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

[VA61DETT]

-Wagonist

Got plenty of reactions pulling up to places, being super stealthy

Yes currently 'borrowing' power @ work, conveniently have a power point located out by the car park

My run has only 1 set of traffic lights & virtually no traffic congestion (Shift work FTW!)
However after driving down to south Perth last weekend (~35Km) I found that the stop start driving dose not really hurt the battery usage as much as you would think, (drove there & back with 42% battery power remaining).
Sustained speed of >100Km/h is a real killer due to the drag, if you want I could send you the power usage graphs for the different drives.

-A

[wagonist]

It'd be interesting to see how the stop-start usage stacks up against your prolonged runs.
The city stuff is probably more where the electric comes into its own with not needing to run whilst sitting at traffic lights.

[TERRA Operative]

You should have a look at what those 'hyper-miler' people do with their aerodynamics to get their crazy mileage.
Things like vortex generators on the roof bit between the doors and boot, side skirts and lower front bar etc etc. Although the Sera is pretty good for aerodynamics already.

[VA61DETT]

Heh, some of those guys are nut cases!

I dont think ime ready to sacrifice being able to boot it around for a few drops of fuel..
That and also looking like a bit of a tool with home made aero kit ;p

Small update.

Almost finished re-installing interior, comming together quite nicelty.
Installed & tested heater, A/C is going to be re-gassed tomorrow morning

Really need to get on to the licensing dept now...

-A

[brett_celicacoupe]

-Wagonist

Got plenty of reactions pulling up to places, being super stealthy

Yes currently 'borrowing' power @ work, conveniently have a power point located out by the car park

My run has only 1 set of traffic lights & virtually no traffic congestion (Shift work FTW!)
However after driving down to south Perth last weekend (~35Km) I found that the stop start driving dose not really hurt the battery usage as much as you would think, (drove there & back with 42% battery power remaining).
Sustained speed of >100Km/h is a real killer due to the drag, if you want I could send you the power usage graphs for the different drives.

-A

what sort of power are you pulling at 100km/hr?

how does that compare with the theory of the cubic power-velocity relationship?

50km/hr should be an 1/8th of power consumption of 100k

[VA61DETT]

Update
Friday, 19/March/10

Got the aircon re-gassed today, it worked first time!!... Just have to hold yer foot on the accl if you want it to run @ the lights (for now).
Did a quick test & calculated that the A/C pump consumes 2.88Kw @ 2000rpm

Will be interesting to see how much this affects the range under normal driving conditions.

I will eventually either shift the a/c & p/s onto its own motor, or make some kind of intelligent idle circuit, as it is quite tricky to maintain the revs as the load from the A/C cycles on and off.
Also finished editing up another quick demo video, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsIFckliIA

Now I really need to get on to engineering the bloody thing…..

-A

[VA61DETT]

Update
Wednesday, 7 April 2010

New rear springs came in a few weeks ago, finally got round to installing them last week, decided to buy some new struts too, as the old ones were looking a little sad.

Old v new:


The springs are custom made aurora 5.5kg jobbies (starlet template), and yes they are crazy hard.

Old ride height:


New ride height:


Yes it looks like there is a 2” lift kit installed, I may end up cutting a turn or 2 off the springs, just got to make sure they will remain captive.

The handling has been significantly improved, no more hitting the bump stops every 5 seconds, corners flatter and does not roll around as much.

A little bit expensive, but indeed necessary.

-A

[Mole]

Wow tall, can you get a full shot of it with the new height? Looks like a 4wd in those!

Love this thing.

[RA35GT]

electric 4wd...nice

Are you bringing it down to the khana??

[VA61DETT]

-Mole, Will see if I can get some this arvo.

-Rudi, Would love to get down there, but I am in the middle of replacing the flywheel on the supra.
Would I be able to rock up on the day and Pay? cant guarantee anything as yet.

-A

[RA35GT]

If there are empty spots then yeah dood.

Alex should have some spare sheets on him.

[VA61DETT]

Update
Friday, 16 April 2010

Took the car down to the EV shop in Balcatta on Wednesday for a pre-engineering inspection, as I suspected the battery box restraints were not substantial enough.
This calls for a major re-design of the lower box mounting system *sigh*
Will be ripping everything out this weekend & welding in some heavy plates for additional brackets as well as adding 25mm box section support bars along the middle of the box.

Prolly be off the road for at least a month...

Hopefully after performing all the suggestions from the EV shop I should have no problem getting it passed by engineering & licensing.

-A

[clubagreenie]

Just mold some black plasticine in, wait a week and go back and show it off, just make sure it's not too hot.

[VA61DETT]

Update
Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Ok have now removed most of the interior again, box is out and in the process of having upgraded mounts & support bars attached.

Progress thus far:

Test fitment of main chassis brackets:


Close up of welds to chassis rails, this was a little tricky to attach 8mm plate to 2mm pressed steel, in very awkward positions...


New main support brackets bolted in position (note extra holes to reduce weight, totally intentional )


Now need to cut, bend & weld in the beefed up secondary support brackets.
The upper brackets will remain un-changed, if all goes well I should have most of it done by next week.

-A

[Draven]

if I'm ever in WA, dibs on a ride in it.

Love this to bits