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The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association (LVEVA) will meet on the third Saturday of each month during 2009. 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 each meeting.
Calendar
October 10 EV Conversion Workshop
October 17 Monthly Meeting
October 24 EV Conversion Workshop
November 14 EV Conversion Workshop
November 21 Monthly Meeting
December 5 Santa’s Electric Night Parade (Boulder City)
December 19 Monthly Meeting
LVEVA Board of Directors:
Richard Furniss, President
Lloyd Reece, Vice President
Bill Kuehl, Secretary/Treasurer
Al Sawyer, Jan Himber, Jon Hallquist, Dan Trujillo
Newsletter Editors and Contributors:
Richard Furniss, Lloyd Reece, Bill Kuehl, Al Sawyer, P.E.,
Jan Himber, 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
Electric Auto Association
Membership Renewals
323 Los Altos Drive
Aptos, CA 95003-5248
Current EVents contact:
At http://www.eaaev.org/eaaboard.html
Ron Freund
Chairman, CE Publication
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
Stan Hanel (702) 405-0506
Contents:
-- LVEVA Educational EV Conversion Workshop Updates
-- Tesla Motors CTO Named Engineer of the Year by Design News Magazine
-- A123 Systems Goes Public on NASDAQ Stock Exchange
-- A to Z of AFVs Workshop for Las Vegas Regional Clean Cities Coalition
-- DeLorean Car Show 2009 Highlights at Palace Station Hotel & Casino
-- NEDRA High Altitude Nationals Highlights from Colorado
-- NEDRA Power of DC Highlights Featured on CNN and HLN Broadcasts
-- Battery, Capacitor and UltraCapacitor Comparisons for EV Applications
-- LVEVA DVD Reference Library
-- EV Repairs and Service
-- EV Conversion and Fabrication Support
-- EVs and EV Parts for Sale
LVEVA
Educational EV Conversion Workshop Updates
LVEVA Board of Directors members Bill Kuehl, Jon Hallquist and Lloyd Reece are leading an EV Conversion Workshop that will be held on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, from 8 AM to noon. All LVEVA members are invited to participate in this conversion project.
During 2008, Bill Kuehl received a donation of a 1986 Pontiac Fiero for use by the LVEVA in a conversion project. Jon Hallquist, manager of GrassrootsEV.com in Las Vegas, had arranged the acquisition of a Netgain Warp electric motor and also donated a Curtis motor speed controller, throttle potentiometer box, contactor and other EV parts to the effort.
During the monthly chapter meeting on June 20th, several LVEVA members offered to volunteer their time for the conversion project as part of a Special Interest Group (SIG). It was agreed that this group would meet on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, from 8 AM to noon, to put together the EV conversion. Highlights of Sessions 1 through 3 were shown in the LVEVA August 2009 “Watts Happening” newsletter. Highlights of Sessions 4 and 5 were shown in the September 2009 “Watts Happening” newsletter.
For Sessions 6 and 7, Bill Kuehl outlined the following goals:
“At our next EV workshop will I have the adapter plate, spacer plate
and hub that were fabricated at the machine shop.
1. It will be installed onto the Netgain Warp 9-inch electric motor to mount it to the manual transmission.
2. After the parts are assembled on the motor, the flywheel and clutch will be installed onto the motor and adapter parts, then the whole assembly will be ready to be put back on the transmission.
3. A support has to be made to hold up the motor in the frame.
4. There also have to be supports made up to hold the six batteries in the front.
5. We need to finish the setup assembly for the condenser and fan that I started.
6. We also need to make battery supports in the rear compartment that are laid out so that seven batteries are positioned across the back end, three in the middle, and 4 positioned over the motor.
7. Jon Hallquist will bring 4 more batteries for the setup in front so we can get the correct spacing for building the battery supports?
8. Bill Ervin will spot-weld some 3/4-inch x 1/8-inch thick angle iron for fabricating the battery supports.”
Highlights from Sessions 6 and 7 are as follows:
EV Conversion Workshop Session 6
Attendees: Bill
Kuehl, Lloyd Reece, Jon Hallquist, Bill Ervin, Jeff Wilson and son, Danielle
and friends.
Much
progress was made this session while working on the front end of the vehicle
to fabricate four battery supports and mount them inside the front compartment.
The air conditioning condenser and fan needed to be repositioned at a
sharper angle to fit under the batteries and a hood support cut so that
the hood could close over the top of the battery pack assembly.
In the rear end of the vehicle, a support was made for the electric motor and this support was mounted to the chassis.
However, a problem with the fabricated adapter plate assembly was discovered when trying to remount the electric motor to the transmission. Originally, the adapter plate, spacer and bushing that were fabricated were based on an existing 1985 Pontiac Fiero transmission and clutch assembly conversion. However, the 1986 Pontiac Fiero used a flywheel with a smaller diameter and different hole mounting positions.
During the day, Bill Kuehl made a plastic template to take to the machine shop to create a new adapter plate. He had to cut out a center hole in the plastic template to fit over the transmission spline and then also drill holes in the template that would align with the proper holes for mounting the electric motor to the flywheel and hub.
EV Conversion Workshop Session 7
Attendees: Bill Kuehl, Jon Hallquist, and Danielle
Work
continued on forming the battery supports for the rear of the vehicle.
Jon
Hallquist donated a permanent magnet electric motor that could be used
to drive the air conditioning compressor by using electric power supplied
from the battery pack.
Another problem was found with the flywheel from the 1986 Pontiac Fiero. When it was sent to the machine shop to have a new adapter plate made, the machinists found that it was not well-balanced when spun at higher speeds. Bill and Jon considered the possibility of using the flywheel from the 1985 Pontiac Fiero that was already disassembled. A second set of adapter plate, spacer and coupling had already been fabricated by the machine shop for the 1985 version and the original electric motor, adapter plates and fly wheel had been balanced as a set by KTA services when Bill first ordered the parts about 10 years ago. A replacement flywheel for the original 1985 Pontiac Fiero could be pulled out of a third 1984 Pontiac Fiero that Bill also had available.
The EV conversion project will continue into October with meetings scheduled for October 10th and October 24th. Each session will begin at 8 AM and end at noon. The next two workshops will continue the process of adapting the electric motor to the manual transmission as well as planning the mounting locations for the batteries, dashboard meters, electrical components, fabrication of battery racks, fabrication of battery cables and crimp-on terminal lugs, battery and electrical component installation, electrical wiring, electrical testing, and final system startup.
Admission to the bi-weekly workshop is free to all LVEVA members.
Annual dues for the Electric Auto Association (EAA), that includes local LVEVA chapter membership, is $39 per year and includes newsletters from both the national organization and local chapter as well as access to all events. Local LVEVA chapter-only membership dues are $20 for adults and $15 for senior citizens. Free LVEVA chapter membership is available to students with valid student I.D. cards.
For more information and directions to the EV conversion workshop, contact
Bill Kuehl at: (702) 636-0304
Lloyd Reece at: (702) 524-3233
Jon Hallquist at GrassrootsEV.com: (702) 277-7544
Tesla Motors CTO Named Engineer of the Year by Design News Magazine
Every year, Time magazine designates its prestigious Person of the Year award. Design News magazine has a similar distinctive award for the engineering community, designating an annual Engineer of the Year. In the September 2009 issue, Design News presented this award to JB Straubel, CTO of Tesla Motors, for his leadership and vision in creating a high performance all-electric sports car whose battery pack achieved a range of 244 miles on a single charge.
Breakthrough technologies developed by Straubel’s engineering team stunned the established automotive industry and have been an important catalyst to showing new possibilities to automotive designers for advanced battery systems as well as high performance, single-speed electric motor power trains.
Transforming the prototype Tesla Roadster into a production-ready vehicle was also an achievement that overcame many obstacles. Tesla Motors is still a small company trying to establish itself within a giant, international automotive industry loaded with many tiers of regulations and component parts relationships. On September 15, 2009, the company delivered its 700th Roadster to a customer at the annual Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany. Besides the U.S. market, Tesla has also delivered cars to customers in England, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, France, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Spain, Monaco and Sweden.
The company continues to improve on Roadster design, recently releasing an improved Roadster 2 version as well as the higher performance Roadster Sport.
For more information on Tesla Motors, visit the company’s web site at: http://www.teslamotors.com
A123 Systems Goes Public on NASDAQ Stock Exchange
Wall Street focused its attention on the rechargeable Lithium-ion battery industry when A123 Systems launched its Initial Public Offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange Thursday, September 24th. Designated by stock symbol AONE, the company floated million shares of common stock priced at $13.50 per share. During the first day of trading, this price was bid up by 50% to over $19.50 before being flipped by profit takers the following day. As of this writing on October 2, 2009, AONE stock was trading at $22.61 per share.
A123 Systems raised $378 million Thursday in the second-best debut of 2009. The money is on top of a $249.1 million Energy Department grant last month, the second-biggest awarded as part of an effort to start up a domestic battery industry.
The reception by Wall Street was good news to the Venture Capital community, whose members have poured a lot of money into alternative energy technology start-ups. The continued success of A123 Systems will depend on how well its Lithium-Iron-Phosphate battery technology continues to perform, particularly within the emerging electric automotive industry.
On the end-user side, data show that the number of EV, HEV, and PHEV models with an annual production run of at least 20,000 vehicles will grow from 19 models in 2009, to more than 150 models in 2014, and more than 200 models in 2019.
In addition, estimates for the global lithium-ion battery market for automotive application in EVs, PHEVs and HEVs are $31.9 million in 2009 growing to $21.8 billion by 2015 and $74.1 billion by 2020.
A123 uses proprietary nanoscale material technology developed at and licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is also has its 215 employees for R&D on new generations of this core nanophosphate technology. A123 recently developed an ultra high-power battery for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team that provides more than 10 times the W/kg (watt hours per kilogram) as compared to a standard Toyota Prius Nickel-Metal Hydride battery.
NEDRA drag racer Bill Dube and his KillaCycle team have done much to showcase the capability of A123 power cells for electric vehicle performance by setting drag race records for the electric motorcycle exceeding 170 mph in the quarter-mile by accelerating from 0 to 60 in less than a second at: http://www.killacycle.com
The Killacycle race team recently acquired the lighter, more powerful cells and hopes to put together a lighter motorcycle that will continue to set new quarter-mile drag strip records for electric vehicles.
A to Z of AFVs Workshop for Las Vegas Regional Clean Cities Coalition
LVEVA President Richard Furniss recently participated in a Las Vegas Regional Clean Cities Coalition (LVRCCC) Outreach Workshop entitled The A to Z of AFVs. It was staged on September 24, 2009 at the College of Southern Nevada, Cheyenne Campus. The event was organized in conjunction with the Alternative Fuel & Vehicles Institute (AFVi), a non-profit educational organization dedicated to educating vehicle fleet managers about the technologies, costs and incentive programs for converting their fleets to alternative fuels. The AFVi will also be hosting a national gathering of other national chapters during May 19 – 20, 2010 at the Rio All-Suites Hotel in Las Vegas to showcase this region’s alternative fuel technology programs
Dan Hyde, Executive Director of the LVRCCC as well as Fleet & Transportation Services Manager for the City of Las Vegas, opened the workshop with welcoming remarks and an overview of the agenda for the day’s activities. He was followed by Leo Thomason, Director of Consulting and Technical Training for AFVi, who surveyed alternative fuel technologies as well as providing real world examples of fleet vehicles for each technology that were available for purchase today.
Paul Kerkhoven of NVGAmerica, a company promoting natural gas as an alternative transportation fuel, surveyed federal incentive funding programs that were available to fleet managers to help them purchase and maintain alternative fuel vehicles as well as purchase the alternative fuels used in the vehicles.
During
lunch, several examples of these vehicles were on display, including two
hydrogen-powered vehicles exhibited by Richard Furniss, who represented
the Las Vegas Valley Water District. A Taylor-Dunn utility truck
had been modified to run electrically by using hydrogen fuel cell technology
designed in conjunction with an engineering program at UNLV.
Richard also displayed another joint engineering project that used hydrogen
to directly fuel an internal combustion engine.
In the afternoon, the workshop continued with an Alternative Fueling Options Panel. Panelists included Robert White of the Renewable Fuels Association representing Ethanol technologies; Chad Lindholm, Western Region Manager of Clean Energy representing Natural Gas technologies; Gary Weinberg of Haycock Petroleum representing Biodiesel technologies; and Travis Johnson of NV Energy representing Electric Vehicle technologies.
Johnson showed that the southern part of Nevada electrical grid is projected to be capable of transmiting 5,500 Megawatts of electric power from its portfolio of electrical power generation plants by 2012. Of this total, approximately 2,000 Megawatts of electricity would be available during night time hours when demand is traditionally low that could recharge one million GM Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid electric vehicles overnight without making any major changes to the existing statewide electrical grid infrastructure.
The final “Fleet to Fleet” session of the afternoon allowed fleet managers from within Clark County to share their experiences, covering real world problems, decisions, and solutions that they struggled with while converting their fleets to alternative fuels while also meeting their clients’ needs. This discussion was led by Rob Corbett, from the City of North Las Vegas and Mike Verna from Nevada Coaches, LLC.
For more information on the Las Vegas Regional Clean Cities Coalition, visit the group’s web site at: http://www.lasvegascleancities.org
The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association has been recently added to the list of member stakeholders of the Las Vegas Regional Clean Cities Coalition at: http://lasvegascleancities.org/newsletter_sept09.html#stakeholders
For more information on the Alternative Fuel & Vehicles Institute, visit this organization’s web site at: http://www.afvi.org
DeLorean Car Show 2009 Highlights at Palace Station Hotel & Casino
The
DeLorean Car Show made its first visit to Las Vegas from September 24
-27, 2009 at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino. A good turnout
from the DeLorean Owners Association staged their classic DMC-12 gull-wing
sports cars on the 5th floor of the Palace Station parking garage during
the hot September days where temperatures continued to exceed 100 degrees. On
the first day of the event, over 30 members brought their cars to show
them to fellow members.
LVEVA member Bob, Gail and Ryan Brandys has converted a classic DeLorean
DMC to run on electric power and also helped organize a DeLorean Owners
Association “Prelude” meeting from September 19th til the
23rd.
The
Brandys family also hosted a barbecue on Wednesday, September 23rd for
both LVEVA members and DeLorean Owners Association members so that the
two car clubs could meet.
Other
DeLorean Car Owners brought their versions of the DeLorean DMC “time
machines” similar to the ones used in the “Back to the Future”
movie trilogy starring Michael Fox and Christopher Ll“A
good time was had by all!”
NEDRA High Altitude Nationals Highlights from Colorado
The NEDRA High Altitude Nationals were staged in Denver, Colorado on Sunday,
September 27th at the Bandimere Speedway at: http://www.nedra.com
NEDRA News, Sept 28 - Both the KillaCycle and the ElectroCat managed to set new NEDRA records at Bandimere Speedway. The KillaCycle, ridden by Scotty Pollacheck managed to bump up the record up in the ¼-mile to 7.864 seconds @ 169 MPH. YouTube Videos of the record-setting run are at:
The Denver Motorsports Examiner also profiled the Killacycle team and their record-setting time at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-11910-Denver-Motorsports-Examiner~y2009m9d27-Killacycle-breaks-electric-quarter-mile-drag-world-record
Eva Hakansson on her ElectroCat, certified as a 100% street-legal electric motorcycle in both the USA and Sweden, set the 1/8-mile NEDRA record in this racing class for the 48-volt division, setting a time of 13.249 seconds @ 52.97 MPH. Bandimere is a great track to set records because of the optimal track conditions. There is 20 percent less air to push through because of the altitude. This gives electric dragsters a competitive advantage over internal combustion engine dragsters who have to compensate for less oxygen in the ambient air for their fuel mixture.
Bill Dube and the Killacycle racing team hosted this event at: http://www.killacycle.com
In his blog after the record setting time, Bill talked about his relationship with A123 Systems:
“We have the very latest and most powerful “F1″? cells from A123 Systems. (AONE on the NASDAQ) We are working away building a very lightweight and powerful new battery pack for the KillaCycle from these cells. These are, in fact, the most powerful cells ever produced on the planet by anyone, so they should make the KillaCycle go much much faster on the drag strip.
We plan to make a few other improvements on the bike at the same time that will result in a total weight reduction of over 150 lbs and a power increase to 560 HP. Hopefully, with the weight reduction, the poor tortured motors can take this.
(Still looking for sponsorship for help with an upgrade to brushless motors, by the way.)”
Eva Hakansson also blogged about the event, including pictures of the ElectroCat racing side by side with the Killacycle on the Bandimere drag strip: http://www.evahakansson.se/#post44
NEDRA Power of DC Highlights Featured on CNN and HLN Broadcasts
Poppy Harlow of CNN visited the NEDRA Power of DC events in late August. The video of the broadcast can be found on the CNN Internet Video site. Go to www.cnn.com/video/ and look for the story "Drag Racing Goes Electric":
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/09/01/harlow.electric.drag.racing.cnn?iref=videosearch
Battery, Capacitor and UltraCapacitor Comparisons for EV Applications
by Stan Hanel
Batteries, Capacitors and UltraCapacitors can all be used for electrical energy storage systems but each technology has different applications for electric vehicles.
All three devices have a negative and positive polarity. Attention to polarity must be taken into consideration when connecting these devices into an electronic circuit. Incorrect installation can result in destruction of the device and potential hazardous damage to the user as well as other components in the system.
All three devices can use an “electrolyte” medium to store electrons. An electrolyte is a substance that changes its chemical composition to allow electrical current to flow through it. An electrolyte can be in a liquid, paste, gel or pliable organic form. It is a chemical “soup” that contains positive and negative ions. Electricity and magnetism pioneer Michael Faraday (1791-1867), while trying to find relationships between electricity and chemistry, coined the word “ions” after the Greek word for “travelers” to describe how electron carriers flowed through an electrolyte. An ion is an electrically charged atom or group of atoms that has a deficiency of electrons or a surplus of electrons, usually crated after the application of an electric current driven by an electromotive force. A positively charged ion (cation) is an atom that is missing an electron and will be attracted to the cathode (negative terminal) of a polarized device while a negatively charge ion (anion) is an atom that has an extra electron and will be attracted to the anode (positive terminal) of a polarized device. The electromotive force of an externally applied current or an internal chemical reaction both creates and starts these ions flowing through the electrolyte material in two directions as they migrate and become deposited on their corresponding electrodes, polarizing the electrode plates in the process.
This method of moving electrons is different from standard electrical “conductors” like copper, tin, silver, or gold that each have the same identical atoms throughout their structure. The atoms in these materials temporarily bond with electrons in a loose manner. The electrons are pushed and pulled along the atoms of the conductors and through a wide variety of electronic devices connected to these conductors in an electronic circuit by the difference in voltage potential at the circuit’s power source.
Battery Technology
A common rechargeable lead-acid battery consists of a “stack” of several secondary cells joined electrically by series connections. Each cell consists of two kinds of lead plate electrodes that have been immersed in an electrolyte of sulfuric acid diluted in water to create hydrogen sulfate (H2SO4). The positive plate of the battery consists of lead peroxide (PbO2) and the negative plate is sponge lead (Pb). When these two dissimilar electrode materials are immersed in the electrolyte, a chemical reaction occurs and an electromotive force (voltage) is created between the two electrodes. This force starts to create positive and negative ions from the atoms in the electrolyte. These ions start to travel in two directions through the electrolyte and become deposited on the two different types of lead plate electrodes, polarizing the electrodes in the process.
When an electrical load, such as an EV speed controller and electric motor, is attached across the battery cell terminals, the electromotive force inside the cell continues to push and pull the electrons in a circular path through the load to do “work”.
During this process, the lead-acid electrolyte and the lead plate electrodes both start to become chemically transformed as electrons are pushed out of the electrolyte through the two lead plate electrodes to the electrical load. The movement of the electrical energy in the electrolyte causes a chemical decomposition of the covalent bonds of the hydrogen sulfate compound (H2SO4). The chemical compound divides into hydrogen gas (H2) and sulfate (SO4). The sulfate (SO4) combines with the lead (Pb) of both plates, forming lead sulfate (PbSO4). This added salt deposit also creates more internal resistance to the flow of electrons out of the battery electrode terminals. The chemical equation for the “discharging” reaction is:
PbO2 + Pb + 2H2SO4 à 2PbSO4 + 2H2O
The ions in the electrolyte start to become depleted as they are pulled out of the battery to do work in the electrical load. Positive ions (cations) that had migrated to the negative terminal of the battery become filled or neutralized and are replaced by hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Negative ions (anions) that had migrated to the positive terminal of the battery cell also become depleted or neutralized and are replace by oxygen atoms.
To recharge the battery cell and replenish the electrolyte, an external power source is applied to the cell in the reverse direction. During this process, an external electrical current with just the right amount of electromotive force (voltage) is fed back into the lead plate electrodes, starting a process of electrolysis. As the electrolysis process continues, both the electrolyte and the lead plate electrodes that are now coated with sulfate undergo a reverse transformation. The lead sulfate (PbSO4) is given enough energy to recombine hydrogen and oxygen gases into H2O, driving the sulfate (SO4) out of the lead plates and back into the electrolyte to bond with the residual and re-created H2O to once again form a hydrogen sulfate (H2SO4) compound.
The return of sulfuric acid to the electrolyte not only reduces the amount of resistive sulfate on the lead plate electrodes but also increases the specific gravity of the electrolyte solution. This process continues until just about all the sulfate is driven off the plates and reformed as sulfuric acid back into the electrolyte compound. This reaction also re-creates the potential for electromotive force due to the renewed presence of the proper electro-chemistries. The equation for this reaction is:
2PbSO4 + 2H2O à PbO2 + Pb + 2H2SO4
As a lead-acid battery cell charge nears completion, the external flow of electrical current then continues to ionize the gases and water (H20) in the electrolyte, once again creating negatively and positively charged atoms within the electrolyte that migrate to their respective positive and negative lead plate electrodes under electromotive force, re-polarizing the battery cell electrodes in the process.
Capacitor Technology
Capacitors, also called “Condensors”, have been used to store and direct the flow of electricity since the 18th century. In 1745, Pieter van Musschenboek, a physics and mathematics professor at the University of Leyden in the Netherlands, is credited with inventing the first practical capacitor with some of his students, possibly using a beer glass as the container.
Later versions of his “Leyden Jar” had a narrower neck and were coated inside and out with a conductive metallic substance or foil. A conducting rod passes through an insulating stopper (or plug) in the jar’s mouth and contacts the inside conducting substance. Electrostatic generators were well-developed by this time and the output of an electrostatic generator could be stored in the Leyden Jar. Evidence of this stored electricity could be seen with an “electroscope”, one of the first devices invented to measure static electricity by the amount of deflection of two pieces of foil at the end of an electrical conductor in another glass jar. The presence of electricity could also be visually observed by connecting a conductor between the metal rod protruding from the Leyden Jar’s insulating stopper and the outer conductive surface of the jar, producing a visible spark. If a brave researcher decided to hold his hands across these same points, his body would conduct the electricity and he could feel different levels of electricity, depending on the amount of electrostatic charge in the jar.
Capacitor science has been greatly developed over the last 250 years. Capacitors can now be manufactured from many different material with many different properties, are relatively inexpensive to make, and are widely used in just about every electronic circuit design. A home-made capacitor can be produced very easily by cutting two long, narrow strips of aluminum foil and separating them with a strip of paper the same length and of slightly greater width. By using two uncurled paper clips as termination points for each piece of foil, this long foil/paper/foil “sandwich” can be tightly rolled into a small cylinder that will exhibit the same properties as the Leyden Jar. A 9-volt battery can be used to charge this home-made capacitor and a spark with result when a conductor is placed between the two termination points.
The metal foil strips are “plates” just like in battery cell construction and electrodes are attached to each of the plates. The separating or insulating paper strip is called a dielectric. The electric charge or electrical energy is stored in the capacitor and sustained in an electric field that is induced between the two plates by the application of an external electrical current under pressure of an electromotive force. The “charge” or amount of electrons present in a capacitor or other electronic device is measured with the scientific term “coulombs” and is proportional to the applied voltage and capacitor’s “capacitance”. One coulomb is defined as the equivalent to 6,241,509,629,152,650,000 electrons and is designated by the letter Q in mathematical relationships.
The term “capacitance” is the ability of the capacitor to store electrons and is designated by the letter C. Its unit of measurement is termed farads and designated by the letter “f”. Most standard capacitors are measured in microfarads (1/1,000,000 of a farad) or picofarads (1/1,000,000,000,000 of a farad).
Electromotive force as a potential difference in “electrical pressures” of electron current flow between two electrodes is also called “Voltage”, designated with the letter “V”. The voltage unit of measurement is volts and is designated by the letter “v”.
The formulas for the proportional relationship between these three variables are:
(a) Q = C * V
(b) C = Q/V
(c) V = Q/C
It is also defined in terms of the following mathematical unit of measurement relationships:
1 coulomb is the electric charge transported in one second by a steady current of 1 ampere:
1Q = 1A * 1s
1 coulomb is the amount of charge stored by a capacitance of 1 farad charged to a potential difference of 1 volt:
1Q= 1f * 1v
In addition to the amount of actual electrons stored, the amount of energy available to do work from these electrons stored in a capacitor’s electric field under the pressure of voltage can be calculated using the formula:
W = (V*V)*C/2
where W is the energy available for work measured in joules and designated by the letter “j”; V is Voltage measured in volts; and C is capacitance measured in farads.
A joule or “volt-coulomb” is the amount of energy required to transport 1 coulomb between two points having a potential difference of 1 volt. One joule equals 10,000,000 ergs. A kilowatt-hour is 3,600,000 joules.
“Kilowatt-hour” and “Megawatt-hour” are also the primary units of measurement for the energy storage capacity of large battery pack modules and ultracapacitor bank modules used for high power applications like electric vehicles.
Capacitance, or the ability to store electrons under pressure, is also affected by the physical construction of the capacitor, especially the size of the plates, the distance between the capacitor plates, and the type of material used as the insulating dielectric. The larger the plate area and the closer the plates are to each other, the higher the capacitance. The type of material used in the insulating dielectric also has an effect in determining the “strength” of the storage ability of the electric field. The term “dielectric constant” is used to compute a multiplier that can be used to calculate the difference in capacitance when choosing material for a capacitor design. Air is used as the base reference and has a dielectric constant of 1.00.
In contrast, paper has a dielectric constant of 3.00, mica has a dielectric constant of 5.40, glass has a dielectric constant of 7.75, tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) has a dielectric constant of 26, and niobium pentoxide (NbO5) has a dielectric constant of 41.
If mica is chosen as a dielectric material for a capacitor instead of air and all other variables in the capacitor (including thickness of the dielectric) are unchanged, the capacitance of the device will be increased 5.40 times. The formula for calculating the relationship between dielectric constant and capacitance is:
C = 0.0885 KS/t
where C = Capacitance, K = dielectric constant, S = area of one plate in square centimeters, and t = distance between plates in centimeters. This relationship also shows that doulbling the area of the plates doubles the capacitance. However, reducing the thickness of the dielectric (distance between the plates) by one-half also doubles the capacitance.
In addition, capacitors can be wired in parallel to increase their overall capacitance. The total capacitance is the sum of the individual parallel capacitance values in farads. Any capacitors wired in parallel should be of the same construction type and have the same breakdown voltage rating.
An electrolytic capacitor is a very solid, reliable storage capacitor that is constructed slightly differently from conventional capacitors. It is more like a battery-capacitor hybrid. Instead of two metallic plates, separated by dielectric, only one of its conducting surfaces is a metal plate. The other conducting surface is an electrolyte or chemical compound. The electrolyte can take many forms from a liquid (“wet” construction) to a pate-like chemical compound soaked into a fabric mesh separator material or even a pliable crystalline material (“dry” construction). The electrolytic capacitor’s dielectric is a very thin film of oxide coating the surface of the metal plate. This oxide has remarkably strong insulation properties and, under proper conditions, also has a very large electric field strength per unit of dielectric thickness. Ten million volts per centimeter of dielectric thickness is not uncommon.
These properties allow the electrolytic capacitor to have a much larger capacity and higher “breakdown voltage” than conventional capacitors but also allow it to be constructed in a smaller package at a relatively inexpensive cost. Higher strength and storage capacity find good application for these capacitors as filters in power supplies, power converters and electric motor speed controllers. Electrolytic capacitors can smooth out ripples that are the byproduct of an AC-to-DC conversion process just before the DC current and voltage is regulated at a power supply’s output. Electrolytic capacitors can also protect circuits from transient voltage and current spikes by absorbing and “snubbing” some of these excess changes. The popular Curtis PMC model 1221 and 1231 electric motor speed controllers have banks of 32 electrolytic capacitors with a rating of 220 micro-farads and a breakdown voltage of 160 volts. All 32 capacitors are wired in parallel across the “B+” and “B-“ battery pack connection terminals on the controller to help smooth current flow from the high-voltage DC battery pack to the electric motor of an EV. Also, when the motor is spinning freely, the motor can become a generator and push “back electromotive force (emf)” towards the controller and battery pack. The bank of electrolytic capacitors in the Curtis PMC motor speed controller work in conjunction with a “free wheel” diode and “fast recovery” protective diodes near each Power MOSFET transistor in the controller to protect against unwanted current surges from the reverse direction.
“Wet” electrolytic capacitors have actually been used as early as 1892 to supplement AC starter motors in this way. Most capacitors can be charged in less than 1/1000 of a second and are sensitive to quick changes in voltage or current levels. This quick reaction speed also makes capacitors valuable for timing circuits as well as for shaping wave forms in analog circuits.
Ultracapacitor Technology
Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC), Ultracapacitors, or Supercapacitors can perform similar functions as electrolytic capacitors but have more than twenty times the storage capability, exceeding 1 farad of capacitance. The “Double Layer Effect” of electron storage was first discovered by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1879 but the first practical Electric Double Layer Capacitor was not developed until 1961. A capacitor exceeding 1 farad was rarely seen in electrical or electronic circuits because the cost to fabricate such a component was prohibitive until just about 15 years ago. At present, great strides have been made to develop Double Layer Capacitor technologies and these efforts have brought the cost and availability of these devices within the reach of a hobbyist. Ultracapacitors developed by Maxwell Technologies in San Diego, California have been rated at 2,700 farads with a breakdown voltage of 2.5 volts. These were used by startup electric vehicle company Solectria before the company was merged with Azure Dynamics in 2005. Brigham Young University also developed an Ultracapacitor-powered version of the General Motors EV1 electric car that it demonstrated in NEDRA ¼-mile drag race competitions here at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. These ultracapacitors have been priced in the past as low as $25 each, less than a penny per farad.
The website for Maxwell Technologies is: http://www.maxwell.com
Information on the company’s BOOSTCAP™ product line can be found at: http://www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors
During 2003, the Maxwell Technologies web site published a “white paper” reference about the company’s product-related technology titled “Ultracapacitor Assisted Electric Drives for Transportation” by John M. Miller, J-N-J Miller, PLC and Richard Smith of Maxwell Technologies, Inc. that helped explain the development of this technology:
“Electric double layer capacitors (EDLC) or ultracapacitors, were first developed and patented in 1961 by SOHIO. The construction of a DLC consists of a pair of metal foil electrodes, each of which has an activated carbon (AC) fiber mat deposited on the metal foil. The activated carbon sides of both electrodes are separated by an electronic barrier, such as a glass paper, then sandwiched or rolled into a package. An aqueous or organic electrolyte salt is impregnated into the activated carbon. The electronic properties of a DLC are strongly dependent on the porosity of the activated carbon and on the molecular size of the electrolyte ions. Activated carbon electrodes used in DLCs have specific surface areas of 1000 to 2300 meters-squared per gram and charge separation (Helmholtz) distance on the order of 10 Angstroms or less. The charge separation distance extends from electronic charge in the activated carbon mesh to, at minimum, one-half the ion molecular diameter and, at maximum, to several ionic molecular layers into the electrolyte.
…During charging, the electrolyte anions and cations are drawn to electrodes of opposite polarity where they accumulate into layers inside the activated carbon pores with a distribution governed by pore size. When charged, the electrolyte becomes depleted of ions. Electrochemical investigations have shown that activated carbon pore sizes range from nano-pores, with pocket diameters less than one nanometer, to micro-pores, with average pore diameters of 1.5 to 3.0 nanometers. Ion diameters in the electrolyte are on the order of 1 nanometer, so their penetratin into pores of lower diameter will be blocked. The morphology of activated carbon suggests that when average pore diameters are 3.0 nm, good capacitance values exist for both organic and aqueous electrolytes. When the activated carbon pore size diameters drop to 2.0 nm and below, one can expect good capacitance only for aqueous electrolytes and when below 1.0 nm, essentiall no DLC capacitance. Activated carbon pore size and electrolyte anion and cation ionic diameters determine to a large extent the DLC phenomena.
The voltage rating of DLCs is is constrained by the same phenomena of electric field presence within the electrolyte as in conventional metal foil electrolytic capacitors. Effective Series Resistance (ESR) can be reduced in general by the addition of vapor-grown carbon fiber to the activated carbon. Improvement of ESR at cold temperatures is achieved by the addition of the solvent acetronitrile (AN) to propylene carbonate (PC) and other constituents of the electrolyte.
(Editor’s Note: A capacitor can be modeled in an electric circuit as an ideal capacitor in series with a resistor and an inductor. The resistor’s value is the Effective Series Resistance, also known as Equivalent Series Resistance or ESR.)
Commercial ultracapacitors today have specific energy densities of E > 3 Wh/kg and specific power densities of P > 1.5 kW/kg.”
Double layer capacitors have a much larger surface area but much smaller distance between their carbon/electrolyte boundary “plates”, resulting in a much greater capacitance for the device compared to other capacitors. When the electrolyte is impregnated into the activated carbon, the electrolyte “sticks” weakly to the activated carbon material but does not form a strong covalent bond. The internal structure of activated carbon is similar to a network of jumbled and broken plates. Organic chemical materials in an electrolyte can actually adhere to these amorphous plates of carbon due to the pull of weak Van der Waals forces between the molecules in these materials. However, no covalent bond exists between the molecules of the activated carbon and the electrolyte. The activated carbon electrode holds onto organic electrolyte molecules in the same way than an “activated charcoal filter” removes organic impurities from air or liquids by trapping those organic impuritites inside the walls of the filter. No covalent bonds mean that there is a very thin molecular layer of separation or “boundary” between the molecules of activated carbon and the molecules of the electrolyte. This close distance increases the capacitance of the double layer capacitor and its ability to sustain and electric field that can store a greater amount of electrons. Double Layer Capacitor electrolyte compounds have exotic chemical names such as Tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate or Triethylmethylammonium tetraflouroborate.
A membrane separator placed between the two electrode constructions will keep their chemistries from intermingling but does allow ions to pass through the membrane material when charging or discharging. Ions are generated and conducted by the electrolyte material from one electrode to another through the separator membrane when an external electric charge is applied to both electrodes. The resulting migration of cations and anions to their corresponding electrodes and the closeness of these ions to the activated carbon atoms balances the excess charge in the activated carbon electrodes, creating a “double layer” of oppositely charged atoms at each electrolyte/carbon boundary. This was Helmholtz’s “double layer phenomena” discovery in 1879. Though this technology is now in the form of an electrochemical device, this type of electron movement does not rely as much on electrochemical reactions and transformations than traditional batteries.
Because an electrolyte is already impregnated at each electrode and there is no covalent bonding, recharge life cycles are 100 times greater than conventional lead-acid, nicke-cadmium, or nickel-metal hydride batteries with no residual “memory effect” after each charge and discharge cycle due to electrolyte chemical build-up on the electrode plates. These devices also have a much greater temperature range than batteries, being able to operate between -55 degrees Celsius to +85 degrees Celsius.
During discharge, the ions present at each polarized terminal give up or take on extra electrons and become neutralized or depleted within 20 seconds to 1 minute. The loss of electrical energy causes these neutral atoms to “float” in a gaseous, liquid, or organic state until they are once again re-ionized by the presence of and external current source of sufficient electromotive force.
Ultracapacitor Applications
Although the discharge time of a typical ultracapacitor may only be 20 seconds to one minute, these devices can replace batteries as short-term storage banks for electric power in EV “regenerative braking” applications by absorbing, storing and redistributing recycled power from the motor/generator without stressing the main battery source.
Ultracapacitors are also finding a complementary niche in areas where batteries and ultracapactiors may work well together. Electric Double Layer Capacitors have higher power densities but lower energy densities than batteries. Coupling a low power density/high energy density rechargeable battery with an ultracapacitor may have many beneficial properties that can extend the overall life and performance of the battery, itself. The parallel combination of both devices results in a low impedance, high power and high energy battery pack, a true hybrid battery-capacitor. The “Peukert effect” of shortened lead-acid battery discharge cycles due to the varying load current draw from the battery pack can be mitigated, as well. Newer Lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer battery technologies have been prone to overheating and thermal runaway problems, causing them to catch fire due to overcharging or excess current demand. These batteries might benefit from being coupled with an ultracapacitor and a DC-to-DC converter to regulate the charging and discharging cycles of these new technologies.
In October 1997, James Worden drove a Solectria “Sunrise” 4-passenger EV sedan to a new battery duration record by traveling 216 miles from Boston to New York City on a single charge by using Ovonics ECD’s Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries. Solectria also manufactured the “Force” and “Flash” full-size electric vehicles. The Force was built on top of GEO/Chevrolet Metro gliders that were available from GM at the time. However, these EVs, priced at $30,000, did not sell as well as the company hoped. Solectria struggled to bring down the cost of the Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries it used but was forced to discontinue production of their EVs. The company continued to manufacture electric power drive systems that included a product line of Ultracapacitor Banks (UCB42). Anticipating a general automotive PNGV mandate at the time to convert from 12-volt electrical systems to 42-volt systems, these banks of ultracapacitors had a 45-volt rating. Banks could be “daisychained” together and combined with Solectria’s DC345 Bi-directional DC-to-DC Converter to help manage the electrical requirements of battery-powered, hybrid, or fuel-cell electric vehicle systems. Solectria later merged with Azure Dynamics, Inc. at: http://www.azuredynamics.com
The original Sunrise parts, molds and documentation were sold to the Sunrise EV2 Project Team, who hopes to resurrect a new and improved version of the Sunrise at: http://www.sunrise-ev.com
Charged ultracapacitors coupled with a DC-to-DC converter can add extra voltage and current “punch” to the main drive motor in an EV when it is just starting or when its motor controller has reached its peak current limit level. An EV already traveling at a “high-RPM” speed trying to enter a freeway on-ramp, pass another vehicle, or climb a steep hill might benefit from a bank of fully charged ultracapacitors that could be electronically switched into a parallel connection with the motor speed controller and the electric traction motor to give a short 30 second to 1 minute power boost when needed to push the motor a little harder (but not enough to exceed its maximum RPM rating). Once the vehicle had resumed a more steady cruising speed, the ultracapacitor bank could then be switched out of the circuit to be quickly recharged by regenerative braking or the main battery pack until the next time it was needed. This ultracapacitor bank would weigh less and take up a smaller space than adding extra batteries.
EV subsystems with smaller electric motors such as electronic “power assist” steering, windshield wipers, electric air conditioning systems and power windows can also be equipped with peak power or “snubber” ultracapacitors. These ultracapacitors can either provide starting power to electrical motor subsystems or “clip and contain” transient current spikes from the inductive field windings of these motors during startup and shutdown operations. Placing an ultracapacitor at the subsystem location also allows for the design of a smaller diameter EV wiring harness that won’t be overheated be the full swing of transient current flows running all the way back and forth through the harness to the battery power source.
Ultracapacitors should not be designed to directly replace electrolytic capacitors without redesigning the other components around them in a power conversion application. These devices have a low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) and almost look like a short as they are first charging up. A sudden rush of large current may take out rectifiers, resistors, or smaller capacitors in a power supply or power converter during the transition time.
Banks of ultracapacitors are wired in series to increase capacity. That makes their design more like a battery storage system than a bank of parallel electrolytic capacitors. Ultracapacitors are also finding many applications in EV battery chargers and would be useful in any voltage “boost” design. They are now also widely used in wind turbine generator technology, usually found near the generator windings in the device, to help smooth the output of current being supplied to a storage battery pack.
During
the “Wicked Watts” 2003 electric drag racing event, hosted
by the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association (LVEVA) and the National
Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway
(LVMS), Brigham Young University brought their ultracapacitor-powered
EV1. This vehicle had been donated to the university’s Engineering
and Technology Department through a research grant program by General
Motors without batteries or control electronics, just the motor speed
controller and electric motor. Because the vehicle was donated to
BYU under the condition that it not be driven on public roads, it is still
one of the few remaining EV1s remaining in the world today that was not
recalled to be crushed by the company. Dr. Tom Erekson and Dr. Perry
Carter led a team of 23 engineering students who modified the electric
car to run on ultracapacitor power.
To replace the existing battery pack, the racing team wired together 160
Maxwell ultracapacitors in series, each rated at 2700 farads and 2.5 volts,
to create a 400-volt ultracapacitor storage bank that could deliver an
initial 650 amps to their EV1’s AC motor. The team also purchased
an inverter that would convert the DC pack into AC power that could drive
the AC electric motor through the IGBT motor speed control electronics. The
400-volt ultracapacitor bank would be “dump-charged” from
a 408-volt battery pack consisting of 34 Optima™ Red Top batteries
rated at 12-volts each and wired in series. This large battery pack
was staged on the back of a pickup truck so that it could be driven near
the EV1 to recharge it quickly. The charge time would only be about
25 to 30 minutes. Two large incandescent lamps were used as regulators
to protect the ultracapacitors from the fast inrush of current from the
battery pack and a voltmeter monitored the voltage level of the pack as
it approached its maximum capacity. Once the voltage started to approach
an upper threshold and the lamps started to dim as less current was being
stored into the ultracapacitors, the lamps were switched out of the circuit,
allowing the battery pack to “top off” the ultracapacitor
bank to its maximum threshold directly before disconnecting the charging
source. The EV1 was then pushed to the starting line by the BYU team
to conserve its energy.
Starting at 400 volts and 650 Amps, this ultracapacitor energy storage source could continuously discharge current to the AC electric motor for about 25 to 30 seconds, plenty of time to cover a ¼-mile racing event. As the EV1 launched off the starting line with a strong burst of torque, the AC electric motor would not need as much current to continue to accelerate. The voltage from the ultracapacitor pack would quickly drop but the power from the pack would be strong enough to continue to accelerate the vehicle past the 1/8-mile mark on the 1/4-mile drag strip before running out of energy and coasting to the finish line. At the end of each run, the voltage on the capacitor bank measured between 160 volts to 180 volts. After reaching the end of the track, the EV1 was towed back to the staging pits by the truck with battery-mounted “dump-charge” pack to be recharged in under 30 minutes time. The team was able to complete five test runs to improve on their speed for each run.
The BYU team’s average runtime on the quarter-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway drag strip was about 17 seconds and their average ¼-mile speed over all five runs was about 75 mph, using the stock transmission provided by General Motors. In 2005, BYU implemented a better mechanical drive train into the EV1 by using a fixed differential and an upgraded transmission. They competed at the NEDRA “Power of DC” event hosted by the Electric Vehicle Association of DC, a sister EAA chapter of the LVEVA in Washington, D.C. The team achieved average ¼-mile speeds exceeding 90 mph in under 15 seconds time with this new mechanical setup.
Because the Electric Double Layer Capacitor is a relatively young technology, applications are continuing to develop in the power electronics industry. The possibility of using ultracapacitor technology to enhance the performance of newly emerging lithium-ion battery technologies may continue to provide breakthroughs in range and performance for electric vehicles, more effectively competing “head-to-head” with internal combustion engine systems to meet the practical transportation needs of the American public.
Technology Comparisons
When choosing what type of technology to use for different electric vehicle energy storage applicatons, the following comparative chart may be helpful when considering the differences between lead-acid batteries, electrolytic capacitors and ultracapacitors. All three devices store electrons using different electrochemical techniques and are similar in some ways but very different in their construction, material composition and performance as shown above. Battery specifications used for comparison are based on the more common lead-acid technology:
Parameters Electrolytic Capacitor UltraCapacitor PbSO4 Battery
Charge Time <1/1,000 of a second 1 to 30 seconds 0.3 to 3 hrs.
Discharge Time <1/1,000 of a second 1 to 30 seconds 1 to 5 hours
Energy Density(Wh/kg) <0.1 1 to 10 20 to 100
Power Density (W/kg) >10,000 1,000 to 2,000 50 to 200
Cycle Life >500,000 >100,000 500 to 2,000
Charge/Discharge Efficiency ~1.0 0.90 to .95 0.7 to 0.85
LVEVA DVD Reference Library
The LVEVA maintains a growing library of DVD reference videos that are available to its members that can be borrowed for one month at a time. Bill Kuehl, LVEVA Secretary/Treasurer is also the LVEVA video librarian. He can be contacted to pick up and return these videos at each monthly chapter meeting. The current list of videos that are available for a one month rental are:
1. “Who Killed the Elecric Car” Documentary
2. Plug in Partners National Campaign (2006)
3. EAA Silicon Valley CalCars PHEV Technology Overview (2005)
4. Boulder City Christmas Parade Highlights (2006)
5. Convert Your Pickup to Electric (DIY Video by GrassrootsEV)
Note: This video can be copied to viewer’s hard disk to keep!
6. Tom Gage of AC Propulsion speaks at EAA Silicon Valley (2005)
7. Monster Garage EV conversion (Jesse James)
and John Wayland White Zombie Videos (2006)
8. Electric Avenue by George Gladic Fox Valley EAA Chapter 2006.
9. Bruce Katz of Polyplus Battery Company speaks at EAASV (2005)
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
Precision EV Components Machining Support
Real Products, LLC
3433 Neeham Road #2
North Las Vegas, NV 89030
Contact: Eric Tschabold
Tel: (702) 644-1165
Email: energyz@cox.net
EV Parts and Kits for Sale:
GrassrootsEV.com
Las Vegas Office
Address: 5225 S. Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89118
“Electric Vehicles and Everything for Them”
Contact: Jon Hallquist
Tel: (702) 277-7544
Email: jon@grassrootsev.com
Web site: http://www.grassrootsev.com
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.
Contact: 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
The Free Energy Store
300 West Utah, Suite 101
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Tel: (702) 320-0770
Fax: (702) 320-0270
Web site: http://www.freeenergystore.com
Contact: Russ Lord
Email: russ@freeenergystore.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 $6.00 each 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
For Sale: RedStreak Electric Two-wheel Scooter with Bicycle Seat– New
Color: Silver
Asking Price: $200
Contact: Jean Norton
Tel: (702) 301-0979
For Sale: Electrans 3-wheel Futurista ETV
Net Weight: 1180 lbs.
Loaded Weight: 1765 lbs.
Max Speed: 55 MPH
Range: 110 Miles
Battery Pack: Lithium Iron Phosphate
Turning Radius: 18 ft 4 inches
Working Voltage: 60 Volts DC
Seats: 2
Recharge Time: Only 4 1/2 hours at 110 VAC
Department of Transportation (DOT) approval to license this vehicle through the DMV
Contact: Bob MacNamara
ElecTrans
Tel: (702) 927-8838
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
For Sale: 1995 Geo Metro Conversion Electric Car
Body Configuration: 2-door
Color: Red
Battery Pack: 72-Volt System using Nine 8-Volt Lead Acid Golf Cart Batteries
Range: 35 mile range
Top Speed: 70 mph
Onboard 72-Volt Charger
2-year-old conversion from Ogden, Utah
Price: $8,000
Contact: Jean Norton
Tel: (702) 301-0979