lectrobug

[ed calhoun]

I noticed an ad in one of my Hot VWs mags for a vw ev conversion kit from Wilderness ev. After several phone calls and e-mails finally reached them. They said send $1600 up front and they would send the kit--I did and they sent most of the kit--guess I will give up on getting the missing and wrong parts and buy them elsewhere.
I am using their shunt DC mtr at 36V and plan to go 48V or more with cooling depending how the range works out and if I carry an onboard gas generator or pull one.
The reason for the gen is bifold We live in a rural area with big trees and frequent ice storms and sometimes are without electricity up to 2 weeks.
Have been needing to get a gen for the house several years--now I would like a gen for my lectrobug for emergency get home juice.
Would it be better use a trailer for the gen and add more batteries to the bug or trailer the generator. Would also like some imput about the size of gen(KW) I need. If I carry it where the gas tank used to be in the bug would also have to limit the overall size
This a "get my feet wet" project--would like to build a from the ground up true ev in the future Thanks Ed

[Sharkey]

Ed, an electric vehicle is a great way to keep yourself out of trouble for a long time, almost as much fun as building your own motor home!

One thing I can tell you is that hauling a trailer behind an EV is a very draining experience for the batteries. The added rolling resistance, weight, and wind resistance drives power requirements up very fast. If at all possible, integrate the generator into the vehicle itself.

Having said that, I don't put much faith in generator sets for EV use. Most are built on small single cylinder engine design with no pollution controls and actually will cause the EV to put out more pollution that the ICE that the conversion is intended to replace. Another problem is that few generators put out enough current to come even close to driving a car forward at any speed. My Rabbit EV conversion would need a 10-20Kw generator to drive at highway speeds. Buildup of heat in the drive motor can become a problem. Even with an unlimited amount of power available, I'd be running on the edge of overheating if I ran 100% duty cycle on the EV, and I have a sizeable blower motor drawing cool air from the grille of the car.

Remember that every pound you add to the weight of the car in the form of batteries, generator, or whatever, will shorten the range of the vehicle. Trying to figure out the crossover point of weight-vs-added-range is tricky. I've often thought about putting in half-sized batteries. Less weight would mean better efficiency, and I seldom run the batteries to the end of their charge. I'll be coming up against this question again soon, as I need to buy new batteries for my car to make it useable in my new location.

Have fun with the project, it will give you a lot of experience in the long run which will be useful when you make the next step into building a "real" EV. I think you'll get bitten by the "EV bug" and want something more substantial.

Let me know if you have any more questions, and feel free to post your project progress here.

[ed calhoun]

thanks for the reply--The gen will not be used on the go. Most of the places I shoot will be within 25-30 miles and will have a plug-in so I can charge for the return trip while I shoot (usually 3-6 hrs). The gen is just for emergency and if I do need it will pull over and charge for a few min.
Yes I have been bitten like to build just about anything