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Congrats again and It must feel great to consider it DONE.
One thing I'd be curious is how that setup would fair in other states with extremes like AZ or MI. I guess we won't really know until someone tries(my hands are down )
You guys are way too kind - Excellence Magazine - I guess I better get the car painted fast! Ha! That would be fun. I do plan on trying to put a nice video piece together on it, with more detail, shots of burnouts, etc.
After two years of family asking "is your car done yet?" over and over, I am certainly in the mood to show it off. Happy to share with anyone coming through the area (Eugene, OR).
Alpine - To answer your question regarding temperature extremes, that is a good question. We are not actively heating/cooling the battery pack, but here's the thought on that: Cold shouldn't make much of a difference, as the packs heat up as they are used. That said, I did get some very cold days evenings - close to 10 degrees F, and the car performed well. We found that the cabin heater can drain 10-12% of the pack in about an hour, so I will definitely keep to the seat heaters on long trips!
Hot days could be more of an issue - it could limit the amount of "fun" you have at times. The batteries have an operating temperature range from -20°C up to 55°C, and in weather in the 70s, the batteries approached 50°C during "heavy" testing, many 0-60 attempts, etc. Adding some sort of active cooling - fans, for example, to the battery packs should help this. Although the car will see a handful of days over 100°F every year, in general our thought was that we didn't want to add a complex heating/cooling system to the pack if it wasn't needed.
I've now put on nearly 200 miles with the "done" car... I have found two small items to repair - we have one battery management connection that we're guessing is loose... it registers a battery voltage well below others, especially when cold. The thought is that this connection gets worse when things "shrink" in the cold. Hope to have this repaired next week. Of course, it is in the hardest battery back to get to, the one in the rear above the motor with all components mounted to it, so we're hoping to be able to slide it out just enough to get to the connection without having to remove everything... keep your fingers crossed! I also have a slow coolant leak, so that will have to be resolved as well when we get it on the lift.
Pretty awesome thus far - I just want to drive all day! Really looking forward to doing some testing/dyno as well - have tentative plans to do that toward the end of next week!
Congratulations! You've brought back memories from my own experience.
I finished my e car in the beginning of winter, and was annoyed at how the cold affected the batteries at the time - heater etc. Once the weather improved, range was so much better.
Re: paint. if you watch the jay lenos garage on the porsche 918, they discuss the paint in great detail. It would be AWESOME if you could get the "liquid" paint or whatever they call it. Would truly look 'electric'!
congrats again. My brother lives in Idaho. If I ever visit, I'm coming to eugene
I feel like an idiot, but what is the "coolant" used for that you say is leaking?
Good question - I have two water systems in the car - one is the Zilla motor controller, the part that converts / pulls power from the batteries and feeds it to the electric motor. The second is for the cabin air heating system, and this is the one that is leaking in the front of the car... a very slow drip.
Originally Posted by chamilun
I finished my e car in the beginning of winter, and was annoyed at how the cold affected the batteries at the time - heater etc. Once the weather improved, range was so much better.
I experience the same thing in our Leaf, but the issue I'm having isn't one of range - in very cold weather the system shuts down during very moderate accelerations in excess of 5 seconds in length because one of the batteries is signaling low voltage. It should be fixed relatively easily... if we can just get to the sensor and fix it!
Originally Posted by chamilun
Re: paint. if you watch the jay lenos garage on the porsche 918, they discuss the paint in great detail. It would be AWESOME if you could get the "liquid" paint or whatever they call it. Would truly look 'electric'!
congrats again. My brother lives in Idaho. If I ever visit, I'm coming to eugene
I had to look up some photos... that does look awesome! As a $65K option on the 918, that would double the value of my car! It would be fun to do something special... however I have to temper that desire with the reality that this is a daily driver in which I ferry kids to school... can't make it too perfect or I'll be freaking out the whole time!
Originally Posted by alpine003
I'm assuming it's for his voltage controller.
I also definitely think your car should be in at least one or two porsche mags.
As for your bum battery, it sounds like it's the AOS battery.
Would be fun to be in some mags or get something posted online... I think once I have made a nice video or the like we may attract some eyeballs... you never know! Thanks for the kudos. I really enjoy driving it every day. Feel guilty not putting it in a garage...
You should send an email to the guys at /drive or @thesmokingtire or Chris Harris. Those guys are always doing features on interesting cars and yours qualifies.
Excited for two reasons... the car was just dropped off at a paint shop (CuttingEdgeIllusions.com) and if they finish in time, I'll be attending my first car show - Issaqua, WA on Mother's Day - Any of you fellow Rennlisters out there, I'd be happy to give you a ride!
I'm not going to say the obvious and tell you how amazing your car is...
But where the heck do you find a paint shop like this? It looks spotless and I bet they do outstanding work. Around here you're lucky if you can find a paint shop that even has a spray booth.
Most 'painters' spray in an open garage around here.
Very kind... loving it as my DD. Funny how I feel withdrawal as it is stuck at the painter!
Originally Posted by kmagnuss
But where the heck do you find a paint shop like this?
I feel a bit fortunate to have stumbled onto them. Gave up waiting for a guy that had a single booth in a small warehouse... and I think he did me a favor by not getting to me in time! This shop has 6 booths, one of which is HUGE for large RVs, an infrared oven for paint and one for fiberglass work. Their bread and butter is motorcycle paint and custom bags - check out the CuttingEdgeIllusions.com website and be prepared to get blown away. Their artwork and airbrush is drop-dead gorgeous. Keeping the car relatively classy (hopefully) - the paint color will be similar to what I have now but a candy finish. The Carrera badge on the rear will be removed and they'll put "Electric" in black below the candy - should look cool. Still considering some subtle lightning bolts or electric sparks flying along the lower rockers, but you know, want more of a porsche than a low-rider bling machine!
I forgot if you mentioned or not if you're doing anything for noise generation so pedestrians can be aware that you're coming around crowded cities. It be cool if you hook up an app like xlr8 to an external speaker. Lol.
I forgot if you mentioned or not if you're doing anything for noise generation so pedestrians can be aware that you're coming around crowded cities. It be cool if you hook up an app like xlr8 to an external speaker. Lol.
Nope - not setting anything up to make additional noise. There is a little sound from the forced air cooling and a mild whine from the motor, neither of which you hear driving but you can hear a little when the car drives by. I'll have to get an audio clip of that.
As far as hooking up xlr8 and the like - done it and got a pretty good laugh out of some folks! Seems like you and are on the same wavelength!
01-02-2015, 09:51 PM
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