EV Conversion Diary

When we decided that my controller was blown, Nathan and I were plainly demoralized. After I went through the five stages of grief, I did what any reasonable person would do: I griped about it online.

Luckily, my griping is pretty descriptive, and I griped to the brightest bunch of EV enthusiasts you could ask for: the EV Discussion List. Two of them found my problem immediately, although it took a second post to convince me.

I spent Sunday working on the car. I got everything rewired and checked; I even used my new access holes. Nathan was impressed: in his own words, "I thought this would be a tough job, but all I had to do was reconnect a vacuum hose."

But the car just won't work. And I'm nearly dead from all the stooping and lifting in a hot garage.

Nice, eh?
(2160x1440)

I can't believe I'm working this hard. I wanted low rolling resistance tires for Silent E, and I found an outstanding deal on some 15" rims at the junkyard. But I had to pull them myself.

2007-09-02 Update: pictures of the rims, with tires mounted!

In the past three weeks, I've had a total of 8 viable hours to work on the EV. I used six of them. You wouldn't think it would take so long; all that's left is putting the batteries back in, then wiring it all together. But then, you're not working in a hot garage in Florida.

This weekend, I used both Friday afternoon and all day Sunday to work on the car. I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped; the heat is just exhausting. My wife was afraid I was going to die from dehydration.