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July 2009 Posts
Archives
Join Nikki Bloomfield and John Honniball as they discuss the world of EVs.
In today's episode:
A Big Yellow Bus,
John's guide to chargers
Listener Feedback
and lots more.
Don't just listen to the EVcast -- experience and be a part of it! Join us at 1:00pm Eastern, M-F, in our live video broadcast and chat along with us!
hi, Nikki Bloomfield--
My name is Bill Dale, and I left a phone comment on your episode # 256, one hour and 12 minutes into the episode... I had neglected to leave my name so Nikki referred to me as "Mister Excited"... hehe. You can see my EV running in its first static test on You Tube:
BMW EV conversion, first static test-- success!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brsKlo9NI-k
my member name there is: billdale1
______________________
You can then see it again in its first test under power, screeching tires across a parking lot--
BMW EV conversion burns rubber!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbCpFHJ7GJs
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... and then a third video clip shows the battery packs and other hardware:
BMW EV conversion-- 40 cells installed in place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=581OcqLLt1o
In this third video clip, at the end you'll see "Electric Louie", the single most important help I've had in getting my EV running. The car has been at his shop all this time as it took shape and finally got running... if you click the "more info" on each of the You Tube video clips you'll see the important data such as details on the motor, controller and batteries, and my "triple A's": Andrea, Angel and Arturo, the three very skilled technicians that helped to get my EV running at Louie's shop.
In the "burning rubber" clip, you'll see that it has not yet been painted... I waited until after all the heavy work was done and the car was running before painting it because I knew it would be far too easy to damage the paint when trying to install the motor and other components (and, in fact, we did put some large gouges in the primer coat while maneuvering some hardware). Then I can reinstall all the trim, headlights, door handles and other hardware, and get it looking spiffy.
Also in the "burning rubber" clip, there were only 40 of 90 battery cells installed at that time-- 132 volts as opposed to about 300-- we will be installing the other 50 cells later, and its performance and range will increase dramatically.
I want to use this car for my own transportation, but like John Wayland, I want to use it in any way I can to promote EVs and their acceptance as reliable, practical vehicles. One of the things I plan to do once the car is running is to park it in front of the engineering building at The University of Southern California (USC), pop the hood (or even better remove the hood to give full visibility), and allow the car to promote itself and encourage discussions among the students and profs that gather around.
By the time many of those students walk away, I hope that some of them will have decided what they want to do with their degrees in engineering-- help to make EVs cheaper, lighter, and better. We need to stop using fossil fuels as our primary source of power for automobiles, and EVs are the only practical way to do that.
If there is anyone in the Los Angeles area with the necessary machine shop and engineering skills to help me finish this project, I would sincerely appreciate it.
Thanks--
Bill Dale
quote comment add new comment
Congratulations Mr Excited, er Bill! Hope you are able to finish you project completely and post the results and links back here. It's always interesting to see other people's conversions. Out of curiosity, which battery did y'all use? And did you have had a chance to take it out on the road yet?
Oh- and good show by the way, Nikki and John;-)
