EV project update

I've decided to go purchase myself some new tools because I was frustrated with beg, borrowing or stealing them and yet still never having the right tool for the job. So I bought myself a socket set, a small trolley jack to hoist the car upon two sturdy car mounts, which is a heck of an improvement on the twin scissor jacks. I forgot to mention at the end of last weeks' session one of the jacks started to buckle, and the car nearly came completely off them.

We were pretty busy today, we took the frontside faring off, along with the radiator, airconditioning unit/compressor, front bar, many pipes and electircs, starter motor, started draining out the power-stearing fluid and detaching that. We took the wheels off to see about doing preparing the engine for detaching the CV shaft and and the engine block from the gearbox. It looks as though we're practically ready to lift the engine out of the car now. We've taken the bonnet off for next weeks' activities; all I'm waiting on is an engine crane, a few hooks to be procured from a mates workplace, a couple of big sockets ~30mm diameter and we'll be set.

Not as many pics this time around, but still it's just a progress shot. The car is starting to look like a work in progress. Rick and I have taken some inspiration from a few other EV projects that have been well documented on the web.

http://www.electric-echo.com/journal.htm
- you can use the menu above to navigate around his website which has a fair bit of detail about his car and procedure.
- the index page happens to have turned into some Turkish-pride group rally point... no idea what happened there.

This NZ guy also put together a site (recently updated)
http://www.kiwiev.com/
- It's got pretty good detail about the process and videos of each step,
- The car was so successful that he and the car made the news.

I think the main challenge is really getting the car up to roadworthy standards. It's one thing to install a motor, controller and batteries; but it's another to make it safe while keeping it tidy. A few years ago when I had the nacent dream to build an electric car, I started contacting people from the department of transport (who put me through to the guy ion Brisbane who owns the electric echo). They were helpful, and provided alot of documentation regarding what needs to be approved by mechanical and electrical engineers, roadworthy certificate procedures and things like that. Unfortunately I lost all that planning and material when I had my external hard-drive nicked @ uni!

Enjoy the pics;
30th May 2010
P.S. I've uploaded some of me trying to make fire out of sticks... I failed, really badly - I felt so ashamed I went and got a haircut.
Fire making attempt


M@

The Electric Vehicle

For a few years now I have been keen to convert an typical internal combustion engine (ICE) to a lean mean an electric vehicle. This week Rick and I decided to start putting words into action. We scored an old small car (a 04 model Holden Barina) off my parents and got it towed to my driveway this morning care of RACQ.
We haven't exactly got the right tools for the job just yet; for example, an engine crane and an angle grinder would come in handy. So we're dismantling the engine bit by bit over the coming weeks with a socket set, blood, sweat, and tears. Here's a shopping list of things we managed to do;
- Drained the engine of oil and the radiator of coolant.
- Detached (erm hacked away at) many of the connecting hoses and belts, distributor cables etc.
- Removed the heat shield, exhaust manifold, the alternator, & intake manifold.
- Removed the coolant tank.

We are also saving a bit of money to buy the parts for the car over the coming months. Once we have a clean working area and enough measurements we'll start ordering the parts.

Pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mattycoze/ElectricVehicle#