EV Conversion Diary

Access Holes
(2160x1440)

My EV has eight batteries tucked under the rear seat. Three are completely accessible; three are accessible enough to put your hand on the terminal and wiggle it. That leaves two stuffed so far under the sheet metal that you can't even see the regulator lights blink without a mirror.

Inaccessible batteries are a bad idea in an EV. At the very least, you should be checking the connections periodically to make sure they're still tight. And placing your hand on a terminal to check for heat can be quite revealing. So we decided to cut access holes.

Power steering rack
(2160x1440)

Today Nathan came over and we did some light work on the Silent E. We were going to replace the power steering with manual steering, but no junkyards were open, so we just took out the power steering rack.

We also emptied the batteries out of the rear box, in anticipation of cutting some access holes in the rear hatch floor. And we wired up the PFC-20 for 12V operation and started charging individual batteries.

The hiatus is over! Now we'll start working on the EV again. 2006-10-22: Pictures!

Halfway done making the box(2160x1440)

In this episode of Judebert's EV Conversion Diary, we explain how to ship a broken 110-pound motor to Oregon for the tender loving care of Jim Husted at Hi-Torque Electric. It's no small challenge. And it's nice to have a wife whose father was a boxmaker.