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August 2007
The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association (LVEVA) will meet on the third Saturday of each month during 2007. Meetings will be held at the Clark County Library on 1401 E. Flamingo Road from 10:15 AM to 12:15 PM. Members will be displaying their own electric cars and answering questions before and after the meeting.
Calendar
August 18 Monthly Meeting
September 15 Monthly Meeting
October 20 Monthly Meeting
November 17 Monthly Meeting
December 8 Boulder City Christmas Parade
December 15 Monthly Meeting
LVEVA Board of Directors:
Richard Furniss, President
Bill Yule, Vice President
Bill Kuehl, Secretary/Treasurer
Al Sawyer, Jan Himber , Al D’Inzillo ,Stan Hanel
Newsletter Editors and Contributors:
Richard Furniss, Bill Kuehl, Al Sawyer, P.E.,
Jan Himber, Adam Howard, Brent Singleton, Kent Singleton, Stan Hanel
WATTS HAPPENING
is published monthly by the
Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association,
a chapter of the Electric Auto Association
Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association web site
http://www.lveva.org
Electric Auto Association web site
http://www.eaaev.org
Electric Auto Association
Membership Renewals
323 Los Altos Drive
Aptos, CA 95003-5248
Address Correspondence to:
LVEVA
2816 W. El Campo Grande Avenue
No. Las Vegas, NV 89031
Call for Information:
Richard Furniss (702) 453-6196
Jan Himber for Al Sawyer (702) 642-4000
Bill Kuehl (702) 636-0304
Contents:
-- NEDRA 10th Anniversary National Finals at Portland International Raceway, Aug 16-17th
-- Can EVs and PHEVs Relieve U.S. Dependency on Foreign Oil Imports?
-- EV Repairs and Service
-- EVs and EV Parts for Sale
NEDRA 10th Anniversary Nationals at Portland International Raceway, August 16th and 17th ---Local LVEVA Members Are Also NEDRA Record Holders!
by Stan Hanel
The National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA), an affiliate of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), has been celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year and establishing many new Electric Vehicle drag racing records along the way: http://www.nedra.com
Even more exciting has been the opportunity for passionate “ampheads” to show the advantages of high-performance, battery-powered electric motor torque over gasoline-powered internal combustion engine acceleration, especially when “launching” an electric dragster from a drag strip “light tree” and starting line.
On August 16th and 17th, many of the founding members and world record holders of NEDRA will gather at the Portland International Raceway in Oregon to celebrate ten years of technology breakthroughs and garage mechanic EV racing conversions that have led to a grassroots EV performance revolution on quarter-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag race tracks.
NEDRA pioneer Bill Dube has worked with the NHRA to write the technical inspection guidelines for Electric Drag Race Vehicles into the NHRA rule book. These standard safety construction requirements set guidelines that an NHRA-certified track inspector can use to check out an electric dragster before it is allowed onto an NHRA-approved race track:
http://www.nedra.com/class_rules.html
Bill Dube is also NEDRA’s current record holder for Electric Motorcycle racing: http://www.killacycle.com
This year, the “Killacycle” race team has broken 160 mph on NHRA-sanctioned drag racing tracks, including the “The Strip” drag race track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during an “All Harley” motorcycle racing competition and exhibition. Here is a “YouTube” video of a record-setting run at “The Strip” in 2006 complete with an accidental “plasma” ultra-high-temperature electric motor discharge at the end of the run (a great special effect during this night time event):
http://www.dragtimes.com/2006-Dragster-Motorcycle-Videos-7621.html
Also this year, NEDRA pioneer John Wayland and his 1972 Datsun 1200 EV conversion “White Zombie” are continuing to astound the Hot Rod community by consistently breaking the 100 mph benchmark in “head-to-head” competition against much bigger gasoline-powered “muscle” cars. The “White Zombie” and the “Plasma Boy Racing Team” (Driver Tim Brehm, Electric Motor Builder Jim Husted, and others) have been featured in recent issues of “Car and Driver” magazine as well as other media: http://www.plasmaboyracing.com
The team’s most recent NHRA-sanctioned race times during the Wayland Invitational III in Portland last month broke 116 mph. As the “White Zombie” drops below 11-second quarter-mile official race times, the team must now add a “roll cage” and other safety accessories to this stock 1972 Datsun 1200 EV conversion in order to legally run on NHRA-sanctioned tracks at higher speeds in the future. The NEDRA community regularly corresponds through the EV Discussion List (EVDL), an international Yahoo Group community for Electric Vehicle enthusiasts: ev@listproc.sjsu.edu
Here are recent media links, including the online Wall Street Journal, that highlight events at the Wayland Invitational and announce the upcoming NEDRA Nationals on August 16th and 17th, 2007:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118593442187584293.html
http://www.portlandtribune.com/accelerate/story.php?story_id=118548740512719300
Locally in Las Vegas, LVEVA members led by Bill Kuehl, Richard Furniss, Jan Himber and Al Sawyer have also been pioneering members of NEDRA, organizing an annual “Wicked Watts” racing event at “The Strip” drag race track at nearby Las Vegas Motor Speedway during 2003 and 2005: http://www.lvms.com
Bill Kuehl still holds the NEDRA record time in three classes-- the MC/C Class (abbreviation for Modified Street Conversion, “C” Voltage Category at 169 to 192 Volts) with a 192-volt battery-powered system, the MC/D Class (Modified Street Conversion, “D” Voltage Category at 145 to 168 Volts) with a 156-volt battery-powered system and the MC/E Class (Modified Street Conversion, “E” Voltage Category at 121 to 144 volts) with a 144-volt battery-powered system.
Jan Himber with Al Sawyer as driver, both still hold the NEDRA record time for the SP/F Class (Street Production vehicle, “F” Voltage Category at 97 to 120 Volts) with Jan’s Lectra Motors production car based on a Datsun 310 glider and a 108-volt battery-powered drive system. Lectra Motors produced over 1,000 EV conversions based on stock Datsun gliders that included sedans, sports cars and pickup trucks at the company’s manufacturing facility located on Valley View Blvd. in Las Vegas during the early 1980s. Lectra Motors was co-founded by Al Sawyer who also served as President as well as Director of Research and Development for the company. Here is a complete list of current NEDRA record holders: http://www.nedra.com/record_holders.html
On July 14, 2000, at 76 years young, Al Sawyer drove Jan Himber’s “Blue Boy” Lectra Motors “2 + 2” /Datsun 310 production electric vehicle on “The Strip” race track in Las Vegas to a record time of 47.12 mph in 26.128 seconds. This record still stands today, seven years later, for a production four-wheel electric vehicle. All the Lectra Motors EVs produced in the early 1980s were tested to 85 mph. The vehicles also went through crash-test certification at the time to meet DOT and DMV regulations. Several Lectra Motors vehicles are still on the road today, some 25 years later. Jan and Al continue to provide technical support to Lectra Motors EV owners.
Bill Kuehl set his first standing record at “The Strip” in his 1985 Pontiac Fiero EV racing conversion on July 27, 2001 with a 144-volt battery-powered system. His Fiero conversion completed its fastest quarter-mile run in the MC/E class by averaging 71.11 mph in 18.494 seconds. Bill upgraded his system to 156 volts the following year and completed his fastest quarter-mile run in the MC/D Class at 71.86 mph in 18.232 seconds on February 16, 2002. The following year, he again boosted his battery and motor system to 192 volts to enter the MC/C class and completed his fastest quarter-mile at 76.31 mph in 16.857 seconds on April 26, 2003.
Bill Kuehl, Jan Himber and Al Sawyer’s record times still stand today, even after four to seven years of growing competition and improving technologies. LVEVA President Richard Furniss has also been a NEDRA pioneer, racing his Mazda RX-7 EV racing conversion (“EX-7”) on “The Strip” as well as being a key organizer for NEDRA events at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The record drag race times set by LVEVA members were respectable during this period for EV conversions that usually employed lead-acid batteries and early Prestolite/Advanced DC production electric motors. The electromechanical drive system was usually regulated by motor controller electronics that included Field Effect Transistors (FET) or Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCR). The 100-mph quarter-mile barrier did not start falling regularly until 2006 with the aid of custom “dual” drive electric motors and more advanced battery technology (lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride, lithium-ion, etc.). Also, the “Zilla” programmable high-voltage racing motor controller, developed by NEDRA pioneer Otmar Ebenhoech, now uses Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) that are more robust, in order to more reliably control the voltage and current flow in powerful EV racing systems with much larger voltage and current in the battery packs. The “Zilla” Motor Speed Controller also allows the addition of a Hall Effect pedal for the driver’s interface (HEPI) to the motor controller instead of the standard 5k-ohm, resistor-based potentiometer that was an industry standard in the past.
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Today’s hard-won technology gains and newfound public attention were built on years of “trial and error” garage engineering by a few passionate EV advocates who consistently helped each other while sharing their expertise and experience with newcomers. Important contributors to NEDRA EV racing also include Ed and Randy Rannberg, Roderick Wilde, Chip Gribben, “Father Time”, Rich Rudman, Dennis Berube, Shawn Lawless, Brian Hall, Rick Roller, Matt Graham, Mike Brown, Shari Prange to name just a few. Members of the Electric Vehicle community continue to push EV performance to new plateaus.
Thank you for your generosity and sense of purpose! Wishing NEDRA members many happy roads ahead while they collectively pursue the next ten years of groundbreaking fun and adventure!
Can EVs and PHEVs Relieve U.S. Dependency On Foreign Oil Imports?
Editor’s Note: According to J.D. Power and Associates, 187,000 gasoline/electric hybrid automobiles were sold during the first half of 2007, accounting for 2.3 percent of all new vehicles sold during that period. Total sales of 345,000 hybrids are forecast for all of 2007, a 35% increase from 2006 when 256,000 hybrids were sold. The Toyota Prius dominates market share with about 50% of total hybrid sales so far and has been the most popular vehicle sold in California’s innovative Silicon Valley in recent months, where Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) technology is being encouraged and developed to extend gasoline efficiencies beyond a range of 100 miles per gallon when filling the vehicle’s tank with gasoline. Toyota reports sales of Prius Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) were up 85% in the last seven months compared to the same period in 2005 to 2006. Can hybrid vehicles significantly relieve U.S. dependency on foreign oil imports for refining gasoline? These quantified observations were recently posted from the federal government’s Energy Information Administration in response to an inquiry from “The Watt” Energy Newsletter at: www.thewatt.com
Question: "If we were to replace the energy equivalent of 10 million barrels per day of imported oil, how many kilowatts of electrical generation capacity would be required? This is really hypothetical, but an interesting question. For example, a statement could be made that if we added N number of 1-GigaWatt power stations running some fuel (coal, nuclear) we would need X of these plants to offset our imports of oil (assuming we had a way to power cars, etc, using just electricity)."
Response from Energy Information Administration (EIA):
“Thank you for your inquiry to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) National Energy Information Center (NEIC), via the ‘Ask an Expert’ page. That is an interesting question. Note that some of that imported oil is used to produce other products besides transportation fuels and heating oil. For many of these products, electricity would not be a practical or even possible alternative. At the following URL is a table with data on the average output of refineries in the USA in 2003: link
How about if I narrow your question to what it would take to replace our current gasoline consumption with electricity? Here's a rough estimate. This should not be considered an "official" EIA calculation. I'm providing this mainly to give you a method for how to do the calculation on your own.
To begin, let's assume that batteries for electric vehicles progress to the point that they provide "performance" similar to a tank of gasoline. Over the past year (through October 2006), the average daily amount of finished motor gasoline supplied/consumed has been around 9,000,000 barrels per day, or 378,000,000 gallons per day (there are 42 gallons in a barrel); (see: here). While finished gasoline does include ethanol and oxygenates derived from ethanol, let's not consider that here.
If we assume that the higher heat content of finished gasoline is around 123,810 Btu per gallon (see this table), with a straight conversion, one gallon of gasoline has the equivalent energy content of about 36.28 kiloWatt-hours (kWh), at 3413 Btu/kWh. However, an electric vehicle (EV) uses less energy per mile traveled than a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. Exactly how much less depends on many factors, but let's assume that it is around 70 percent (including the amount of energy "lost" when a battery is recharged), or in other words, an EV would use only about 30 percent as much energy, or 10.88 kWh, to travel the same distance as an average car burning one gallon of gasoline.
So at 10.88 kWh/gallon "equivalent," 378 million gpd of gasoline would equal about 4,112,640,000 kWh per day. We have to add in the amount of electricity that is "lost" when it is transmitted and distributed. The national average is around 9 percent of net power generated. So we'd need to add about 370,137,600 kWh to get a total 4,482,777,600 kWh/day, or about 186,782,400 kWh per hour, which translates to about 186,782 MegaWatts of net generation capacity of base-load power generators running pretty much constantly.
Note that the assumed "fuel/energy-economy" of an EV is a critical factor in this calculation. There is a list of sources of information on electric and hybrid vehicles at the following URL: link
I hope the above information is helpful. Please contact us again if you need additional assistance.
In Summary:
A couple hundred 1-GigaWatt power plants coupled with an electric hybrid fleet would solve the US oil dependence issue.”
EV Repairs and Service
Western Petroleum Station
2051 E. Sahara (corner of Eastern Avenue and Sahara)
Las Vegas, NV 89104
Contact: Jim Johnson
Telephone: (702) 457-2675
Web site: http://storefront.dexonline.com/jims-texaco
EV Parts and Kits for Sale:
OKA NEV ZEV Parts and Kits for Sale: www.okaauto.com
OKA NEV ZEV KIT cars in stock now for immediate delivery prices start at $5,000 FOB Las Vegas.
We also have 4844 ALLTRAX Controllers(48V 400 A DC for Series motor) in stock (more than we need) $550 list, $375.00 NET.
Miro Kefurt
OKA AUTO USA : www.okaauto.com
Distributor: MIROX Corporation
5015 W. Sahara Ave. #125-130
Las Vegas, Nevada 89146
USA
Tel: (702) 683-8292
E-mail: okaauto@aol.com
For Sale: Chrome "Electric" Emblems for EV's
Mike Chancey - Posted 06/25/00
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Checked: 07/13/03
Chrome "Electric" car emblems, just like the OEM factory lettering. Okay, so you own a beautiful electric vehicle, but does the world know? Show them with these profession quality "ELECTRIC" emblems. Fabricated from weather resistant thermoplastic, these signs feature a bright chrome like finish on the letter faces with a subtle matte black background. They mount easily with the self adhesive HighTack backing. Simply peel off the protective cover, and press the sign into place. Each sign is approximately 1.25" in height and 7" in length. Only $6.00Each or four for $20.00, plus $1.75 shipping and handling per order. Discounts for larger orders available. Send check or money order to:
Mike Chancey, 1700 East 80th Street, Kansas City, MO 64131, or order online.
EVs For Sale:
Electrans 3-wheel Futurista ETV
Range of 55 miles
Top speed of 45 mph.
Department of Transportation (DOT) approval to license this vehicle through the DMV
List price is $13,995
Contact: ElecTrans
Address: 5450 South Cameron #101, Las Vegas, NV 89118
Tel: (702) 889-2146
Web site: www.futurista.biz
For Sale: Electric 1985 Pontiac “Fiero” --Record-Holding Race Car
This 1985 Pontiac “Fiero” Conversion currently holds four National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) Class Records.
1. Class MC/F (Modified Conversion 97-120 volts)
2. Class MC/E (Modified Conversion 121-144 volts)
3. Class MC/D (Modified Conversion 145-168 volts)
4. Class MC/C (Modified Conversion 169-192 volts)
The 1985 Pontiac Fiero has been converted with:
1. A new Netgain Warp-9 Electric DC Motor coupled to a 5-speed manual transmission.
2. A DCP T-REX 1000 Water-cooled Controller with an Input Voltage Range of 96 to 336 Volts
and Motor Current Rating at 1000 Amps.
3. The Battery System is at 192 Volts. The battery pack consists of sixteen 12-volt sealed ODYSSEY
PC-680 batteries with the capability of increasing battery pack capacity and voltages to compete in the NEDRA MC/B Class (Modified Conversion 193-240 volts) or to a maximum capacity of 336-volts to compete in the MC/A Class (Modified Conversion 241 volts and higher).
4. Tires are B.F. Goodrich G-Force T/A Drag Radials P215/60 R14 that connect the Electric Motor torque to the road for “no slip” acceleration.
5. Battery Charger is a 120- to 240-volt Variable Transformer with a heavy-duty full bridge rectifier.
Additional cables and connectors are installed for Dump Charging from a DC battery pack.
Asking Price: $10,000 or Best Offer.
Contact: William Kuehl
Address: 4504 W. Alexander Road, North Las Vegas, Nevada 89032
Telephone: 702-636-0304
Hybrid EV for Sale: 2001 Honda Insight ™-- Only 23, 756 miles
-- Three-cylinder engine augmented by Electric Motor Drive
-- Rated at 60 mpg
-- Two-door Hatchback (Two-seater with rear storage area)
-- Silver Exterior with Silver and Black Interior
-- Continuously Variable Electronic Transmission
-- Power Windows, Power Doorlocks, Power Steering and Power Brakes
-- Asking Price $10,500 with $500 discount to LVEVA or EAA members.
Contact Hermann Friedman
Tel: (702) 294-0878
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