No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

[VA61DETT]

-Brett

Yer I rekon, since all my components were purchased from overseas (unfortunately at a crappy rate).

Have a look at evsource.com & evworks.com.au
I purchased quite a few of my components from these sites.

-A

[VA61DETT]

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Another small update
Have now repaired the A/C, re-routed the cooling system & had some nifty decals made up.

The speed controller cooler has now been placed in-front of the A/C condenser so it no longer gets all the hot air dumped into it, causing the controller to over-heat.


Decals!



Still on the lookout for some nice 15” 4x100 rims (if any-one know of some going cheap send me a pm.)

-A

[VA61DETT]

Update 08-04-2011

It broken

Not had a good run lately, My fokes hit a roo in it the other week.
Busted the right hand light, the bonnet and fender.

It also developed a nasty surging problem with the throttle (just prior to hitting the roo) which turns out is the motor going short circuit to the housing.
This in turn caused the speed controller to pack it in (cooked part of the front end voltage detection circuit).

So yer, got some work to do.
-A

[Shakotan_Aaron]

those problems aside, what sort of battery life could you expect from this?

just wondering about the longer term pocket efficiency.

[VA61DETT]

Manufacturer clams about 3000 cycles @ 70% discharge (I rarely run it less then 70% for daily drive)
From my average driving, that is about 60-70 km per 'cycle'
Which should give me about 200,000Km before the batteries are gone (by this point the cells will only be able to deliver <50% of the designed capacity).
Though there are a ton of other variables to add in to the equation such as operational temps, peak current draw, peak charge voltages etc... It gets really difficult to gauge how well they will go.
Only time will tell.

-A

[greywolf]

Bit of bad luck there, hopefully the repairs won't see it off the road too long.

[Shakotan_Aaron]

I ask this as im hearing a lot of people are finding the prius batterys are dying. just thinking hhmm what a complete epic fail. your not so awesome hybrid is now a even less then spectacular petrol car with extra dead weight.... FAIL in every way.

if you where able to manage 200k that would be pretty awesome considering a lot of petrol engines would start to show there age/'get long in the tooth' around this time.

[Scuzzy]

You still looking for a right (assuming drivers) side light cluster? I just took one off my car in replacement for a new set, it's still in good condition.

[MWP]

I ask this as im hearing a lot of people are finding the prius batterys are dying.

This is a surprise how??
Anyone buying a Prius should have been made aware the batteries will need replacing after xxx Kms.
Should just be considered as an extra service cost...

[VA61DETT]

-Scuzzy

Cheers mate,
Though I just bought a good set from the UK recently, so got that part sorted.
I realy need a replacement bonbet & right fender though.

Motor is now repaired, will look at re-installing this weekend.
Speed controller is in the states getting looked at 'soon' (still about a month off I rekon)

Any one know where to get a cheep button clutch plate for a 5E in Australia?

-A

[Scuzzy]

Ah no worries, new or good condition used? how much did you pay?

I do do know AllJap here in Brisbane had a front cut a while back, it may still have fenders if they have it.

[brett_celicacoupe]

hey mate,

what did you find was the cause of the motor short out?

[VA61DETT]

-Brett

Not 100% sure, but may have been a combination of heat stress & carbon build-up form the brushes.

-scuzzy
2nd hand lights ran out to about 70quid each, they look in much better condition then our original ones.
The same place in the Uk also sold new gas struts for about 100quid too.
May have to contact all Jap, I am really keen to get a new bonnet!

Cheers
-A

[woggin]

cant u just build a clutch Aaron? surely u can do it...u built a flywheel...a clutch is just a tad harder

[brett_celicacoupe]

Any updates on this? particularly the battery condition.

I have a car with a conversion half done....