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

  1. #1
    80's Style'n Backyard Mechanic VA61DETT's Avatar
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    Cool No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Hi all,

    Well I have had ideas about converting an old car to leccy power for about a year now.
    After much procrastination I have finally got my ass into gear.

    The aim of the project was to build a totally functional and practical daily driver, which could get 2 people about 150Km per charge, still maintain all of the vehicle functionality & driveability.

    First off there was a lot of research done into battery / motor technologies & getting an idea of how much power would be required to get from A – B (including hills) etc…
    The only suitable battery technology was Lithium Ion, giving great range and very good power density / weight figures.
    Ideally this would have been coupled to a 3phase induction or permanent magnet motor, but the cost was just too hard to justify.
    I ended up settling for DC technology, cheep, simple, readily available and still around 80% efficient.

    Next was the all important car selection, something cheep, light, not too old & most importantly interesting!
    There was no way I was going to spend mega $$$ and time on a boring 90’s excel or lancer…

    After much hunting around I came across the Sera, 90’s. + Light weight + Different + Toyota = winner!

    [The Sera @ Home]


    [What doors ?!?]


    [The hectic 5E-FHE]



    Now that we had the car & an idea of the requirements I got onto the various local and international EV companies to source the specific components to suite.

    Motor
    Netgain Impulse9 (Rated about 40Kw @ 144v)

    [The 9” beast]


    Batteries
    Thundersky LiOn 160Ah (45 units) 162V nominal

    [Big, yellow and bloody expensive!]


    DC Controller
    Zilla 1K, 1000A @ ~180VDC (That’s 180Kw capacity!
    [The Zilla!]


    There is also an assortment of bits n pieces for charging, battery monitoring brakes, heater etc…

    [misc bits]


    Now onto the hard stuff….

    Planning to have the engine out this weekend & to start work on designing the DC motor adapter plate, already have a nice ¾ inch thick block of ally sitting around for the job.

    I am planning to keep the clutch system for now, as this will give me the ability to use the engine to idle the accessories, such as power steering & A/C.
    Eventually I would like to get a second accessory motor to take care of this, but for now there is a lot of work to be done….

  2. #2
    Junior Member Too Much Toyota oldcorollas's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    is it going to have braking regen capacity? how hard is that to implement?
    "I'm a Teaspoon, not a mechanic"
    "There is hardly anything in the world that a man can not make a little worse and sell a little cheaper" - John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

    AU$TRALIA... come and stay and PAY and PAY!!! The moral high horse of the world!

  3. #3
    busy adding lightness Too Much Toyota MR22ZZ's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    wow, interesting project.

    Will watch this one with great interest.
    Good Luck
    Past Toyotas - Snow White (TA23), Blue Stivo (ZZE123)
    Current Toyotas - Hamster (AW11)
    Quote Originally Posted by X kyle X View Post
    the aw11 is rougher and more angular so it's sex Appel is more that of Sylvester stalone rather then brad pitt

  4. #4
    Junior Member Domestic Engineer Brendan's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Definately a cool project.

    Not many of us are that quick to jump into new technology.

    Very keen to see how this turns out

  5. #5
    Lord of InterpretiveDance Chief Engine Builder tomvale13's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Hey mate,

    I read through an article about a guy who's done this with an ep91, I am unsure if he had regeneration through mechanisms in his brakes but he had it running!

    good luck!

    Quote Originally Posted by Cuzzo View Post
    They cash in the empty can of whoopass they received in SA and receive 10c's per punch...
    They have to accrew enough for nose reconstructions as well as feeding his mime family. The dont talk much so they never need much water for their dry mouths.

  6. #6
    I definitely ain't a Chief Engine Builder wagonist's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Going to be an interested project.

    Confused how you ended up with light weight and Sera in the same sentence though.
    The strengthening to the shell to accomodate those gull wing doors equates to about 200kg extra over an equivalent Paseo.

    The Starlet would've been a better starting point.

    You planning on keeping the A/C for the glasshouse to stay cool?

    Each to their own I suppose.

  7. #7
    Not in the diner Alf! Conversion King RyleyMA61's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    If you need help the Elec. Engineer and co at uni have done all this to a few Hyundai Getz that are zippin round Melbourne now... So i can ask for you.

    Looks the goods though!

  8. #8
    Current UZA80 owner Chief Engine Builder JustCallMeOrlando's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Ditto, if you need some advice, one of my bosses is involved with this here in Perth:
    http://www.therevproject.com/
    Teh UZA80 - Project Century - Remotely p00'd by association

  9. #9
    ---------HO00NS---------- Chief Engine Builder IN 05 NT's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    hey check this lil beast out!!! 11 second electric datto.......

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cf89tawZX8

  10. #10
    Junior Member Backyard Mechanic godlovesugly's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    if beyond2000 taught me anything its that all electric cars will have gullwing doors so i understand the choice.

    although an ultra light old school corolla would have been my choice.

  11. #11
    Junior Member Carport Converter RA35GT's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    I was wondering when/if you were going to start a thread on this Aaron.

    I'm definately interested in how it all works!
    1977 RA35 Celica GT - I4 | 2007 GSV40R Aurion - V6
    Don't live life being scared of death, live in the fear of not truly living. RP 2012

  12. #12
    Junior Member Too Much Toyota oldcorollas's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Quote Originally Posted by wagonist
    Confused how you ended up with light weight and Sera in the same sentence though.
    The strengthening to the shell to accomodate those gull wing doors equates to about 200kg extra over an equivalent Paseo.

    The Starlet would've been a better starting point.
    Each to their own I suppose.
    maybe you missed reading this bit
    Next was the all important car selection, something cheep, light, not too old & most importantly interesting!
    There was no way I was going to spend mega $$$ and time on a boring 90’s excel or lancer…

    After much hunting around I came across the Sera, 90’s. + Light weight + Different + Toyota = winner!
    paseo is boring
    starlet is boring

    according to the all-knowing Wiki..
    Sera is 930kg
    paseo is 975kg...

    care to back up your 200kg claim?

    here has 1992 Paseo at 940kg, and 1990 Sera at 900kg
    http://www.carfolio.com/specificatio...car/?car=16379
    http://www.carfolio.com/specificatio...car/?car=15730
    Last edited by oldcorollas; 18-03-2009 at 05:56 PM.
    "I'm a Teaspoon, not a mechanic"
    "There is hardly anything in the world that a man can not make a little worse and sell a little cheaper" - John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

    AU$TRALIA... come and stay and PAY and PAY!!! The moral high horse of the world!

  13. #13
    Junior Member Backyard Mechanic jono's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    awesome. i've already said my next engine conversion will be an electric motor, so i'll be watching this one closely.
    previous:-> 74 KE20 4AGTE, 04 RZN149R, 01 AE112R, 01 KR42R, 84 E30 318i, 67 MINI DELUXE
    current:-> 06 BF XR6T, MY13 ISUZU D-MAX 4X4

  14. #14
    DIY Bloodline Domestic Engineer Talasas's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    Glad to see you finally got it started. You already picked up some nice bits there, particularly the batteries and the DC controller. I'll be watching this with great interest. I toyed with the idea myself for a while but I couldn't justify the cost either, it looks like you spent some big bucks already

    Should be great though, and if you want a real challenge keep the air con functional as well
    "In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people angry and has widely been regarded as a bad move." -HHGG

  15. #15
    Balloon Slayer Backyard Mechanic jimmmayyy's Avatar
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    Default Re: No pistons, no fuel, no worries! Toyota Sera EV Conversion begins…

    any possibility of tellin us the costs?

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