.
I shot some video on it, which you can see at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNONgKlB0jo
I don’t personally have any experience with Nickle-Iron batteries, but they appear to have some advantages. While at the Open Source Ecology, I did see an old beat up VW bug parked in the bushes, missing the engine, and saw that the tip of the driven transmission shaft was cut-off, which is very typical for a basic clutchless electric car conversion.
When we did the tour, Marcin did mention how part of the overall concept includes minimizing toxic metals, and a lot of other great permaculture thoughts. He had some really cool ideas too about bio-mass powered steam engines.
I had the idea of building a Solar car and was not sure where even to start. I searched the internet and found a few different sites. You videos and comments were helpful.
So I ordered your DVD, so hopefully I can avoid some of the pitfalls you must have come across. So step one build an electric car. Step two apply Solar panels to some of the surfaces and see how much charge I can get from driving around on a normal windy and rainy day.